Time to Fire the Contractors and Return to the Blueprint
Article audio sponsored by The John Birch Society

As a requirement of modern life, we contract others to do things for us that naturally lie within our own power. Someone builds our house, for example. We cede that bit of our natural right to a contractor over whom we exercise some level of ongoing oversight.

All reasonable people must agree that the granting of this right, the right to build a home for us, is temporary and revocable at our, the homeowners’ will. If the building contractor, for example, begins using an inferior variety of wood for the frame when the contract clearly calls for another, superior lumber, then we, the homeowners, unquestionably have the right to intervene and insist that the builder abide by the terms of the contract as originally negotiated and agreed upon.

If, after having brought the deviation to his attention the builder refuses to conform to the terms of the contract, then we are well within our rights to dismiss the rebellious contractor and engage another who will be faithful to the design laid out in the original blueprint and the construction contract based on it.

I would go even further with this analogy, in fact. I assert that if the contractors refuse to conform their labors according to the clauses of the contract, then not only is our right to send him packing, but it is our duty to do so, lest he be allowed to continue operating in breach of the contract, and our families be made to live in a substandard home. One that is inferior to the one we promised them and perhaps ultimately unable to protect them from wind, rain, and the tempest of destructive forces.

The blueprint for the construction of the national government of the United States was drawn in Philadelphia in 1787. The design principles employed by the architects in that blueprint are timeless, however. Even a cursory study of the writings of our Founding Fathers reveals the four chief cornerstones upon which the edifice of our unique American government was built:

• Separation of powers (also known as mixed government)

• Specifically enumerated powers

• Popular sovereignty

• Federalism (co-existent sovereignties)

Wise statesmen recommended these four building blocks of good government to those engaged in statecraft for centuries before our Founding Fathers laid them in America. Our Founders knew where to go to quarry these strong and reliable stones of liberty.

Many of the names of those illustrious thinkers who influenced our Founding Fathers have been forgotten, even by committed constitutionalists. While most patriots would recognize the names of John Locke, David Hume, and Montesquieu, few can now recall the inspiration our founders drew from the works of Pufendorf, Sidney, Vattel, and Jean Jacques Burlamaqui.

I am sure well-intentioned constitutionalists would discount the necessity of reading and studying the works of these forgotten influences. I disagree with that point. If we are sincere in our dedication to restore our republic and secure her again upon those four immovable cornerstones, then it is incumbent upon all of us to train as stonecutters and learn to accurately identify the proper quality and cut of those stones once hewn and stacked by our Founders. As Cicero advised, "It is valuable to look to the words of our founders, but it is more valuable to study the principles that inspired their words."

As we survey the handiwork of our noble forbearers, we see that the house of our republic is in woeful disrepair. For decades the contractors hired by us at the ballot box have systematically (and often surreptitiously) labored to alter the original plan that was agreed upon. They have used inferior materials and have re-drawn walls and plot boundaries without respect to the contract negotiated in good faith so many years ago.

These usurpers have substantially breached the contract, have replaced the strong materials called for in the blueprint, and they have substituted vastly inferior materials that are absolutely unacceptable.

For the sake of our families we must immediately dismiss these contractors and engage others who will covenant to be committed to remain faithful to the blueprint drawn by our Founders and to restrain themselves according to the clauses found within the four corners of that agreement.

Now, we must tirelessly begin the repair of our house. Powers must be separated, enumerated powers must be strictly obeyed, individual liberty must be held inviolate, and states must fearlessly reclaim their sovereignty.

Preventing the re-election of Barack Obama is only one step down a long and difficult road toward restoration of our republic and the foundation of limited government and popular sovereignty upon which it is built. There are hundreds of other co-conspirators that need to be sent home along with him.

Let’s not soft-pedal it. The days of dilution and euphemism are long gone. We are careering headlong down the path of self-destruction trod by all the republics of history. If we hope to avoid this fate then it is time to name names and to demand that every American declare his or her allegiance.

There are men and women serving as representatives of the people whose plans extend beyond the obliteration of the Constitution. They intend to abolish freedom worldwide. Yet year after year, these enemies of liberty are re-elected and return to the sacred and important councils of the national government.

An influential book once proclaimed (with lament) that None Dare Call it Treason. Do we?

Is it treason for a sitting president to refuse to execute the lawfully promulgated acts of Congress?

Is it treason if in the presence of foreign leaders that same president insults the citizens of a state and their elected representatives?

Is it treason if a sitting president mocks Americans and claims to be "embarrassed" by their attempts to protect themselves from invasion?

Is it treason for the Congress of the United States to sit idly by in a stupor while the southern border of the United States is invaded daily?

Is it treason for a congressman or senator to stand and applaud a foreign president while he recriminates, reprimands, and lectures the American people?

Is it treason to pass laws mandating that every American purchase a commodity regardless of personal choice?

Is it treason for citizens to ignore the passage of so-called "laws" by a federal government whose means and ends are no longer legitimate?

The answer to all these questions is yes. And if we genuinely care about the future of this republic, then we must dare call it treason.

Sadly, the days have also passed when traitors were punished more severely than the bitterest of our foreign foes.

For decades we have allowed the sword of sovereignty, of "We, the People," to be blunted by presidents and congresses dedicated not to the preservation of our sacred Constitution, but to the dismantling of the chains placed by that document on their power.

We must remember something crucial: We, the People, are the supreme sovereigns in this nation. Speaking precisely, the Constitution of 1787 does not restrain the power of government, it merely grants to it very limited, specifically enumerated powers that requires it in the exercise thereof to be answerable to us. Remember, we are United and we are also States.

We must not be easygoing at a time of such serious danger for our republic. We must be anxiously engaged in the cause of defending liberty against all enemies — foreign and domestic.

By now, patriots are weary of the rhetoric. We have grown disdainful of the tinkling sound of rattling sabers that signify nothing. Let now every man declare whether he supports the perpetuation and protection of the Constitution of 1787 and its enumerated and limited powers and protection of state sovereignty or whether he supports flinging that document onto the scrap heap of history. As the Roman orator said as he spoke in the Senate against those in that body who were plotting to destroy the republic: "Let there be written upon the brow of every man how he feels about the republic."

No man can serve two masters for he will love the one and despise the other. Too many of our elected representatives wear the robes of republicans while at the same time voting for and proposing legislation that violates the principles of limited power enshrined in the Constitution. That is despicable, and those people are not with us, no matter what they say, no matter what party banner they fly, no matter what letter they put after their name.

Again, it is time for the declaration of allegiances. Come out courageously and proclaim your loyalty. Don’t draw near us with your lips while your voting record and personal morality is far from us. We need no sunshine patriots or compassionate conservatives. We don’t want RINOs, we don’t want wolves in sheep’s clothing. We don’t want capitulators, compromisers, or cowards. We need men and women who care less for popularity and personal promotion than for the zealous defense of our country and its Constitution.

Remember well the words of our bold, ever courageous Founding Father Samuel Adams: "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."

Today is the day that we consecrate ourselves to the "animating contest of freedom."

Today is the day we begin the daily reconstruction of the parchment barriers that our Founding Fathers erected between the branches of government, between the national government and the states, and between self-government and tyranny.

Today is the day we steadfastly and fearlessly profess our love of liberty and our devotion to principle over party.

Today is the day we put all the enemies of the Constitution (both those within and without our borders) on notice: we will not retreat. We will not compromise. We will not re-elect you. We will not rest until our sacred founding document is restored to its proper place and everyone who stands in the way is either converted to the cause or marked as a traitor.

Today is the day we refuse to be labeled as "Republicans" or "Democrats" or "Libertarians" or "Tea Partiers" and we unite under the banner of the Constitution and refuse to be moved, mocked, or manipulated.

May the God whose almighty hand laid the foundation of this most blessed nation give us the wisdom and strength necessary to reclaim the rights He alone gave to us and that others have since unrighteously and unlawfully usurped.