THE COLORADO RIVER TEA PARTY

Archive for September, 2010

DON’T FORGET – OUR NEXT CANDIDATE FORUM IS OCTOBER 2 – ALL CANDIDATES ON THE NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT HAVE BEEN INVITED BY WRITTEN REQUEST, AND WE WILL LET YOU KNOW AS WE APPROACH THE EVENT WHICH CANDIDATES HAVE CONFIRMED THEY WILL ATTEND THE FORUM.

PLEASE PRINT OUT OUR FLYER BELOW –  THEN MAKE 10 MORE COPIES AND GIVE THEM TO YOUR FRIENDS. WE’LL SEE YOU AT THE FORUM, OCTOBER 2!

CLICK HERE to view large version of flyer for printing
CLICK HERE to download a PDF file of the flyer

America is not a democracy.  Constitution Day on September 17th is a great opportunity for us to remember and celebrate that we have a constitutional democratic republic, not a democracy, and ours is the oldest such government in existence today.  Our founding fathers knew that unlimited democracy, while appealing, would result in mob rule and could not preserve the freedom they had fought so hard to obtain, so they created a republic and bound that government with a written constitution.

Our U.S. Constitution is particularly worth celebrating because it is truly brilliant, has radically changed the course of humanity, and has served as the model for almost every other constitution.  In just over 200 years the world has gone from zero constitutional governments to approximately half of all nations having a constitution today.

The real question is why did James Madison and Thomas Jefferson form a constitutional republic and not a democracy, and what does that mean in our modern society?

There are two vitally important benefits of having a constitution, and our constitution in particular:  it provides a predictable set of laws, and it protects the individual or the minority from the whims of the majority. In a democracy the will of the majority is supreme despite how it affects the minority – if you can get enough votes you can do it.  The minority, by the way, is anybody on the losing side of a vote.  That means every person is in the minority some of the time and the only way to protect each of us from majority rule is to have limitations on what the majority is allowed to vote on or do. A constitution sets the rules for government and thereby prevents a government from doing as it chooses just because it can get a majority of votes.  One well known analogy is that democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. It is a constitution that would prevent such a vote.

The other important benefit of constitutional government is predictable laws, which allows us to plan for the long-term future, a key to liberty and economic progress.  Without predictable laws it is difficult for somebody to invest in or start a business, enter a particular profession, or make a large purchase, because a government might arbitrarily seize control of their business or create laws that make it impossible to succeed.  America’s constitution has created the environment of freedom, predictability, and property rights that has lead to an unimaginable explosion of wealth and technological advancement during the past two centuries.  It is only in recent decades that we have been abandoning our Constitution and watching our progress slow as a result.   Our current recession has been made much worse by our federal government’s willingness to take arbitrary and unconstitutional actions in seizing industries, closing businesses, redistributing wealth and passing laws that make it difficult for anybody to know where to invest their time or money.  It’s time for us to turn back to the Constitution.

In the past two years there has been a resurgence of interest in the U.S. Constitution spurred by the Tea Parties and because the violations of the Constitution have finally become too blatant for even the busiest of us to ignore.  I sincerely hope this focus on liberty and the Constitution will grow so we might soon reclaim some of the freedom and prosperity that has been lost.  There are many Constitution Day activities occurring locally and nationally this weekend that are free to the public.  Some of the local tea parties will be having a Constitution celebration Friday night, September 17th at Scoreboard’s in Nashville from 4:30pm through the evening.  On Saturday, September 18th from 4:30pm-6:30pm there will be a reading of the Constitution at the Rutherford County Courthouse and experts available for questions.  On September 16th and 17th Hillsdale College will have free webcasts of various events from their Constitution Day Celebration at http://www.avwebcasting.com/hillsdale/register.php.

If we don’t want to explain to our grandchildren why they have fewer freedoms and opportunities than we did then it is time we all started paying more attention to the Constitution.  What better time than Constitution Day on September 17th.

Eric Stamper