A Constitution Made for the Prosperity of Liberty

By Michael Lewinski 02/09/14

When our country was formed, an extraordinary generation formulated a design for a society of moral people uniquely free to pursue their individual lives, unencumbered by the heavy hand of government. Recognizing our natural, God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the founding generation created a Constitution to protect and preserve liberty. This constitutional blueprint then proceeded to generate a great prosperity throughout the 19^th century up until the rise of the Progressive movement in the early 20^th century.

Inch by inch, these enemies of freedom have altered America’s blueprint. Progressives undermined private property with the 16^th amendment, authorizing the taxing of income. They disrupted the Republic’s balance of power with the 17^th Amendment, taking from the States’ their constitutional influence with the popular election of Senators. Monetary authority was relinquished to a group of private bankers who own the Federal Reserve, and the discipline of a constitutional bi-metal monetary system was abandoned. Congress no longer declares war, and the executive branch ignores laws and re-writes others without congressional consent. In the land of the free, the government monitors its citizens, limits religious freedom, and regulates the right to bear arms. Today, our constitutional blueprint is but barely a shadow of its original instructions.

And what has this Progressive fundamental transformation of America brought us? Most importantly, we have evolved from a nation based upon the rule of law to one resting upon the injustice associated with the rule of men. They have rendered a deteriorating economy corrupted by crony capitalists and undermined by a government with tax and regulatory regimes that inhibit the creation of wealth. Standards of living are deteriorating and the middle class is disappearing as the economy punishes the working class with boneheaded policies deepening the growing Greater Depression.

Their bitter fruit is an incompetent, dysfunctional government fueled by envious, identity politics which divide the people. Maybe Thomas Jefferson was right. “In questions of power, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution,” for the sake of freedom.