These United States are founded on the principle that government has no rights or responsibility except those granted to it by the consent of the governed. Governments believe the opposite. These two concepts cannot coexist. One or the other will eventually dominate. Looking at our situation realistically, it’s easy to determine which concept rules.
Our elected officials claim government is so complex and complicated ordinary citizens are unable to fully understand. I disagree.
When we understand the basic role of government, it is really very simple. It is only complicated and confusing when the politicians and bureaucrats try to justify an act of legal plunder as a legitimate function of government.
Thousands of groups and government programs routinely squabble over how much of our money belongs to them. The squabbling over to whom and how much of our money is doled out is a confusing distraction from governments’ legitimate functions, as opposed to governments’ legal plunder.
The Declaration of Independence and Frederic Bastiat’s (1801-1850) classic, The Law, explain the proper role of government.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just (key word) powers from the consent of the governed.”
Unalienable rights are gifts from our creator that cannot be altered or abolished by man or government.
Government is simply a vehicle used to reach the goal of freedom.
As you can see, man’s only purpose for creating government is to secure (protect) our God given rights (life, liberty and property) not only from foreign despots and domestic criminals but especially from rogue governments so we can pursue happiness. In order to do that, we delegate government only our just powers.
So, what are the just powers derived from the consent of the governed and the unjust powers illegally claimed by the government?
Just powers are those we have as free individuals. As such, I have the power to defend my life, liberty and property, which includes my money. Therefore, I can delegate those just powers to the government to perform in my behalf.
I do not have the power to force my neighbor to give his property or money to another person or group.
These are unjust powers and I cannot delegate a power that I do not have to the government.
So, when governments claim and exercise unjust powers that redistribute the wealth or force reluctant citizens to perform acts of charity against their will, they have crossed the line from legitimate functions to legal plunder under the color of law. Ignoring these principles made America just another socialist country and has brought America to the final chapter of our slow long-term path of self-destruction.
Governments’ just powers flow from the people in the individual states to their state legislatures and from the states to their federal government.
So, listen up state legislators! You cannot delegate powers you do not possess to the feds. While the system of government established by the Constitution burns to the ground, members of the State Legislatures continue to engage in politically correct drivel instead of seizing control of their federal government and correcting these usurpations of power.