Fun on Friday: The Government Can’t Even Get Constitution Day Right

Today is Constitution Day.

We’re supposed to be celebrating the day the Constitution was signed and presented to the states for ratification. But it’s pretty hard to celebrate because the Constitution is dead.

On Sept. 17, 1787, delegates (most of them, but not all) at the Philadelphia Convention signed the proposed Constitution for the United States and sent it off to begin the long and arduous ratification process.

James Madison is often called “The Father of the Constitution.” During the ratification debates, he explained the new government created by the Constitution would have very limited powers. Most of the authority in the American system was supposed to remain with the states and the people. Read carefully what Madison wrote in Federalist #45.

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation and foreign commerce; with which the last the power of taxation will for the most part be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State.” [Emphasis added]

The fact that Joe Biden now claims the unilateral authority to make you get a shot shows you just how far the federal government has drifted from powers “few and defined.”

Or just consider the fact that the federal budget deficit for this year is already at $2.71 TRILLION. The government has spent $6.3 TRILLION in just 11 months. This isn’t something a constitutionally limited government could do.

So, how completely has the US government shredded the Constitution?

It celebrates Constitution Day by violating the Constitution.

I kid you not.

I mean, I guess in a sense it’s appropriate given the current state of things.

In 2004, President George W. Bush signed an unconstitutional federal act, with an unconstitutional federal mandate, applying to unconstitutional federally-funded schools – to “teach the Constitution”

Now here’s the thing – the Constitution doesn’t delegate any authority over education to the feds. Therefore, per the Tenth Amendment, education funding and standards should completely be a state and local concern. So, this whole “celebration” mandate violates the document it claims to celebrate.

You might think there’s a silver lining in all this. They at least teach the Constitution, right? That’s certainly something kids need to learn about. So, maybe I should stop being a killjoy and be glad the founding document is being recognized at all, right?

Except they don’t even bother to teach the Constitution.

They teach a bunch of trivia about the Constitution. They might talk about the separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. They’ll probably mention how great the presidents are. But I guarantee you the Constitution curriculum will not include reading Federalist #45.

While we’re on the subject, here’s something else that annoys me – the people who act like this is all the Constitution’s fault – as if the Constitution should somehow enforce itself.

Fundamentally, the Constitution is a contract. Contracts don’t enforce themselves. If you and I enter into a contract, I violate it, and you don’t do anything about it, it’s not the contract’s fault. You might want to look in the mirror.

The problem is everybody wants to expand federal power as long as it promotes a policy they support. It’s politics over constitutional principles. But you need to stop and consider that once you’ve given the government power to do something “good,” it can also use that power to do something “bad.” And the power never goes away. Once you take down the fence, nobody will ever put it back up. As a result, we have decades of creeping and expanding federal overreach.

If you are interested in learning more about the Constitution and the system of government it was intended to create, I’ve written a book on the subject titled  Constitution Owner’s Manual: The Real Constitution the Politicians Don’t Want You to Know About.  You can learn more about the book at ConstitutionOwnersManual.com.

Fun on Friday is a weekly SchiffGold feature. I dig up some of the off-the-wall and off-beat stories relating to precious metals (however loosely) and share them with you – with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The opinions expressed are my own. They are 100% correct – but not necessarily shared by anybody else here – including Peter Schiff. Click here to read other posts in this series.