A ThirteenFox.com Exclusive Article

By John Cylc

02/12/2019

On February 5th, 2019, millions watched as President Trump gave his “State of the Union” address to Congress. Seeing him tout the values of our country, and state that “America will never be a socialist country”, I was startled by how many Democrats didn’t stand or even applaud. This observation made me think not only about the State of the Union but worry about our Republic and the current “State of The Constitution”.

Our country has never been so divided on support for the essential ideals that founded this country than in this current political climate.

Obviously, the era of slavery after our founding was indeed a great anguish-filled time that would take massive bloodshed and societal reformation to abolish it. In this instance, context is essential. We must remember that slavery existed for thousands of years before our country started and was part of this land while still under British rule. It took a Revolutionary War, followed by great debate and eventually a Civil War to part ways with a practice that is still practiced in many countries and religions around the world. Making great changes to societal norms and values takes courage, sacrifice, steadfast beliefs and time.

We eventually Amended our Constitution to outright ban slavery and servitude in 1865. Our country, in less than 90 years of existence, realized the error of its ways and self-corrected that mistake.

Will our country always honor and abide by the 13th Amendment? Hopefully, but that is not guaranteed since many of the other parts of the Constitution, even the fundamental and unquestionable Bill of Rights, are being either misinterpreted, or outright ignored.

Somehow, under the liberal guise of the Constitution being “a living document”, clearly stated Rights have been denied, devalued, or ignored. Without going through the process of Amending the document which guards our liberties, some Rights have even been created, incredulously with a financial burden.

The primary example is the violation of the fundamental “right to life”. The very basic tenets of our Declaration of Independence, written over a decade before the US Constitution was ratified, clearly indicate “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” as fundamental rights. This pertains to not only those who have already “escaped” the womb alive, but also to those not yet separated by birth from their mothers. These is no Constitutional or moral justification for abortion, which denies ALL Constitutional Rights to an unborn life in the womb.

James Wilson, one of the “forgotten” Founding Fathers, concisely wrote, “With consistency, beautiful and undeviating, human life, from its commencement to its close, is protected by the common law. In the contemplation of law, life begins when the infant is first able to stir in the womb. By the law, life is protected not only from immediate destruction, but from every degree of actual violence, and in some cases, from every degree of danger.” It could not be illustrated anymore clearly that our Founding Fathers meant for the Constitution and Declaration of Independence to apply to the unborn.

One person’s supposed “Right to Choose”, referenced in neither document establishing our nation, is being granted more legal authority than a person’s “Right to Life”, which is clearly stated by our founders.

The imagined “separation of Church and State” denies many public officials and government employees the mere opportunity to pray while in public, even if NOT in an official capacity. Numerous state and local regulations across our country attempt to prohibit anyone from practicing their faith merely because they are on government property. Somehow, the governmental bodies that write these laws ignore the fact that phrase from their oath, “So help me God”, was prescribed by The Judiciary Act of 1789. That means a law written by the Founders includes religious practices and terminology. Maybe that’s why there is an attempt to remove that phrase?

Despite the use of the plainly stated phrase “Congress shall make no law…prohibiting the free exercise thereof [religion]”, liberal policies and officials clearly have no qualms violating that component of the First Amendment.

Recently, many Democrats have been labeling “healthcare for all” as another “fundamental Right”. While this may be popular with many Democrat voters, it is untrue and not mentioned in our Constitution at all. We are not born with a “right to have medical care”. We do have a right to “pursue happiness”, which would include working to earn money to get that care at our own expense. Government funded healthcare, like Obamacare proved, would impose an unconstitutional financial cost on all of us (Are you listening, Justice Roberts?). Sickness and injury have always existed. Forcing someone else to treat you, or pay that same service, is an ideal of socialism and communism, not a Right.

The most obvious assault on any of our God-given Rights is illustrated by the attacks on our Second Amendment, which empathically and clearly states that “the Right of the People (who became the often referenced “militia” when necessary) to keep and bear arms (all arms, not just single-shot rifles or revolvers) SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED”. Many liberal scholars will tell you that the introductory phrase, “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State” somehow limits firearm ownership to the National Guard, even though that organization existed only because of the armed populace. The “modern day” National Guard didn’t formally exist until 1903, when the Militia Act of 1903 (commonly known as the “Dick Act”) was passed. Unfortunately for the anti-gun movement, that law also defines “every able-bodied citizen between eighteen and forty-five” as “the militia”.

Thousands of federal, state and local laws and regulations have been added to restrict (read “infringed”) this extremely important and well-defined freedom. Permits must be sought, permissions must be granted and unlike any other Constitutionally protected Right, many who seek to practice this freedom must pay for fees, taxes and/or licenses. Imagine if you had to pay to speak your mind, write an article, pray, keep the government out of your house or not be tortured?

However, even with the thousands of laws and restrictions, the continuous calls for more “common sense gun laws” echoes from the Democrats and the media (redundant). Even though murder, assault, school shootings and terrorism are already illegal at ALL levels of government, there is a thought process that new laws will somehow stop those who want to perpetrate these violent crimes. Instead, the innocent, law-abiding gun owners are the ones who must restrict or disarm themselves of certain weapons, or in certain areas, potentially removing the one opportunity to stop these acts of mayhem before they start or increase their bloody fallout!

As a free people, no matter what political party or belief, we must commit back to our core fundamental Rights. Make no mistake, every small violation or disregard of our indisputable freedoms takes us one step closer to the very thing that our Founding Fathers fought a war to defeat-tyranny.

We must defend our Constitution with the vigor in which our Revolutionary War heroes fought their battles, because currently, the State of The Constitution is precarious.