Alternate Current — What”s actually in the Constitution?
It has become very fashionable these days for those who despise our government to refer to the Constitution as their justification for their outrage, claiming to be its protectors. Often, those who are most vehement in their denunciation of the federal government turn out not to have a clue about what”s actually in that wonderful document, deliberately written by our founders in the plainest and most concise language of the day, expressly to limit the misinterpretation of their intent. Following are quotes from the Constitution regarding “Militia” (punctuation, spelling and capitalization from the original).
Article 1, Section 8, regarding the duties of the Congress, “To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the laws of the UNION, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions” and then later in Article 2, Section 2, “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States.” The Second Amendment goes on to say “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Note that the amendment in no way changes the fact that the president and Congress are clearly the entities responsible for regulating and commanding the militia and that the state referred to is singular, not plural, meaning the entire country, not the “several States.”
Another point to consider would be found in the very last paragraph of Article 1, Section 10, which reads in part, “No State shall, without the consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops or Ships of War in times of Peace, enter into any agreement or Compact with another State or with a foreign Power?” So it is clear that no state is legally allowed to keep troops in times of peace without consent of Congress.
Article 3, Section 3 states “Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.”
Article 6 concludes “The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and Judicial officers, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”
Charles Key, R-Oklahoma City, introduced legislation to create a state militia that he intends to use in resisting the federal government, despite having taken the above referenced oath of office. If successful, I suggest he hope that the president, a former professor of Constitutional Law and well aware of Mr. Key”s unconstitutional scheme, is kept preoccupied with the Herculean tasks of helping to restore the economic health of our country and with ending two costly wars, all problems inherited from his predecessor. As soon as the president has a few spare moments, he may instruct his well-regulated militia to knock upon Mr. Key”s door.
President Obama may well realize that one of his most important jobs is to teach Constitutional law in a much more public forum than the University of Chicago Law School, especially to those who are actually part of the governing process. This could prove to be his most valuable and enduring legacy as the media now goes with sensationalism instead of facts, allowing the masses to be misled by the few and the ignorant.
What could be more important or honorable than to help millions of Americans become well informed, patriotic citizens who actually know what”s in the Constitution instead of just having some baseless, romantic notion of what they imagine it to be? Calling yourself a patriot doesn”t make you a patriot. A plastic yellow ribbon does not support our troops. To be honorable you must first be honest. Facts, honesty and decency must rule the day. Serious times call for serious solutions, not just silly accusations and name calling. Nature abhors a vacuum. If we destroy our government instead of repairing it, something much worse will surely follow in short order.
Lowell Grant is a weekly columnist for the Record-Bee. E-mail him at c21vintage@aol.com.
