by Maury Jones
When I was a Cub Scout leader the boys enjoyed playing “Calvin Ball”. It was tag/dodge-ball with no rules. Or, rather, the person who was “it” got to make the rules on the spur of the moment. It was chaotic with no predictability. Perfect for eight year olds.
We have a bunch of mental eight year olds running our country. We have leaders who deliberately ignore, misquote, misinterpret, or misrepresent law to get their own way.
Here is the law which trumps all other laws; “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof …shall be the supreme Law of the Land…” Constitution, Article VI. It must be noted that federal law isn’t ‘supreme’. The Constitution and only laws which agree with that Constitution are supreme. “No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it.” American Jurisprudence 2d 177. “All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void.” Marbury v. Madison.
Federal government power is further restricted by the Bill of Rights, Tenth Amendment; “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution…are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” There are eighteen powers ‘delegated’ in Article I Section 8. They are spelled out in detail. Those are the ONLY powers granted from the people to the government of the United States. If the Federal Government claims any other powers ‘not delegated’, they are usurping the authority of the states or the people. Washington can only legislate and enforce law within its jurisdiction. “It is a well-established principle of law that all federal legislation applies only within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States…” Foley Brothers v. Filardo. The Supreme Court said it, not a Wyoming cowboy. And US Code, Title 18, Definitions, Rule 54(c) says; ”Act of Congress” includes any act of Congress locally applicable to and in force in the District of Columbia, in Puerto Rico, in a territory or in an insular possession.” Wyoming is not a territory. Does that mean the Endangered Species Act doesn’t apply within Wyoming?
We don’t need nine lawyers wearing black dresses and pounding wooden hammers to explain to us the carefully worded Constitution. The Supreme Court opinions—and I stress opinions—are elevated to the stature of law and often by only five judges. This effectively trumps the will of the people by five unelected lawyers who are too often swayed by political expediency. Those opinions often are diametrically opposed to the Constitution, according to Justice Scalia in his recent dissent on the gay marriage issue. Actually, if a Supreme Court decision comes down to 5-4, then in essence the law came down to the opinion of only one person. That one man now has more power than the President or the Congress.
Why does the Constitution matter? The only thing that separates our great nation from any tin-horn dictatorship in the third-world is our Constitution. What is the difference between a king’s edict and a Presidential ‘executive order’ or a 5-4 Supreme Court decision? Adherence to the Constitution protects the rights of the minority from the tyranny of a dictator or the mob rule of the majority. A pure democracy is ten wolves and nine elk voting on what’s for dinner. A pure democracy is a majority of whites down south mandating that “coloreds” must use different restrooms, motels, restaurants, and drinking fountains than whites.
A prime example of Congress ignoring the Constitution is the Iran Nuclear Deal. It is a treaty—a formal agreement between nations. Therefore the supreme law governing it is Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution which states: “He [the President]…shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.” That is the law. If ratified outside those parameters, this agreement is ‘null and void’ according to Marbury v. Madison. If the Constitution is followed, then Iran, the largest terrorist government in the world, will not be guaranteed a nuke within 10 years. It will not get billions of dollars to support terrorism around the world. We have gone insane if we ratify this. We will be the greatest financier of terrorism in the history of the world. We must put pressure on our Congress to follow the Constitution. Ignoring it is creating chaos and a serious threat to our security.
The states themselves have the right and obligation to rein in the federal government when it ignores the Constitution. “The ultimate right of the States to judge whether the Constitution has been dangerously violated must extend to violations by the judiciary as well as by the executive or the legislature.” James Madison.
The Constitution is not archaic and is not out of touch with modern-day America. If the Constitution had been followed, then many wrongful treaties, wasteful programs, and oppressive agencies would not exist.
We must follow the rule of law and not make up law as we go along. To do so is playing “Calvin Ball” in our government, with resulting chaos.
Jonesy
Remember, “Life is always better when viewed from between the ears of a horse.”
