The Christian faith of our Founders is evidenced in the Constitution, in which the rights of men, as ordained by God, are protected. The Founders valued faith in Christ, personal independence, liberty and responsibility, but they opposed the formation of a theocracy because their ancestors had suffered persecution from the Church of England and several colonial governments, which had incorporated religious bias.
We were to be governed by laws to which all people were subject equally. Alexander Hamilton wrote in 1788 (The Federalist No. 78) that “the courts must declare the sense of the law … and are to be considered as the bulwarks of a limited Constitution against legislative encroachment.”
For about 150 years the federal courts enforced the Constitution as written and intended. The Constitution was interpreted in accordance with the goals and values of the Founders until 1937, when the Supreme Court stopped applying the Constitution and started to oppose the major principle of federalism. The powers of the states were no longer protected. Cases such as NLRB v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp. set precedents against states’ rights.
As a result, Congress stopped being a legislature devoted to purely national purposes. From 1937 to 1982, several presidents appointed the most unrestrained justices. During this time, free speech included pornography, blasphemy, negligent slander and common vulgarisms that the Founders never intended. New constitutional rights were established, which were not mentioned in the original Constitution. Roe v. Wade is the most famous example of this, and created a national right to abortion. Another case, Lawrence v. Texas, created a national right to sodomy.
In the late ’70s and ’80s, presidents began appointing quality justices to the Supreme Court, but being responsible judges, they believed in following precedents. The recent Supreme Courts have not extended these precedents, but they have not reversed them, either.
As a member of Concerned Women for America, which is a national group of conservative and Christian people, I will support a presidential candidate who promises to nominate justices to the Supreme Court who will reverse precedents that were never intended by the Founders. We support federalism, or states’ rights.
Even now, for example, our state officials could exert their powers, resources, responsibilities and standing in courts to protect our timber industry and all the necessary harvesting, which frivolous court cases have prevented. It would be nice if the timber industry had as much protection under the law as the environmentalists.
We want the Montana Federal Mandated Act to be enforced and we yearn for Montana to have the rights which were guaranteed by the original Constitution, and usurped by precedents.
Jeanette Zentgraf is a member of Concerned Women for America. She writes from Lolo.
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