Posts Tagged ‘original intent’

Happy 230th Birthday to the Bill of Rights

Posted: December 16, 2021 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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Wednesday December 15th marked the 230th anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights.  Unfortunately the original meaning and purpose of that document has been so distorted that few of us are aware that the modern understanding is the exact opposite of the original meaning.  Progressives and other proponents of big government and collectivism have constructed many myths and outright lies about the Bill of Rights.  They have used these mistruths to actually strip away and trample on the rights the Bill of Rights was meant to protect.

I thought I would celebrate the anniversary of the ratification by busting some of the most outrageous and harmful lies about the Bill of Rights.

The most common myth about the Bill of Rights is that that document grants us our rights.  That if false.  All of our rights are granted to each and every individual by God.  All of our rights are God-given Natural Rights.  This most famous line by Thomas Jefferson from the Declaration of Independence states this fundamental principle so eloquently:

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

The Bill of Rights does not in any way restrain state governments.  I know that that fact may even seem controversial to Conservatives and others on the political right.  That only serves to illustrate just how badly distorted the original meaning of the Bill of Rights has been.  The government created by the United States Constitution is a bottom up distributed federal republic rather than a top down consolidated national government. 

The States are mostly independent nations held together by a weak central government.   Each state constitution has a bill of rights to protect the rights of the people of that state from encroachments by the state governments.  From this exchange that took place during the drafting of the Bill of Rights you can see that James Madison attempted to extend the Bill Rights down to the states and was defeated. 

Over the past 100 years the Supreme Court has allowed the federal government to extend the Bill of Rights down to the states, in direct violation of the Constitution.  This has led to a consolidated top down national government where the states have become mere appendages of the federal government. This has done tremendous harm including Roe V Wade.

It has been maintained by the Supreme Court that the 14th Amendment incorporated the Bill of Rights down to the state level.  They only accomplished this by distorting the plain meaning of the 14th Amendment.  I discuss this in great detail in this article.

The separation of church and state is not found in any clause of the Bill Rights, nor any other part of the Constitution.  That blatantly unconstitutional doctrine was created by distorting the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  The proponents of the separation and state completely ignore the Free Exercise of Religion Clause of the First Amendment. The two clause together state:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

Those two clauses prohibit the federal government from establishing an official national religion and prohibit the federal government from interfering with the free exercise of religion of every individual’  Thanks to the doctrines of the incorporation of the Bill of Rights and the separation of church and state, religion has almost been extinguished from the public square.  Nativity scenes in town halls, prayers by students at graduations, even candy canes, and so mush more has been banned,

The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to protect the rights of every individual by preventing the federal government from interfering with them in any way.  The Bill of Rights is a hands off for the federal government.  Period. End of story.

The Right of Conscience is being obliterated by vaccine mandates

Posted: November 18, 2021 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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The right of conscience is one of our most fundamental God-given natural rights, so fundamental that it is one of the rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights.  The framers and ratifyers of Bill of Rights universally understood the right conscience to be an integral component of the free exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment. 

For more than a century prior to the drafting of the Bill Rights, the right of conscience was considered to be one of our most important rights.  This is abundantly clear from this quotation from A Letter concerning Toleration by John Locke, which also provides a very detailed definition of the right of conscience. 

Now that the whole jurisdiction of the magistrate reaches only to these civil concernments, and that all civil power, right, and dominion, is bounded and confined to the only care of promoting these things; and that it neither can nor ought in any manner to be extended to the salvation of souls, these following considerations seem unto me abundantly to demonstrate.

First. Because the care of souls is not committed to the civil magistrate, any more than to other men. It is not committed unto him, I say, by God; because it appears not that God has ever given any such authority to one man over another, as to compel any one to his religion. Nor can any such power be vested in the magistrate by the consent of the people, because no man can so far abandon the care of his own salvation as blindly to leave to the choice of any other, whether prince or subject, to prescribe to him what faith or worship he shall embrace. For no man can, if he would, conform his faith to the dictates of another. All the life and power of true religion consist in the inward and full persuasion of the mind; and faith is not faith without believing. Whatever profession we make, to whatever outward worship we conform, if we are not fully satisfied in our own mind that the one is true, and the other well pleasing unto God, such profession and such practice, far from being any furtherance, are indeed great obstacles to our salvation. For in this manner, instead of expiating other sins by the exercise of religion, I say, in offering thus unto God Almighty such a worship as we esteem to be displeasing unto him, we add unto the number of our other sins those also of hypocrisy, and contempt of his Divine Majesty.

In the second place. The care of souls cannot belong to the civil magistrate, because his power consists only in outward force; but true and saving religion consists in the inward persuasion of the mind, without which nothing can be acceptable to God. And such is the nature of the understanding, that it cannot be compelled to the belief of anything by outward force. Confiscation of estate, imprisonment, torments, nothing of that nature can have any such efficacy as to make men change the inward judgment that they have framed of things.

No author influenced the framers of the Constitution and Bill of Rights more than John Locke.  He wrote this letter in 1689.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason in 1776, was a primary model for the Bill of Rights.  As you can see from this quote, the right of conscience was an integral component of free exercise of religion

That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other.

Many states agreed to ratify the Constitution only if a Bill of Rights was included. Each of the states proposed very similar amendments.  The next quote is from Virginia Ratifying Convention.  All of these ideas were incorporated in the free exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment.

Twentieth, That religion or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence, and therefore all men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established by Law in preference to others.

This next quote is from the Transcripts of the debates from the House of Representatives during the drafting of the Bill of Rights.   This particular debate took place on August 15, 1789.  From this quote it is self evident that the right of conscience is an integral component of the free exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment.

The House again went into a Committee of the Whole on the proposed amendments to the constitution, Mr. Boudinot in the Chair.The fourth proposition being under consideration, as follows:

Article 1. Section 9. Between paragraphs two and three insert “no religion shall be established by law, nor shall the equal rights of conscience be infringed.”

Mr. Sylvester had some doubts of the propriety of the mode of expression used in this paragraph. He apprehended that it was liable to a construction different from what had been made by the committee. He feared it might be thought to have a tendency to abolish religion altogether.

Mr. Vining suggested the propriety of transposing the two members of the sentence.

Mr. Gerry said it would read better if it was, that no religious doctrine shall be established by law.

Mr. Sherman thought the amendment altogether unnecessary, inasmuch as Congress had no authority whatever delegated to them by the Constitution to make religious establishments; he would, therefore, move to have it struck out.

Mr. [Daniel] Carroll As the rights of conscience are, in their nature, of peculiar delicacy, and will little bear the gentlest touch of governmental hand; and as many sects have concurred in opinion that they are not well secured under the present constitution, he said he was much in favor of adopting the words. He thought it would tend more towards conciliating the minds of the people to the Government than almost any other amendment he had heard proposed. He would not contend with gentlemen about the phraseology, his object was to secure the substance in such a manner as to satisfy the wishes of the honest part of the community.

Mr. Madison said, he apprehended the meaning of the words to be, that Congress should not establish a religion, and enforce the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any manner contrary to their conscience. Whether the words are necessary or not, he did not mean to say, but they had been required by some of the State Conventions, who seemed to entertain an opinion that under the clause of the Constitution, which gave power to Congress to make all laws necessary and proper to carry into execution the Constitution, and the laws made under it, enabled them to make laws of such a nature as might infringe the rights of conscience and establish a national religion; to prevent these effects he presumed the amendment was intended, and he thought it as well expressed as the nature of the language would admit.

The Bill of Rights does not restrain the state governments in any way.  The constitution of each state contains a Bill of Rights which protects the rights of the people living in that state from abuses of the state governments.  Here is Article II of the Massachusetts Constitution, which protects the right of conscience of everyone in this state

It is the right as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God in the manner and season most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession or sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship.

As you can see from all of the quotes I’ve provided, the right of conscience of every single individual is an absolute right.  All that matters is the conscience of each and every individual.  Like all rights, the permission of the government is not needed for each individual to exercise their right of conscience.  If government permission was needed it would not be a right.  Any restrictions placed on the right of conscience is an infringement of the right of conscience because it is a fundamental right.

The right of conscience is not a collective right, assigned by the government collectively to those who belong only to a certain church or religion. That would violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. It is an individual right, based solely on the conscience of each individual, government approval in neither needed or warranted.

The federal government is trampling on the right of conscience of every individual with Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate because extreme restrictions are placed on this right,  States are doing the same.  Written permission from states and the federal government is needed for those seeking religious exemptions from vaccine mandates.  That is most definitely an infringement of the right of conscience of everyone. 

Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate is unconstitutional in the extreme

Posted: November 11, 2021 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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Joe Biden, the illegitimate president of the United States, issued his federal vaccine mandate last week.  The actual text proved to be just as tyrannical, unscientific, and unconstitutional, as we’ve all been led to expect.   It is impossible to fully chronicle all of the ways this egregiously oppressive mandate violates the Constitution of the United States in anything short of a book.  In this article I will concentrate on the most important few.

I am far from alone when ot comes to individuals and accurate news sites documenting the ways that Biden’s vaccine mandate violates the US Constitution.  Check out this article, Mark Levin: Vaccine Mandate ‘Unconstitutional’ — ‘Federal Government Doesn’t Have Plenary Police Powers — The States Do’, from one of the most accurate constitutional scholars I’ve encountered.

LEVIN: What’s happening throughout this country — listening to those wonderful patriots there — is that the government is weeding out people who just don’t go along with authoritarianism. They’re weeding out people through these vaccine mandates. Many people who have the natural immunity, they’re going to be fired with an unconstitutional legal mandate from Joe Biden. The federal government doesn’t have plenary police powers. The states do.

And OSHA has no statutory authority, that is the Labor Department, over vaccines. If any department did and they don’t, it would be HHS. And notice they didn’t issue any regulation. So this will be defeated. But it’s the mentality, it’s the totalitarian mentality.

Mark Levin is absolutely correct when he states that the Federal government does not have the authority to issue this vaccine mandate, or any type of mandate.  He is also correct that the individual states may have the authority under our constitutional system, the deciding factor would be the constitution of each state. 

The United States Constitution did not create an all powerful national government, which has complete control over the states.  Instead the Constitution created a mostly federal government where the states are generally sovereign nations, tied together by a weak central government. 

The federal government is only granted a discreet set of clearly defined powers, which are plainly spelled out, or enumerated, in the Constitution.  All of the powers granted to the federal government are listed in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution, in the section titled Powers of Congress.  All powers not granted to federal government, and not specifically denied to the states in Article 1 Section 10, remain with the individual states.  This is discussed in great detail in Federalist Paper Number 45 by James Madison

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected.

The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State. The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the State governments, in times of peace and security.

OSHA should not exist at all because the United States Constitution does not grant the federal government the power to regulate businesses in any way.  The federal government granted itself that power by distorting the plain text of the Interstate Commerce Clause, which only grants the federal government the authority to regulate the large scale flow of commerce between the individual states, not the commerce inside of each state.  Since OSHA should not exist, it does not have the authority to issue a vaccine mandate.  As you can see from Article 1 Section 8, Congress is not granted the authority to issue vaccine mandates, therefore the federal government does not have the power to do so. 

The United States Constitution granted each branch of the federal government separate and discrete powers.  The Legislative Branch rights laws, the Executive branch executes laws, and the Judiical Branch interprets laws.  In Federalist Paper Number 47 James Madison commented on dangers of the branches of the federal government ignoring the separation of powers

The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. 

In the legislation that created OSHA, or any subsequent legislation, that unconstitutional body is not granted the authority to mandate vaccines.  Joe Biden is violating the separation of powers by rewriting the OSHA laws to grant that body the authority to do so.

The Kentucky Resolutions draft by Thomas Jefferson. written in 1798, is a fantastic resource for understanding the United States Constitution.  In section 1, Jefferson discusses the relationship between powers granted to federal government versus powers retained by the states. He also mentions clearly what happens when the federal government oversteps its authority.

Resolved_, That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.

In Section 9 Jefferson laws out the best method for states to deal with unconstitutional usurpations by the federal government.  It is called Nullification, which the states can do themselves, completely independent of the Supreme Court, which has abandoned the Constitution many decades ago.

Resolved_, That a committee of conference and correspondence be appointed, who shall have in charge to communicate the preceding resolutions to the legislatures of the several States; to assure them that this commonwealth continues in the same esteem of their friendship and union which it has manifested from that moment at which a common danger first suggested a common union: that it considers union, for specified national purposes, and particularly to those specified in their late federal compact, to be friendly to the peace, happiness and prosperity of all the States: that faithful to that compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation: that it does also believe, that to take from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness or prosperity of these States; and that therefore this commonwealth is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are, to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on earth: that in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the General Government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, (casus non foederis,) to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits:

This will be the end result if the this year’s presidential election results in chaos

Posted: October 1, 2020 by Jon Fournier in Uncategorized
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The internet is full of conflicting information about what would happen if there is no clear winner by inauguration day in this upcoming presidential election.  This scenario is highly likely because of the absolute chaos that will be caused by so many states adopting mail in ballots because of the Coronavirus pandemic.  To find the truth about what would happen I decided to check the most original source material I could find on the subject, the United States Constitution.  

The Twelfth Amendment governs exactly what would happen if there is no clear winner of the presidential election.   I knew it would end up in the House of Representatives and I dreaded that because, as we all know, the Democrats control the House.  After reading the amendment and doing some research I was greatly relieved.  Here is the appropriate clause of the amendment.

The person having the greatest number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by States, the representation from each State having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the States, and a majority of all the States shall be necessary to a choice.

I tried to use Google to find out the breakdown of the House of Representatives by party and state.  Google as usual failed to provide search results for a clear and concise search request.  Thankfully I found the information in this Breitbart article Pollak: How Pelosi’s House of Representatives Could Re-elect Trump.  As you can see it was great news for us lovers of liberty.

While there are 435 representatives, there will only be 50 votes. And a current tally of representatives in each state shows that there are more Republican-majority delegations than Democrat-majority delegations. Republicans control 26 delegations; Democrats dominate 22; Pennsylvania is tied and Democrats have a 7-6 Michigan plurality.

I was concerned about the Democrats derailing the entire election, which should result in a Trump victory, by not Showing up when the election is handed off to the House.  To prevent that from happening there would need to be more than thirty four States that have at least one Republican Representatives who would show up.  There are only seven or eight states that have no Republicans so we are safe. 

The Breitbart article gives the exact timing of when the election would be handed off to the House of Representatives if there is no victor.

It seems almost certain that neither party will accept a close result in the presidential election on November 3. And given the likely delays due to vote-by-mail, recounts, and legal challenges, it is possible neither President Donald Trump nor former Vice President Joe Biden will have an Electoral College majority by December 14, when the Electors cast their votes.

The Twenieth Amendment governs exactly what would happen if the House of Representatives could not come up with a winner by Inauguration Day.

 If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice-President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice-President shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice-President shall have qualified.

As you can see, whichever party wins the House in the November election would appoint a temporary president until the election mess is finally sorted out.  It is a tremendous incentive to do our best to make sure the Republicans take back the House.

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