"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage."---this was penned by Professor Alexander Tytler, 1794
Throughout the years, the people of the United States ignore the fact that the Government is controlling and infringing their rights. They are ignorant to the fact that the government bypasses the law of the land: the Constitution. Their excuse: "Oh, the Constitution is too old for modern problems."² This is quite a fallacy, and let me show you how.
Over two hundred years ago, professors, economists, philosophers, and the like got together to draft what is now the Constitution. They reviewed, studied, and thought about the many forms of governments and laws currently in existent back then. The main flaw they found in the 1776 governments was this: as time went on for many years, the laws became to old to work.
Realizing this, our Founding Fathers created a provision in the Constitution to upgrade it and make it "modern." This is Article 5 of the United States Constitution, which is as follows:
"The Congress, whenever two-thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislature of two-thirds of the several states, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as part of this Constitution..."
Clearly, the Founding Fathers weren't dumb! They knew that as time passed on, we would need to update our laws. This is the purpose of Article 5.
But still the people keep on making excuses. They say, "Well maybe it isn't old, but the Amendments are not working. They don't pass." Let's address that issue:
There are many Amendments to our Constitution that dealt with modern issues when they needed to be dealt with. Here are examples:
€When the people didn't want the federal government huge, they created the Tenth Amendment. This gave the state governments all powers not given to the federal government, thus solving that issue.
€In the 1800s, the issue of slavery was brought up. It was the "modern" problem. Because the people got involved and fought against slavery, the 13th Amendment passed, making slavery illegal.
€In 1870, the people of the United States felt that denying people the right to vote because of their race was terrible, they urged the government to pass an Amendment to our Constitution to solved this. They did, by enacting the 15th Amendment to our Constitution.
Quite obviously, Amendments work. If the people really are concerned and get involved, we can protect our rights while still solving modern problems. The real issues we need to worry about are the willingness of the people to get involved. If the American citizens just sit on the sidelines and say, "It's to old, it can't work in modern times," then guess what? it won't. But if you and I fight the government¹s controlling hand, if we get involved in the political process, and strive to protect our rights, then we will. And we must.
Ryan Lee Stollar is the President of the Center for American Freedom.
