America Doesn't Deserve Our Constitution

It’s all over social media. People from left and right are ecstatic that President Trump just signed a bill making animal cruelty a federal felony. Who doesn’t love animals and who can object to criminalizing cruelty to animals?

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t about animals. I love animals, and I would happily string up any low-life that tortures animals for fun. But we have to step back and ask ourselves, do we care about the Constitution or not?

The US Constitution, Article 1 section 8 lays out the enumerated powers of Congress:

1: The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence[sic] and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

2: To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

3: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

4: To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

5: To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

6: To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

7: To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

8: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

9: To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

10: To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

11: To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

12: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

13: To provide and maintain a Navy;

14: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

15: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

16: To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

17: To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And

18: To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Nowhere in there is there a single word that suggests that Congress has the power or authority to criminalize animal cruelty. Therefore, under the tenth amendment:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

It’s an issue for the states to legislate on.

Recently I saw a comment about DUI checkpoints, and many people opined that they would be happy for the inconvenience of a checkpoint if it helps keep drunk drivers off the road. They don’t seem to have a problem with warrantless searches and seizure without probable cause, in clear violation of their fourth amendment rights.

Our federal budget is wildly out of control. Congress authorizes spending, and most of the federal spending today has no constitutional authority supporting it. But nobody asks our elected officials to account for the constitutionality of their pork projects, their welfare or their bloated departments. We’ve gone way past the point where the population has realized they can vote themselves bread and circuses. The elected officials in Congress have no incentive to uphold the Constitution. They stay in power buy wielding their governmental influence to get enough money to buy a propaganda machine to dupe the tax serfs into keeping them in power.

If the President doesn’t like what Congress does or doesn’t do, he does what he wants anyway with executive orders. Nobody cares if he usurps the powers of Congress. Congress doesn’t care, because it would be bad publicity to get into a constitutional face-off with the President, and bad publicity is how you lose elections.

Our federal courts issue injunctions against laws and executive orders they don’t like. The Left has for decades sought to get from the judicial branch what they couldn’t possibly pass as laws in the legislative branch. Nobody cares that the Judiciary usurps the powers of Congress and legislates from the bench.

Once upon a time in America, everyone knew the Constitution. They understood the limits of the powers between the three branches of government and understood that the government couldn’t do anything not spelled out in the Constitution. There was a nationwide effort to make alcohol illegal, which was a dumb idea, but at least they had enough respect for the Constitution to know they needed to pass an amendment that gave Congress the power to do it. But they stopped teaching our children the Constitution in civics class. They started teaching some nebulous feel-good history cum culture called social studies instead. The result is a whole generation who pays lip service to their “constitutional rights” without having any idea what those rights actually are or understanding that they do not come from the government. They think the first amendment gives them the right to say anything they want on Facebook or YouTube, not understanding that the first amendment only keeps the government from passing laws about what can and cannot be said. Facebook and YouTube aren’t the government, and to use these services, you have to agree to their terms.

People get the government they deserve. Congress has an all-time low approval rating; but come the next election cycle most of the bad actors will remain seated. Few people call them to account for their behavior under the Constitution, and those who do are shouted down and ridiculed by the masses who apparently care nothing for the Constitution and the very clear limits it places on government.

If you don’t learn the Constitution and demand that our elected officials operate within its bounds and remove them from office if they don’t, then you don’t deserve the Constitution. You honestly deserve to be the powerless tax serfs you have become, subservient to leaders you think you elect, instead of having public servants working for you. You rightfully deserve the feudal chains that have been placed on you by our elected nobility, dressed up with modern terms to make you think you’re a free man. 

You need to demand that the schools and universities stop indoctrinating our children with failed political, economic and social ideologies. Today we spend record amounts of money on education to teach our children to not only be happy little tax serfs, but to openly advocate for it and condemn and attack those who prefer to be freemen who repudiate a government that doesn't even follow its own rules.

We once had a pretty good thing going here in America, where every man was free to be who he could be. Now we’ve accepted a crony capitalist oligarchy which exists to fleece the tax serfs and ensure that the competitive advantage always stays in the hands of those who can buy the best politicians. You did this. You allowed it, by not demanding that the branches of government stay in their constitutional lanes. The American people can take back their government in less than a year, but first you have to be willing to forego laws that you like and make you feel good, if they lack a constitutional foundation. We either follow the rules, or we bow in obedience to our noveau feudal lords. The choice is yours. Learn your Constitution. Demand your elected officials follow it. Remove them if they don’t, even if you like them, they’re from your party, or bring the pork home to your district.