Saving the Constitution: An Introduction

Posted by Benjamin Gross

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Much is being written about certain flaws in the character of Chief Justice John Roberts. Conservatives are of the opinion that Roberts was moved to uphold Obamacare due to the persuasive force of The New York Times editorial pages.

Libertarians suspect mental defects caused him to replace the Commerce Clause with the Taxing Powers as Congress’s license to puree our few remaining freedoms. And legal scholars of all bias are united in the view that Roberts, quite unlike his judicial ancestor King Solomon, actually did cut the baby in half.

Proposed solutions to this constitutional gobsmack range from the improbable – a congressional repeal – to the unlikely – President Mitt appointing libertarian jurists to the Supreme Court. Does this mean our liberties are forever hostage to nine Ivy League law school grads?

Reading the Federalist frontward and backward one is hard pressed to find a passage favoring the idea that a handful of politically-appointed lawyers are the final arbiters of constitutional overreach. To the contrary, even Alexander Hamilton, who was of the caste partial to big government, forcibly refuted in Federalist No. 81 charges that the proposed Supreme Court would be given a monopoly on the “power of construing the laws according to the SPIRIT of the Constitution”:

In the first place, there is not a syllable in the plan under consideration which DIRECTLY empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution, or which gives them any greater latitude in this respect than may be claimed by the courts of every State.

Doubtlessly you are now thinking, yes, Federalist No. 81 will convince legions to rise up against our DC overlords and rightfully return sovereignty to the States and the people.

If it were only so simple.

Regular readers of this site are treated to a wealth of historical perspective and current events commentary on the Tenth Amendment as the long-neglected bulwark against federal tyranny. Our many readers enjoy the crisp writing and learned perspective, and leave feeling better informed about the people, places and ideas animating the liberty movement.

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But what part can you, dear reader, play in making sure we don’t end up in a Hunger Games-style dystopia, with a neo-fascist central government controlling our jobs, our wealth, our healthcare, our food, our transportation, our everything?

In the three-part series to follow, using insights gleaned from experiences as a political operative, blogger, former elected official, party committeeman and attorney licensed in three sovereign States, I will offer strategies on how each of us can active for the Constitution. Part One, appearing in the next few days, is entitled “Network, Organize and Takeover”. Part Two will focus on messaging, education and agenda-setting. Part Three will be a visioning exercise of what real freedom looks like.

See you in a few.

Benjamin Gross is the legal director for the Pennsylvania Tenth Amendment Center and blogs at www.sweatyfederalist.com.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, July 15th, 2012 at 4:55 am. It is filed under Activism, Featured, Tenther 101.
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