Why this blog?

(Originally posted at stevew.blogivists.com 11/15/2009)

TheseTruths

Thomas Jefferson introduced the main ideas in the Declaration of Independence by stating: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.... He was asserting that the basic rights he would later list are not granted by government, but are granted by God and inherent in every individual human being. He was asserting that the validity of these basic natural rights was clear and obvious in the very fact of man's existence as a creation of God. He was asserting that these natural rights come before government, and that it is to defend these rights that man created government in the first place. The kind of government envisioned by the Founders, and framed in the Constitution, flows from the Declaration’s statement of basic human rights and the role government should play in their defense.

Unfortunately, the Founders’ creation of a government limited to defending such basic human rights as were “self-evident” has long since been forgotten by most of our elected officials. Leaders of both parties seem largely ignorant, if not completely dismissive, of the role of government laid out in our Founding documents. While many compelling and important arguments can be made regarding policy proposals, the first should be “does the government have the authority to do this?” If it does not, other issues are irrelevant.

As citizens and voters, we must hold our elected officials accountable for governing in a way that is limited to those functions and purposes allowed by the Constitution. Ignoring these limits has invited government to usurp powers for itself which the founders never intended. We must educate ourselves, educate our representatives when necessary, remind them constantly, and insist on their attention and fidelity to Constitutional government. Given how far we have drifted in the last century, it may seem naïve to even propose. Better late than never.