Only Limited and Carefully Defined Powers Should Be Delegated to Government – All Others Be Retained in the People

This goes along with the 10^th 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.

Proverbs 28:4-5 “Those who abandon God’s teachings praise wicked people, but those who follow God’s teachings oppose wicked people. Evil people do not understand justice.” (from GOD’S WORD)

This was one principle that our Founding Fathers felt was very important and that was to prohibit the federal government from having too much power. This principle was to help balance the powers between the federal government and the states. The federal government could keep the states in check and the states could do likewise with the federal government.

The Founding Fathers knew from their study of history that the tendency was always to move towards absolute control to where governments would become corrupt and abusive, this principle was designed to keep the power between the states and the federal government in check with one another. It was designed to reinforce the principle of limited government.

The Founders knew that unless there was a healthy relationship between the federal government and the states that each would begin to deteriorate and one or the other would begin to dominate. In other words, if one or the other began to dominate it would either mean the end of local self-government and the security of the individual or the federal government becoming so weak that the structure of the nation would begin to deteriorate.

The Founders knew – by keeping a strict balance between the state and the federal government – that it would give the individual recourse if abuse came by one or the other. For example, if the states encroached upon the rights of the individual the federal government was there to overcome and if the federal government encroached upon the rights of the individual, the states were there for recourse.

Alexander Hamilton says: “Power being almost always a rival of power, the general government will at all times stand ready to check the usurpations of the state governments, and these will have the same disposition towards the general government.”

One problem that has arisen is the election of our U.S. Senators. What would our Founding Fathers think (according to the 17^th amendment) when our senators are elected by popular vote rather than appointed by the state legislatures? If the House of Representatives passed something the U.S. Senate could always block it, but because the U.S. Senate has been appointed by popular vote they often are kept in power by what they can ‘bring home’ to the state or constituents.

For example, I read an article in our last elections that one of the reasons why a voter in the state of Nevada voted for Harry Reid is not because he thought he was the best representative for the state, but because he was able to ‘bring home’ what is known as “pork.” Because of this the question does arise: Are the states able to stop the might of the federal government if the Congress began legislating against state’s rights? At the moment it seems doubtful.

Another danger that is lurking in the back-ground is what is known as “Executive Orders” that while a president is in office He can initiate. Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu¹ said:  “There can be no liberty where the legislative and executive powers are united in the same person.” Todd F. Gaziano Director, Center for Legal & Judicial Studies Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies remarked: “A President who abuses his executive order authority undermines the constitutional separation of powers and may even violate it.”

Thomas Sowell in his book THE VISION OF THE ANOINTED made the comment that government expansion comes through crises. They can be real, created or imaginary, but the results are the same. The solution to the crises is more government offices (expansion) in order to fix the problem. When Rahm Emanuel (was the mayor of Chicago) was Obama’s chief of staff he made this famous statement: “We cannot allow a crisis to go to waste.”

Outside the archive building in Washington DC is a monument that declares: “ETERNAL VIGILANCE IS THE PRICE OF LIBERTY.”

Are we losing our freedom (liberty) because of a lack of vigilance??? We see what is happening in our present election.

A System of Checks and Balances Should be Adopted to Prevent the Abuse of Power

In the early days of our Constitution many people wanted the separation of powers to be absolute, but in his Federalist Papers (numbers 47 to 51) James Madison explained the separation of powers between the executive, legislative and the judicial. In other words, he did not want something that was absolute, but for each to hold all in “check and balance.” He said that “the trick was to separate the powers and then delicately lace them back together again as a balanced unit.”

Christopher Demuth Sr. of the Hudson Institute said: “The struggle for power and advantage is a constant of human society.” Our Founding Fathers knew the frailty of human nature and the checks and balances that they came up with in the three branches of government has provided a very stable government for over two centuries. However, looking at what is happening today we see the abuse taking place as one branch tries to take precedent over the others in order to get its way.

The idea in back of the three branches of government is that none of them ought to possess or have an overruling influence on the others. Madison went on to say: “It will not be denied power if of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it.”

In second Corinthians 10:13 the apostle Paul said: “We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.” Paul did not want to go beyond the limits that God had assigned to him. In the same way this applies to the three branches of our government. They should not go beyond the limit that has been assigned to them. However, as I mentioned before we see how the executive is trying to override the legislative by issuing executive orders, and the judicial going beyond what the Constitution provides by creating ‘new’ laws (called judicial legislation) by pretending to be merely interpreting old ones. We see the legislative branch imposing taxes that were never contemplated by the Constitution.

The cost of freedom is eternal vigilance. And because in our Republic, we the people, have not been vigilant to keep a close watch on our representatives to make sure that they are operating within constitutional boundaries, we now find our freedoms slowly, but surely, eroding.

The checks and balances set up by the Founding Fathers were  to protect the people, but how do we now protect ourselves? When Framers put together the Constitution they made the three branches of our government separate as to their “assigned” function, but also made them dependent upon one another. Undersecretary of state, J. Reuben Clark, Jr said: “the Framers had no direct guide in this work, no historical governmental precedent upon which to rely. As I see it, it was here that the divine inspiration came. It was truly a miracle.”

We see the checks and balances set up between the three branches of government at the same time the people have a check on their congressman every two years; on their president every four years; and on their senators every six years. The problem in our Republic that we have today is that we have become lazy, ignorant and careless when it comes to voting (or have not voted) and have put in people that should not have been put in places of power. President Washington said “the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution entrusted with its administration”, but so often, we, the people have not taken the time to really ‘vet’ those that we vote for to see what their true intentions are. Just like the apostle Paul said that when he departs that there will be many false teachers, false Christs coming in like the real thing, but having their own agenda. So it is with our government today.

For over two centuries that this Constitution has been in operation it has carried this nation through a number of crises. Other countries that copied our Constitution, but did not put in the checks and balances found that their presidents have suspended the Constitution and have used the Army to stay in power.

A good example of this here in our own country is the “Watergate” where a president went beyond his authority and under the threat of impeachment, although he was the commander in chief of the Armed Forces, resigned and made no attempt to keep himself in power. The transfer of powers took place quietly and in order.

Over the last 60 years I have had the privilege of traveling and visiting many countries, and often I have seen the turmoil, confusion and mass killing that has taken place because of a lack of adequate government with proper checks and balances to restrain the frailty of human nature.

The Government Should Be Separated into Three Branches Legislative, Executive, and Judicial

Isaiah 33:22 “For the Lord is our judge (judicial), the Lord is our lawgiver (legislative), the Lord is our king (executive); it is He who will save us.”

It is interesting that in ancient times political writers often debated on what is the best form of government. Some thought of the monarchy with a single powerful leader; some gravitated towards aristocracy where the best families of the nation would rule. Some preferred democracy where all the population would make the decisions. However, all of these were deficient in being able to provide the security and the justice which was needed.

Polybius was a Greek who lived 204 to 122 B.C. He felt that there was something good in all three types of government described above. For example, the monarchy had the executive strength needed to direct the government, the aristocracy represented the interest of wealth and the developing of resources for the nation, and the democracy represented the masses of the population. However, monarchy could easily become a tyranny, aristocracy could sink into an oppressive government by a few rich families, and democracy could turn into mob rule. Polybius saw the possibility of combining all three ingredients for an established government. It was called a mixed Constitution, but the idea died with Polybius.

In the 18th century Baron Charles de Montesquieu resurrected the idea of Polybius and documented the thought of the possibility of a government based on separation of powers. This illuminated the mind of our Founding Fathers of the possibility of a government based on separated but coordinated powers.

A government based upon the separation of power did not come overnight. It was John Adams, who practically stood alone, advocating a government based on the separation of powers and eventually he was able to establish this into the State Constitution of Massachusetts. Later Adams was successful in getting his ideas incorporated into the U.S. Constitution.

Benjamin Franklin acknowledged “that the Constitution of the United States with the separation of powers was as perfect as man could be expected to produce and he urged all the members of the convention to sign it so that it would have unanimous support.”

We should always keep in mind that we live in a fallen world. When we think of the Constitution with its separation of powers we do find a balance that brings in protection, security and justice that is needed in a government within this fallen world and we see that this Constitution has stood the test of time. When taking office every Senator, Congressman, Judge and President pledges to uphold the Constitution. However, we find today among some of the progressive political leaders that they look upon the Constitution as a “living document.” What this means is that it needs to change according to the culture changing. In other words, it was okay for the agricultural culture of our Founding Fathers, but for this information age there needs to be the adjustments to the times that we live in.

What they forget is that human nature never changes except through the Gospel of Jesus Christ and unless that takes place in men man will always be moving away from and not towards God. With its separation of powers, the Constitution brings this into focus with its checks and balances, but today, although our Constitution is often treated with reverence, is not seen any longer for much practical use. Therefore, we are losing the reasonable balance of power among the three constitutional branches and have seen power dramatically shifted away from Congress primarily to the executive but also to the judiciary.

Whether Congress can regain its legislative authority is something that will be seen in the next 2020 election and in the years to come.

The Highest Level of Prosperity Occurs When There is a Free Market Economy and a Minimum of Government Regulations

This is a question the Founding Fathers had: “Are there natural laws for the marketplace?” They saw that there was a possibility of a political and social structure based on natural law, but what about the marketplace?

A book called Wealth of Nations was written about that time (1776) by a college professor in Scotland named Adam Smith.

Thomas Jefferson said about this book: “In political economy, I think Smith’s Wealth of Nations is the best book extant (surviving or in existence),” and the United States was the first country to base the whole national economy on natural law and the free market concept described by Adam Smith.

This brought in the first six things that our Founding Fathers followed:

1. Specialized production – let each person or corporation of persons do what they do best.
2. Exchange of goods to take place in a free market environment without governmental interference in production, prices, or wages.
3. The free market provides the needs of the people on the basis of supply and demand, with no government imposed monopolies.
4. Prices are regulated by competition on the basis of supply and demand.
5. Profits are looked upon as the means by which production of goods and services is made worthwhile.
6. Competition is looked upon as the means by which quality is improved, quantity is increased, and prices are reduced.

Perhaps I should insert here that America became wealthy not by conquering other nations and taking their wealth (like many other nations have done), but by putting the principles outlined above into practice and creating wealth.

Founding Fathers knew that prosperity would depend on proper laws to protect the economy and they came up with the four laws: the freedom to try, the freedom to buy, the freedom to sell, and the freedom to fail. It is said that in 1905 the United States had become the richest industrial nation in the world and only having 5% of the earth’s continental land area and 6% of the world’s population the American people were producing over half of almost everything: clothes, food, houses, transportation, communication, even luxuries.

It seems to me that one of the problems that we face today in the 21^st century is the proper role of government, especially in the area of economics? Adam Smith knew that the greatest threat to economic prosperity would be government intervention, and that through fixing prices, wages, controlling production, controlling distribution, etc.

However, the Founding Fathers knew that there were areas of legitimate responsibilities for the government. What are they?

1. Illegal force in the marketplace to compel to purchase or to sell the products.
2. Fraud in misrepresenting the quality, location, or ownership of the item being sold or bought.
3. Monopoly which eliminates competition and results in restraint of trade.
4. Debauchery of the cultural standards and moral fiber of society by commercial exploitation of vice – pornography, obscenity, drugs, liquor, prostitution, or commercial gambling.

I look at these four things and I see how far we, in the 21^st century, have drifted from the foundation of what our Founding Fathers laid down. Hebrews 2:1 comes to mind: “We must pay the most careful attention therefore to what we’ve heard so that we do not drift away.” The easiest thing in the world to do is to “drift.” In order to drift all we have to do is nothing, and, because we, the citizenry have not been vigilant – we are losing our freedoms slowly but surely.

At the turn of the 20^th century we saw many prominent and influential leaders losing confidence in the system and thinking that the economic system needed some adjustments and fine-tuning and in so doing they were getting ready to throw the entire system overboard, or like we would say in the English language: “Throw the baby out with the bathwater.” It is true with any system that often there is a need for fine-tuning, but there was a new movement starting among different labor groups demanding that the government get involved in the redistribution of the wealth.

It was in the early part of the 20^th century that Adam Smith was seen as being “archaic” and Karl Marx was “the new kid on the block.” It was the 1929 depression that began to separate the new age from the old. Up until Franklin Delano Roosevelt we had the checks and balances, limited government, and the inalienable rights to liberty and prosperity, but after 1933 we began to get the centralized state and the controls of industry by the government.

In the division of powers – Congress was given the responsibility for the issuing of money. In the Constitution the Founders stated that Congress would have the power “to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin,” and all money was “to be coined in precious metal and paper notes were to be promises to pay in gold and silver, not legal tender as such.”

However, what happened was that the issuing of money was turned over to a private consortium of bankers who set up a privately owned bank called the Bank of the United States and today we have a similar arrangement that exists under the Federal Reserve System. (A good book to read is called The Creature from Jekyll Island which talks about the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank.)

This in turn has brought in “fractional banking” which allows a bank to loan out three or four times more paper notes than it has in assets and now we have become an economy of debt instead of wealth. In seeing what was happening and in the latter part of his life Thomas Jefferson said: “We are completely saddled and bridled, and the bank is so firmly mounted on us that we must go where it will guide.”

The writer of the Hebrews challenges us: “We must pay close attention…”

Life and Liberty Are Secure Only so Long As the Right to Property Is Secure

Leviticus 25:13 “In this year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property.

Psalm 115:16 “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind.”

The one unalienable right that our Founding Fathers told us to be aware of was the right to property, because all other rights are related to it. Just a superficial reading of Scripture shows the importance that God has placed on private property ownership. Under English common law the earth was considered a gift from God, as we see from Psalm 115:16. John Locke pointed out that this was a common gift and it was the responsibility of mankind to improve it.

This goes along with the Cultural Mandate that the Creator gave us to “subdue the earth and have dominion over it.” (Genesis 1:28) In one sense, dominion brings in the idea of control which also brings in what the Founding Fathers called “exclusiveness” meaning that private property became a necessity in order to subdue the earth and have dominion over it.

If we did not have what is known as “private rights” to develop and improve property then it would be perfectly lawful for a lazy, covetous person to move in as soon as improvements were made and take possession of the land. Even then the lazy, covetous neighbor would not be secure because someone stronger than him could come in and take over.

In the book, The 5000 Year Leap, we read that without property rights four things would occur that would completely frustrate the Creator’s command to multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and bring it under dominion. What are they?

1. “If another person could come in and take possession of the property once it is improved it would completely destroy the incentive of an industrious person to develop and improve any more property.”
2. “The industrious individual would also be deprived of the fruits of his labor.”
3. “Marauding bands would even be tempted to go about the country confiscating by force and violence the good things which others had frugally and painstakingly provided.” (Look what is happening in some of our cities where private property is being confiscated, business’s ruined.)
4. “Mankind would be impelled to remain on the bare subsistence level of hand to mouth survival because the accumulation of anything would invite attack.”

In other words, and like Locke and our Founding Fathers brought out, property is an extension of a person’s life and energy as well as ingenuity. The reason that they bring this out is that every man has a ‘property’ in his own person. So, the labor of his body and the work of his hands are properly his.

A question does come that since everything originally was common with the rest of humanity how then does one require ownership? John Locke answers the question: “It is the taking any part of what is common, and removing it out of the state that Nature leaves it in, which begins the property, without which the common (gift from God) is of no use.” John Locke goes on to say: “Thus this law of reason makes the deer the property of the Indian who has killed it; it is allowed to be his goods who had bestowed his labor upon it, though before, it was the common right of everyone.” In other words, property becomes the owner of those who put the labor into it. For example, in the early days of our Union property was allotted to those who would take possession and put labor into it. It was Justice George Sutherland of the U.S. Supreme Court that mentioned that property, per se, has no rights; “but the individual – the man – has three great rights, equally sacred from arbitrary interference: the right to his Life, the right to his liberty, the right to his property.” It was Abraham Lincoln who said, “Property is the fruit of labor.”

On the basis of all of this, one of the primary purposes of government is to protect property. The early American colonists realized the importance of this and it is one of the things that led to the Revolutionary War, because it was the royal crown trying to take away property through various kinds of taxation without their consent. Our Founding Fathers realized the foundational stone for human liberty and human happiness is private property.

This is why government should not take from the ‘haves’ and give to the ‘have-nots,’ as the redistribution of the wealth is unconstitutional. However, we see today how the government has slowly but surely began to redistribute, out of concern (supposedly), for the poor and needy. The question does arise who will take care of the poor? The answer according to our Founding Fathers was “anybody but the federal government.” Up until the present time, help was given almost exclusively by the private sector or on the community or state level.

It would seem to me that if we lose our right to own private property we also will soon lose all our other rights.

Life and Liberty Are Secure Only so Long As the Right to Property Is Secure

Leviticus 25:13 “In this year of Jubilee everyone is to return to their own property.

Psalm 115:16 “The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to mankind.”

The one unalienable right that our Founding Fathers told us to be aware of was the right to property, because all other rights are related to it. Just a superficial reading of Scripture shows the importance that God has placed on private property ownership. Under English common law the earth was considered a gift from God, as we see from Psalm 115:16. John Locke pointed out that this was a common gift and it was the responsibility of mankind to improve it.

This goes along with the Cultural Mandate that the Creator gave us to “subdue the earth and have dominion over it.” (Genesis 1:28) In one sense, dominion brings in the idea of control which also brings in what the Founding Fathers called “exclusiveness” meaning that private property became a necessity in order to subdue the earth and have dominion over it.

If we did not have what is known as “private rights” to develop and improve property then it would be perfectly lawful for a lazy, covetous person to move in as soon as improvements were made and take possession of the land. Even then the lazy, covetous neighbor would not be secure because someone stronger than him could come in and take over.

In the book, The 5000 Year Leap, we read that without property rights four things would occur that would completely frustrate the Creator’s command to multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it and bring it under dominion. What are they?

1. “If another person could come in and take possession of the property once it is improved it would completely destroy the incentive of an industrious person to develop and improve any more property.”
2. “The industrious individual would also be deprived of the fruits of his labor.”
3. “Marauding bands would even be tempted to go about the country confiscating by force and violence the good things which others had frugally and painstakingly provided.” (Look what is happening in some of our cities where private property is being confiscated, business’s ruined.)
4. “Mankind would be impelled to remain on the bare subsistence level of hand to mouth survival because the accumulation of anything would invite attack.”

In other words, and like Locke and our Founding Fathers brought out, property is an extension of a person’s life and energy as well as ingenuity. The reason that they bring this out is that every man has a ‘property’ in his own person. So, the labor of his body and the work of his hands are properly his.

A question does come that since everything originally was common with the rest of humanity how then does one require ownership? John Locke answers the question: “It is the taking any part of what is common, and removing it out of the state that Nature leaves it in, which begins the property, without which the common (gift from God) is of no use.” John Locke goes on to say: “Thus this law of reason makes the deer the property of the Indian who has killed it; it is allowed to be his goods who had bestowed his labor upon it, though before, it was the common right of everyone.” In other words, property becomes the owner of those who put the labor into it. For example, in the early days of our Union property was allotted to those who would take possession and put labor into it. It was Justice George Sutherland of the U.S. Supreme Court that mentioned that property, per se, has no rights; “but the individual – the man – has three great rights, equally sacred from arbitrary interference: the right to his Life, the right to his liberty, the right to his property.” It was Abraham Lincoln who said, “Property is the fruit of labor.”

On the basis of all of this, one of the primary purposes of government is to protect property. The early American colonists realized the importance of this and it is one of the things that led to the Revolutionary War, because it was the royal crown trying to take away property through various kinds of taxation without their consent. Our Founding Fathers realized the foundational stone for human liberty and human happiness is private property.

This is why government should not take from the ‘haves’ and give to the ‘have-nots,’ as the redistribution of the wealth is unconstitutional. However, we see today how the government has slowly but surely began to redistribute, out of concern (supposedly), for the poor and needy. The question does arise who will take care of the poor? The answer according to our Founding Fathers was “anybody but the federal government.” Up until the present time, help was given almost exclusively by the private sector or on the community or state level.

It would seem to me that if we lose our right to own private property we also will soon lose all our other rights.