Fundamental rights of Americans

The government, determined it knows what is best for us, continues expanding its role beyond its constitutional authority. It has little need for the Constitution because over 60 years ago the Supreme Court ruled that the founding fathers erred and actually meant for the general welfare clause of the Constitution to be a specific enumerated power of Congress, in essence granting Congress unlimited power.

Do you think the founding fathers really intended for the government to do anything it deems needed for the general welfare of the country and to tax us whatever needed to pay for it?

The federal government is certain it is more capable to determine our needs than we are. It believes it is more capable to decide how we can “enjoy social, economic, political and personal rights and freedoms” than we are. It further believes these individual “rights and freedoms” must be limited if they are a “detriment to the interests of society.” As explained to Joe the plumber, the federal government will take our wealth and spend it as it determines is in the best “interests of society.”

The government now believes we have a fundamental right to “free medical care” paid for by the government. Additionally, the government believes it should continue to provide for us “in old age, in sickness and in disability,” these rights paid for by Social Security’s “social insurance of workers.”

The government believes people also have the fundamental right to housing, even if the government must “develop government-owned housing” or get involved with the banks that carry our mortgages.

The government is also considering providing free higher education, guaranteeing the “free provision of all forms of education,” including “vocational, specialized secondary and higher education.” The only requirement will likely be that the education is “oriented toward practical activity and production,” similar to Denmark which fixes a maximum number of student admissions in certain fields of study, depending on the needs of society.

These are just a few of the fundamental rights the federal government believes the founding fathers overlooked. Are these new rights, even though not in the Constitution, consistent with the founding fathers’ desire of a limited federal government created to protect our nation and to maintain our freedoms and opportunities?

Perhaps we are just behind the times, outdated and needing to catch up with the rest of the civilized world, providing what some other governments already provide. Perhaps we need to follow the example of other “progressive” governments that specifically define these rights in their constitutions, the above quotes from the 1977 constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – Russia.

So, now we know one of our role models. Wait a minute. Didn’t Russia bankrupt and fall apart? Didn’t communism fail? Didn’t Russia prove Gerald Ford’s statement that “a government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have?”

This is why our Constitution is so difficult to amend, requiring approval of two-thirds of each House of Congress, followed by ratification of three-fourths of the states. The founding fathers wanted to prevent the federal government from doing exactly what it is doing, changing its constitutional powers without approval of “We the people.”

The founding fathers did not write a constitution preventing us from becoming a socialist welfare nation. But they did write a constitution that prevented the government from creating a socialist welfare nation without the permission of “We the people,” by way of an amendment to the Constitution.

In November, we have the opportunity to reign in the government and tell it to return to the confines of its constitutional authority, to function within those confines and to demand it get our permission before changing the Constitution.

Maybe we need fewer politically experienced people with confused ethics in Washington, D.C. and more politically inexperienced people with common sense and ethics. It’s our government and it must be accountable to us. We can constitutionally take back control. Our choice. Our vote. Our power. It’s worth some thought.

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