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OPINION

The State of Texas and the Founding Principles of the American Government

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
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The state of Texas is 100% correct in its current battle against Joe Biden and the national government.  Democrats and Uniparty Republicans can always be counted on to side with the federal government against the states because it is their ideology (like the CCP in China) to centralize more power into Washington, D.C.  The Supreme Court, more often than not, supports the feds for the simple reason that it, too, is a branch of the federal government, and more benefits will also accrue to it as power is increasingly centralized.  

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We need to study the Declaration of Independence to understand the issues involved.  That document is where the founding principles of the American government are discovered, not the Constitution.  The Constitution specifically defines the power the national government can and cannot exercise. None of those powers—in the original Constitution—violated the principles found in the Declaration of Independence.  This is not so today.  Except in certain organizational matters (House, Senate, Presidency, etc.), the federal government pays absolutely no attention to its power enumerated in the Constitution.  Neither party honors the Constitution, nor do any of the three branches.

But that’s another story to Texas and the principles of the American government.  Let’s look at what the Declaration of Independence says and how it applies to this matter.

1.  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that their Creator endows them with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  My rights come from God, not the government.  The Left—which largely denies there is a God—rejects this, and it is a major source of the battle between “right” and “left” today, though few people truly understand that.  My body, from God, is my property, and I have the right to defend my “life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness” (my property rights) from any possible harm.  No one has a “right” to take my rights from me as long as I do not abuse them.  I am “free” (“liberty”), because of God, not government, to use my body as I see fit, as long as I do not violate the laws of that God Who gave me those rights.  

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However, because some people DO violate these rights, I can do whatever is necessary to protect mine.  Some of the rights God gives me can better be exercised collectively (through “government”) than individually.  For example, war.  I have the right to protect my individual body with a weapon, but a war is better fought collectively.  There are other such matters that are better handled “collectively,” and Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution defines them.  Thus, I sacrifice certain of my personal rights to form a government that is able (in the “collective”) to perform certain protections better than I can do individually.  

However, the government exists ONLY because I (along with other people) allow it to exist.  We give the government its rights, not visa-versa.  Or, as the Declaration says, 

2. “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”.  As just noted, men form governments to protect better (“secure”) certain of our rights.  This is the very purpose of government—the protection of our rights.  But the government exists only by our consent.  If we don’t consent, the government loses its validity and right to exist.  The government has only ONE source of authority—the “consent of the governed.”  When it loses that consent, it loses all right to existence.  That is what the whole American Revolution was about, folks.  We give the government its rights, and whatever rights we give it we can take back whenever we want to.  

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So, what happens when the government we create no longer does what we tell it to?

3.  “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”  Jefferson is talking about secession here, which is exactly what our Founders were doing—seceding from the British Empire.  Patriots, in America today, aren’t to that point—YET!  But the Declaration clearly states that when the government doesn’t do what its purpose is—protect the rights of the people—then the people have a right to “alter” or even “abolish” that government.

There are three levels of government in America—local, state, and national—and all three, ultimately, have the same purpose, i.e., to protect the “property rights” of the people.  If any of those governments (local, state, or federal) fail to do what we, the people, “consent” to, we have the right to “alter” or “abolish” any of those governments.  In America, we have “altered” our governments many times using the peaceful voting process.  Hopefully, we will “alter” it again this year by booting Joe Biden and Democrats out of power.  But, right now, the federal government, under Biden, is decidedly NOT doing what it should be doing, i.e., protecting the rights of its citizens from an illegal intrusion by millions of people who have absolutely no cause to be in America.  Those people are welcome to try to come legally, but even the federal government cannot allow them to come illegally.  If the federal government will not do what it is supposed to do—i.e., protect the people—then the state and local governments must.  The American people did NOT give ALL power to the national government—and for this very reason.  We don’t trust any area of government, so we divide its powers among the three localities.

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The state of Texas not only has the right, it has the DUTY to protect its people.  The federal government refuses to do it. Texas says it will.  Texas is right.  God bless Texas.

Subscribe to my substack mklewis929.substack.com  for more on Leftism, our Founding Fathers, and true freedom. My “Story of the Bible” series will help you understand God’s Word.  Follow me on Twitter:  @thailandmkl.   Read my Western novels, Whitewater, River Bend,  Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma, all available on Amazon.  

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