Guest Column: Office holders must obey Constitution
By FRANK D. BANTASpecial to The Newnan Times-Herald
Those that don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
In his book “The Five Thousand Year Leap,” W.C. Skousen relates that in a newspaper letter in June 1803, Thomas Jefferson expressed concern about political extremists who wanted to form a central government so strong that it would border on a monarchy:
It is not just the president who has taken this oath as a prerequisite to being delegated government authority and responsibility. It is an oath required of every federal officer, every member of the military, and every state officer: “to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.”
Today our government is stuffed with those that disregard and disdain the Constitution and would infringe the inalienable rights of the sovereign citizen by illegally refusing to faithfully enforce the laws; by making capricious and arbitrary exceptions to law for political purposes; by seizing and redistributing private property without just compensation; by denying citizens’ rights to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects; by the taking of life, liberty and property without due process of law; by unrelenting, egregious over-spending for un-constitutional purposes; by recklessly and irresponsibly indebting the American taxpayer; by un-constitutional manipulation of the currency by non-government agencies; by assuming authorities and responsibilities not delegated by the Constitution; by un-constitutional law-making by the Executive and Judiciary; by un-constitutional infringing the individual right to keep and bear arms; by un-constitutional interfering with the free exercise of religion; by un-constitutional restrictions on peaceful assembly and redress of grievances; by encumbering America in illegal, never-ending, undeclared offensive wars; by un-constitutional interference in commerce for purely political purposes; by claiming for themselves exclusive and excessive emoluments and benefits.
Undeniably the Constitution limits the right to hold any federal or state executive office to those that will “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.” Either we are a nation under law, or we are a nation under tyranny. It is the citizen’s responsibility to assure that our elected representatives comply with, and enforce, the Constitution.
