Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

September 17, 2012

The document that was completed inPhiladelphiaon this day in 1787 was a written Constitution intended to limit the powers of the central government by specifically defining its functions. Anything the federal government was not explicitly permitted to do, it was forbidden to do.

Today, the word ?Constitution? has been divested of any substantial meaning. It is a term invoked to justify practically any program or initiative approved by Congress or undertaken by the executive branch. Professor Jack M. Balkin of Yale Law School describes this process as ?state-building? by making "significant revisions to the American social contract."

"Whenever the federal government expands its capabilities, it changes the nature of the social compact," writes Balkin in The Atlantic. "Sometimes the changes are small, but sometimes, as in the New Deal or the civil rights era, the changes are big. And when the changes are big, courts are called on to legitimamize the changes and ensure that they are consistent with our ancient Constitution.?

The entire purpose of having a written constitution was to prevent the government from re-defining the ?social compact? to suit its whims. As things stand, the U.S. Constitution is no obstacle to the corrupt ambitions of the people who rule us.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.