“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."—John Adams
“The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.”—James Madison
In a previous column, I discussed “political freedom” and “moral restraint,” both of which are implied in the Adams and Madison quotes above. America’s founders tried to protect her people from government tyranny (in other words, provide “political freedom”) by writing a constitution which specifically enumerated the powers the national government could exercise, placing most powers in the hands of states and local governments, which are closer to, thus more controllable by, the people. As Madison further stated, “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.” He ought to know, he is given most of the credit for writing our Constitution.
For reasons (historical) which are irrelevant here, I would argue that “political freedom,” in the sense the Founders meant, is, at best, in danger in America today. The national government does whatever it can get away with; it totally ignored its “defined” powers. Read Article 1, Section 8 in the Constitution. Those are the powers specifically given to Congress. They are “enumerated,” that is, they were “defined” exactly. This is what the national government can do, and nothing else (barring amendments). The “general welfare” and “implied powers” clauses do not change that one iota; if they were meant to give the federal government unlimited powers, then why bother to specifically enumerate anything else? The Bill of Rights were added to stipulate some things the federal government could NOT do. The Constitution was written to protect the people from national government tyranny. “Here is what it can do. Here is what it can’t do. Period.”
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But, again, read Article 1, Section 8 in the Constitution. And, when you finish, I challenge you to tell me where in that section you find 99.9% of what Congress does today. It isn’t there. They do exactly what they can get away with (this applies to the President and his defined powers, too). The Supreme Court (supposedly) acts as ultimate arbiter of what is “constitutional,” but I also challenge you to find THAT in the Constitution. No such power was given to SCOTUS by the Constitution. The “checks and balances” were the intended method of protecting the people from federal government encroachment—the Constitution, the House, Senate, President, Supreme Court, and especially, the states were all to ensure political freedom—defense against tyranny—for the people of the United States. It hasn’t worked that way. We have basically become the very thing we rebelled against in 1776—a tyranny where the national government does what it wishes. We vote, but what changes? We, the people, do have certain protections—IF we can find a branch of government that will exercise them for us. It all depends on government. That wasn’t the plan. But, as Madison further said, “democracy [is] the right of the people to choose their own tyrant.” We get what we vote for.
Not only have Americans divorced themselves from the “political freedoms” our Founders intended, but the same is true for “moral restraints.” Read again the two quotes at the beginning of this article. As I discussed in a previous column, ultimately, morality must come from God as an absolute standard, or it becomes virtually meaningless and non-existent—ever shifting, ever changing, never fixed, never defined. We don’t know what is “right” or “wrong” any more if we let “the people” decide.
Because, which people will decide? The Nazis? The CCP? The Japanese in Nanking? The American people? Yes! Our people decide what morality is for Americans! Well, let’s consider that.
What are we, “the people,” going to do if “the people” decide humans can marry dogs? Now you say, “that’s ridiculous, Lewis, that could never happen.” Ah. Do you want to defend the thesis that if enough mutant perverts in California decide they want to marry their mutts that state will never agree to it? I, personally, wouldn’t put money on that.
But let’s go back less than 20 years. Joe Biden himself said that marriage was only between a man and a woman. How long ago would the idea of a man being pregnant, or a woman having a penis, or a man being a woman just because he says he is, or children being mutilated to change their gender—how long ago would those ideas been absolutely unthinkable? (They still are in most places in the world.) But there they are, defended 100% by the Democratic Party (and many Republicans) and massive numbers of “the people.” So, you want to tell me that you are absolutely positive that, at no time in the future, the Left won’t argue for humans marrying animals?
This is what happens, folks—and our Founders knew it—when morality is separated from God, and some other source become the ultimate arbiters of right and wrong. But not only do we get pregnant men, we get Nazi Germany, Stalin’s USSR, Mao’s China, et al. The exact same moral principle that allows drag queens to wave their genitals in front of children is the moral principle (morality without God) that allowed for Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. When “the people” decide, there is no place to stop and say, “this is wrong! No further!” Especially if enough hedonistic perverts want to try it, or an amoral tyrant gets control of the government. The only thing the Left will not abide is...the absolute standard of morality Christianity provides. They may not ultimately know what “right” or “wrong” is, but they DO know Christian morality is anathema. That is the only absolute in their book.
Morality divorced from God ultimately destroys every civilized part of a society.
My substack, mklewis929.substack.com, has some new video and audio podcasts you might want to check out. Free signup. My western novels are still available and worth reading. Whitewater , River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon.. You can follow me on Twitter: @thailandmkl. And rumble: lewandcou
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