O: Constitution Is A Charter of Negative Liberties

[PurplePuppy]

Obama Rants That The Constitution Is A “Charter of Negative Liberties”



June 12, 2013 5:06pm PST

In light of President Obama’s unparalleled spying on and intrusions into every single American’s life, many people are finding it interesting to go back to his prior pronouncements. For example, in 2007, Candidate Obama promised that “I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists, without undermining our Constitution and our freedom.” With spying scandals exploding around us, it’s interesting to see precisely what Obama – who lectured on Constitutional law — meant when he spoke about “our Constitution and our freedom.”

InfoWars.com has resurrected a 2001 public radio interview Obama did in which he discussed his understanding of the Constitution. According to him, it’s a “charter of negative liberties,” which the Founding Fathers filled with constraints. Even worse, from Obama’s viewpoint is that the United States Supreme Court, despite Roosevelt’s, Carter’s, Kennedy’s, Johnson’s, and Clinton’s best efforts, was never successfully able to reframe the Constitution into a redistributive document:

The Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. . . . [It] didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution — at least as it’s been interpreted, and the Warren Court interpreted in the same way — that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. [It] says what the states can’t do to you. [It] says what the federal government can’t do to you, but [it] doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf.

That’s an extremely interesting formulation precisely because it expresses hopes and dreams that are completely at odds with the Founders’ vision. These men, fresh from a hard-fought battle to shake off the yoke of an all-powerful government, didn’t want the federal government to do anything for Americans except to leave them alone, while providing basic economic, commercial, and national security.

There is no greater political statement of individual liberty in the world than the American Constitution and, especially, its Bill of Rights. Only someone who associates himself solely with Big Government would consider the Constitution limiting, and he would come to this view because the Constitution’s primary purpose is to ensure that people are free from government tyranny. This means free from all tyranny, whether hard, such as Hitler demonstrated, or soft, as in a nanny state that refuses to allow its citizens to grow up, take responsibility for themselves, and thrive.

Very soon after the American Revolution ended, our Founders recognized that the federal government needed some guidance if it was to maintain its legitimacy and provide a stable structure for its citizens without destroying their rights. To that end, in 1791, the Founders enacted the Bill of Rights (i.e., the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution). They are short and sweet, and are notable for the way in which, rather than extending government power, they severely restrict its power over citizens:

Amendment 1 – Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment 2 – Right to Bear Arms.

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.

Amendment 3 – Quartering of Soldiers.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment 4 – Search and Seizure.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment 5 – Trial and Punishment, Compensation for Takings.

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Amendment 6 – Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation of Witnesses.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

Amendment 7 – Trial by Jury in Civil Cases.

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

Amendment 8 – Cruel and Unusual Punishment.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Amendment 9 – Construction of Constitution.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment 10 – Powers of the States and People.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

To summarize in modern English, our “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness,” “unalienable rights” that come from “the Creator,” are preserved only if we have a federal government that, as to the citizens within its borders:

has “no desire to make windows into men’s souls” (1st Amendment);
allows them to speak freely, whether the government likes that speech or not(1st Amendment);
allows a press unconstrained by government threats or requirements(1st Amendment);
let’s them to rally together (1st Amendment);
listens to their concerns (1st Amendment);
lets them arm themselves (2nd Amendment);
protects them from the reach of the government’s own military and police (3rd and 4th Amendments);
makes the home inviolate, with the burden on the government to prove a pressing need to breach that privacy (4th Amendment);
ensures that a citizen suspected of a crime is held only subject to a clearly stated charge, is prosecuted only once, is brought swiftly to trial, has a fair trial, may have the facts of his case judged by his peers, and cannot be bullied to convict himself out of his own mouth (5th, 6th and 7th Amendments);
establishes that, in any case, not just a civil one, the citizen may have a jury of his peers and may not lose his life, liberty or property without a full, fair trial (7th Amendment);
prevents the government from stealing private property (5th Amendment); and
never inflicts cruel or unusual punishment on any citizen (although the reference to capital crimes in the 5th Amendment indicates that execution does not fall within those parameters) (8th Amendment).

All of the above are the explicitly stated limitations the Founders placed upon the federal government. It took eight amendments to drive those points home. But to reiterate just how severely constrained the United States’ federal governments’ power is vis a vis the citizens within its borders, the Founders made two further points: While the amendments are to be understood to control the federal government, they cannot be read to mean that American citizens have only those rights enumerated in the first eight amendments (9th Amendment). Instead, those ostensibly stated affirmative “rights” are actually limitations on the government. All else remains to a free people.

And if that isn’t clear enough, the 10th amendment says that, unless the Constitution specifically reserves an affirmative right for the federal government, or prohibits it to a state, all other rights — the universe of rights, whether or not articulated — belong to the states or the people within those states.

This is small government writ large. Civil rights mean small government, with the government limited primarily (although not entirely) to protecting citizens from itself.
Obama had a perverted view of the Constitution from the beginning, viewing it, not as a document guaranteeing people their Creator-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but instead as a restrictive document preventing the government from “giving” things to people, whether they want them or not.

www.mrconservative.com/2013/06/18984-obama-rants-that-the-constitution-is-a-charter-of-negative-liberties/