What Would the Founding Fathers Do? -Daniel Szabo, Richmond, VA Earlier in the week I posted a question asking, if we could garner the advice of our founding fathers, what would they advise us to do regarding today’s federal government? The responses were varied, but the answer that won the blue ribbon was, “I believe if you looked back in history you will find out exactly what these fine men would do today, because they did it before.” It’s too often that we hear high school students and even the parents of some of these students complain about the need to study history in school. One might ask, “Why do I need to know that,” while another one wonders, “When will I ever use that information.” The reason you need to understand our history is because where we are going hinges on where we’ve been. When will you use this information? Right now! The parallels that exist between today’s tyranny and that which our founding fathers faced are spot on in comparison. As a matter of fact one needs to look no further than the text of the Declaration of Independence to see them. Jefferson listed twenty-seven of them in the body of the declaration, and while each one should be looked at in and of itself to see the similarities, we’ll dissect five of them here. 1- He (King George III) has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good By stating, laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good, Jefferson had indicated that the vetoed laws were intended to accomplish the fundamental purpose of government as stated in the Declaration’s preamble, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men.” Ironically, one major example of this charge was the thrones refusal to comply with repeated attempts by the Colonies to abolish the slave trade. Today, where this charge could and will come in to play again is this government’s refusal to assent to our immigration laws. As the amnesty and the immigration reform debate rolls on, millions are still here illegally and millions more are on their way. 2- He (King George III) has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance In its historical context, this charge referred to additional customs officials and courts of admiralty (military and not civil courts) which were established by the crown in an effort to enforce trade laws. In today’s terms, insert your bureaucratic poison here: NSA, ATF, BLM, IRS, FCC, DOE, DOT, DHS, FEC, Czars, CDC, FDA, FEMA- the list goes on and on…and on. 3- He (King George III) has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their acts of pretended legislation Here, Jefferson was referring to the British Parliament. The colonists did acknowledge King George III as their chief executive and in essence considered themselves British citizens, but to fully understand Jefferson’s charge here, we need to once again visit the preamble- governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and the colonists had not consented to be governed by the British Parliament, and therefore it had no authority over them. Today this charge would once again be relevant when one considers the U.S. and its relinquishment of sovereignty to some extent to either the U.N. or other foreign powers. We do not consent and therefore these foreign powers have no authority over us. 4- For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments Here Jefferson was referring to the laws and constitutions of each individual colony and today the same is said in regards to each individual state. The tenth amendment to the Constitution is one of the most cut and dry pieces of text in the document. While many can argue that much of the Constitution is open to interpretation, the tenth amendment states, “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 could not be any clearer; if it’s not here (addressed in the Constitution) then the issue rests with the states. But somewhere between 1791 and 2014 the federal government (all three branches) has appeared to have forgotten about amendment number ten. The federal government only took what the states were willing to give up and it is up to the states to take it back. 5- He (King George III) is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation I can make this relevant in today’s world with one word…ISIS. Any questions? So understanding not only what the founders did, but why they did it should give a clearer picture of where we are today and more importantly where we need to go from here. Looking at a timeline of events of America’s founding, we see a blueprint of where they went. If we are to follow the play book that the founders left behind, we can determine our current location based on where they were when we consider the parallels. Take a timeline of America’s founding and put a big red “X” somewhere between 1767 and 1770 and next to that “X” jot down the words, “You are here”. It was at the end of the 1760’s that the III% had pretty much determined that they had had enough. At that time, the British were passing out new restrictions, new regulations, and new taxes like they were candy, and it was then that “Revolutionary Fever” was catching on like wild fire. What’s next for us? Well, if the model proves to be accurate, then we can identify that we are at an impasse here. The government has been taking and taking and taking and finally more people are standing up and saying, “Enough!” Neither side appears willing to budge, and rightly so. The landscape is eerily similar to that of 1769-1770, and the event that ensued on March 5, 1770, although tragic, was the straw that broke the camel’s back for many patriots, and that event is now known as the Boston Massacre. So to answer the question, if our founding fathers were to give us advice today, what would they advise us to do? They’d tell us to keep doing exactly what we’re doing and that we are right on course.”
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 05:20:14 +0000
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