Imagine playing a board game with friends that no one has ever played before without a rule book. Sounds pretty chaotic and confusing, right? How will anyone be able to play the game and have a good time? They wouldn’t.
When we broke away from the British Empire many years ago, our founding father’s had a blank slate in the formation of our country.
Considering what they just declared independence from, an oppressive monarchy, our country’s founders wanted nothing similar, therefore they were hesitant to create any centralized body of government, or a federal government. As a result, the Articles of Confederation were written, and can be referred to as our “first constitution”.
The major problem with the Articles of Confederation, is that the states had too much power, and the federal government, not enough power to keep a union intact and manage a war-front as the Revolutionary War took place. Therefore in 1787 a Constitutional Convention was assembled to revise the Articles of Confederation and our founders wrote the Constitution which remains in effect today.
But what if I don’t agree with some of the rules?
Two of the best parts about our Constitution is that, unlike most games, the rules can be changed and federalism.
As documented in Article Five, we have the unique ability to amend our Constitution, or change the rules. In fact, we have twenty-seven times. The Constitution we have today is not the same Constitution our founders wrote.
Furthermore, when the concept of federalism is fully practiced, and you live amongst those who share your values and decisions are made at the most local level as possible, we tend to agree with the rules, that is the beauty of federalism.
Our rights come from god, not man
It is important to note that our rights come from God and not man. Why? It is simple, if our rights, such as freedom of speech, came from man, then man can take them away. And if our rights come from God, that means no politician or government may take them away.
Our rights give us power.
It is also important to note that our rights give us power. If you were told what you can and cannot say, if you were told you couldn’t defend yourself or travel freely. If your government assumed you were guilty and locked you up and threw away the key prior to proving innocence, you would feel quite powerless.
Thankfully, our rights clearly state that government cannot do any of the aforementioned examples and then some. We have the right to act as free men and women as long as we are not infringing on the rights of others and any politician who attempts to infringe on our rights are infringing on the power that we have as free people.
In conclusion, we must adhere to our Constitution if we are going to transfer power back to the people.
