Legislative Column for July 3, 2013
Free or Reprobate?
“As nations can not [sic] be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects[,] providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.” Founding Father George Mason
As we celebrate the 237th anniversary of the individual liberty and economic freedom embodied in United States of America, it is a shame that the airwaves are dominated not by the visions and wisdom of our founders, but by Supreme Court rulings on sodomy and the assault on marriage waged by five activist, unelected jurists. Making law by judicial fiat is not government of, by, and for the people, but is a clear usurpation of power from the people. These five social activists apparently believe they own the Constitution — they need to remember it was drafted on behalf of “We the People…” It was no accident that the founding document of our constitutional republic begins with those three words.

Pandering to a mere 3 percent of the U.S. population (estimates can range from 2 to 5 percent who practice sodomy), a 5:4 opinion has overturned moral absolutes that have endured in this nation for 237 years and transformed what is contrary to natural law into government-sanctioned behavior. What a disappointing departure from the document which begins with, “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with one another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”

We neglect to teach our children about natural law in public schools today, but let’s look at a simple illustration. If it were possible to isolate communities, envision three completely isolated islands. On the first island, a young married couple; on the second, two consenting young women; and on the third, two consenting young men. Without intervention, revisit the three inlands in 20 years, 50 years, and 100 years. The communities on each island reflect what is historically known as natural law. I believe the founders understood and expressed the relationship between independence and natural law. In the island illustration, one community would be expected to survive and thrive independently. The other two would be totally dependent on others or would be extinct in a single generation.

The violation of natural law has consequences — moral consequences, medical consequences, and eternal consequences. That is why the founders based separation from England’s tyranny and their own declaration of independence from England on natural law. It is reflected in the Biblical account of creation: God did not create Adam and Andrew or Eve and Evelyn, but Adam and Eve. Their sexuality is clearly prescribed for procreation, but American society has redefined it from procreation to recreation. I confess it is sometimes difficult to understand the abandonment of logic that seems so pervasive in today’s America. Common sense is not just absent, but is detested.

For example, it seems odd that those so intent on removing smoking from societal expression are simultaneously intent on protecting behavior that is more offensive and significantly more dangerous. Smoking is condemned for harming the unborn and non-smokers who inhale the second-hand smoke. But the scourge of STDs and children born with AIDS does not elicit the same offensive behavior as depicted on TV, in movies or in public. One is described as an addiction while the other is promoted as a right. Actually odd may not be a suitable description — possibly reprobate may be more accurate.

The theme of the season should be the 28 Principles of Liberty in the book The 5000 Year Leap by Cleon Skousen. Instead, it is the U.S. Supreme Court’s activist opinion regarding granting special legal status due to the culture’s abandonment of Biblical morality. King Solomon, known for his insight regarding both government and human nature said, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…” We have seen how five of the nine Supreme Court justices think in their hearts and witnessed their mishandling of our Constitution.

A true celebration of the spirit of America and of the Independence that Americans have defended with life and limb for 237 years would be to exercise the powers reserved to us by the Constitution. The power to discipline Supreme Court justices is not by election, but by impeachment. An examination of the language, the founders’ writings, and the history of impeachments makes clear that the term of office for SCOTUS jurists is “good behavior.” Why not celebrate the anniversary of America’s independence by impeaching the five jurists whose elitist perspective and social agenda are a violation of their oath of office. In this country, they have every right to their own opinion, but when they exceed their constitutional authority and jurisdiction to impose those opinions as new law, that is tyranny.

I appreciate you reading this legislative report, and please don’t hesitate to contact my office at (573) 751-2108 if you have any questions. Thank you and God bless.