« Flight 93 Memorial Blogburst: DC Fundraiser CANCELLED | Main | Obama and DNC Sued in Federal Court »
Ravaging the Republic (Part 5)
By davidjeffers | August 22, 2008
Over the past month on this column we have seen, in light of the US Constitution, how our branches of government have been turned on their collective heads. We have a judiciary being accused of tyranny when they have no ability to be tyrannical. We have a legislature usurping not only its law-making responsibilities, but also its oversight of the judiciary. And then we have an executive branch who kowtows to the judicial whims, even in the area of national defense.
All three branches of government operate in these manners because WE THE PEOPLE do not hold them accountable, but then again how do you hold the elected accountable when the large majority of the electorate are constitutionally ignorant? It would help if we had a mainstream media (MSM) that understood its constitutional responsibility. Also, if all of us who consider themselves evangelicals and invest millions of dollars annually in pro-family organizations actually knew how derelict of duty they have been, would be greatly disturbed.
Looking at the MSM requires a look back to the constitutional protection and responsibility given to the free press. The Father of our Constitution James Madison said this about a free press:
The security of the freedom of the press requires that it should be exempt, not only from previous restraint of the executive, as in Great Britain; but from legislative restraint also; and this exemption, not only from the previous inspection of licensers, but from the subsequent penalty of laws.
I am in agreement with Madison that authors should be free from prosecution when they write articles critical of the government without fear of prosecution. Notwithstanding freedom of the press is the fact that with freedom comes responsibility. Twentieth century columnist Walter Lippmann wrote:
A free press is not a privilege, but an organic necessity in a great society.
Much of the critical thinking applied by the Founding Fathers was grounded in the writings of Sir Edmund Burke. Burke acknowledged “three estates in parliament” but he identified a much more important fourth estate: the press. Burke recognized that the press had the ability to shape public opinion and this made them an important part of self-government. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas agreed with Burke:
The press enables the public’s right to know. The right to know is crucial to the governing process of the people.
Along with the MSM either misreporting or hiding the truth from the public, the pro-family movement has for too long been perpetuating the lie of judicial tyranny and that Roe v Wade is “the law of the land.”
These organizations receive millions of dollars a year to fight “judicial tyranny” when that does not exist. And while some do use the term “judicial activism,” these organizations, many of them run by lawyers, fail to point out that the judiciary is powerless to enact or enforce any law. Instead of wasting their time and focus on the judiciary, they should be calling out both the legislature and executive branches of government at both the federal and state levels to reign in the judiciary and to ignore all unconstitutional rulings.
Many of these groups, the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Alliance Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, American Center for Law and Justice, just to name a few, have for too long perpetuated the lie that the courts can establish “the law of the land.” Abraham Lincoln rejected this notion and the Father of the Modern Conservative Movement in his Townhall.com article titled “History and the Judiciary” wrote:
For the sake of this republic I urge my friends, fellow leaders and Americans emphatically to repudiate the devastating myth that judges have the power to make and redefine our laws. We should do so rapidly and forcefully before our republic is replaced by the irresistible tyranny of men and women who believe that nihilist elites should make the rules and pass them to judges for formal announcement when the time is ripe for the latest step into the post-rule of law, post-moral abyss. Otherwise our “conservatism” will continue to be merely the rearguard for subtle left-wing revolution.
I urge all freedom-loving Americans who are sick and tired of judges ruling the day, legislatures being do-nothing bodies, and executives kowtowing to judicial malfeasance to first read Mr. Weyrich’s article above and then to contact all your elected officials and tell them you expect them to defend the constitution. Also, send these five columns to all you know so that hopefully this will ignite a desire to learn more about their civic responsibility.
(Dave Jeffers is available for speaking engagements at churches and civic organizations on the role of religion in government. Dave also conducts a four-hour seminar titled “Our American Christian Heritage.” Visit Dave’s website for more information at http://davidjeffers.thevanguard.org/about-dave/.
Topics: David Jeffers |
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.