Last week, I was privileged to speak before the National Committee Meeting of the Constitution Party assembled in Boise, Idaho. After a two-day whirlwind speaking tour in Utah earlier in the week, I delivered this address to the assemblage in Boise. This is an edited version of that Idaho speech.
Christians tell me constantly, "Chuck, we must elect a Christian President." And it seems that all they look for and all they expect from their civil magistrates is that he or she make public profession of Christianity. But most every politician professes to be a Christian--at least every two years, or in the case of a presidential candidate, every four years.
However, it is incredible how gullible and naïve today's Christians have become. I submit to you that had Al Gore or John Kerry been elected President and promoted many of the policies and practices of George W. Bush, the Religious Right would have been up in arms years ago.
But because a "Christian Republican" is in the White House, he is given a free pass on foible after foible, dereliction after dereliction, and compromise after compromise. Beyond that, when someone dares to criticize the unconstitutional policies of this President, Christians attack the messenger with a vengeance.
For example, I had a prominent leader of the Religious Right command me, not ask or beseech me, mind you, but demand that I stop criticizing the policies of President Bush. No discussion of the issues. No specific example of how I misrepresented the truth or any appeal to reason, just a bold demand to "stop it."
But listen to Theodore Roosevelt:
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or anyone else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."
Roosevelt understood what we all need to understand: America was not founded upon a president or political party. The founding principles of America are contained in three documents: the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
The principles of our founding documents created an independent and limited government that recognized the authority of man's Creator and our ultimate submission to Him. The Declaration of Independence in Paragraph 1 refers to "The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."
What Jefferson was addressing was Natural Law. Our Founding Fathers had all studied the writings of John Locke and other philosophers of the period who taught extensively about Natural Law. They all understood it. Natural Law is the instinctive understanding of basic morality, the innate understanding of good and evil as provided by our Creator.
William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Law were the chief influence upon the legal philosophy of America's founders. Those commentaries formed the most authoritative manual of law for over 100 years following the War for Independence.
Blackstone wrote: "Man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his Creator, for he is entirely a dependent being . . .. And consequently, as man depends absolutely upon his Maker for everything, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his Maker's will. This will of his Maker is called the law of nature."
For the first time in the history of the world, a nation inculcated the Creator's will for the government of mankind in its founding documents. Therefore, it does not matter what a politician's personal denominational affiliation might be or what his Christian profession might be. What matters is that he or she supports, protects, and defends the Constitution of the United States.
I realize what I am about to say will surprise many Christians, but I would far rather elect an unbeliever who will support, protect, and defend the Constitution than a believer who will not support, protect, and defend the Constitution. The oath of office is to the Constitution. That is a civil magistrate's contract with us--the American people.
For example, when I hire a plumber or electrician I am not particularly interested in his church affiliation or personal religious profession. I am contracting a job with him, and at the end of the day, I want my plumbing to work and my lights to turn on.
When we elect a constitutional office holder, we want him to do what his contract with us demands: he must honor his oath to support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. And what most Christians don't seem to understand is that our founding principles implement the Maker's will in the body politic.
The Declaration in Paragraph 2 states, that all men are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."
Notice, Jefferson wrote that God, not government, is the author and grantor of independence. The Declaration rightly said that the purpose of government was to "secure [protect] these Rights." This is all part of "Natural Law."
What Christians further misunderstand is that the Declaration and Constitution contain the principles of Natural Law as taught in God's revealed Word, the Bible.
For example, "Natural Law" itself is found in Rom. 2:14-16. That God is the giver life is found in Gen. 2:7. That God grants liberty is found in Gal. 5:1. The Pursuit of Happiness is found in Eccl. 3:13.
Even the Constitution recognizes the worship day of the Christian God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Article 1. Section. 7. Paragraph 2 states, "If any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) . . ." Notice, the U.S. Constitution exempts Sunday--the day Christians set aside to worship Jesus Christ--from being a legal business day.
Furthermore, Article 7 of the Constitution states, "Done in Convention by the unanimous consent of the States present, the seventeenth day of September in the year of OUR LORD [emphasis added] one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the twelfth." Notice, the U.S. Constitution concludes by identifying the Lord Jesus Christ as being "our Lord."
The Bill of Rights, too, is built upon "the Laws of Nature's God."
Colonial Christians understood the command of Scriptures to "preach the Gospel" and to "not [forsake] the assembling of ourselves together." Thus, the 1st Amendment protects the right of men to peaceably assemble, and the freedom of speech, along with the freedom of religion, and the freedom of the press.
What about the 2nd Amendment? Where does one find the right to keep and bear arms in the Scriptures?
Look no further than Luke 11:21, where Jesus said, "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace." I know at one point Jesus told Peter to put up his sword, but He did not tell him to give up his sword. In fact, on another occasion Jesus said the time would come when, if we did not own a sword, we should sell what we have, if necessary, and buy one.
The Roman sword was the equivalent of a modern handgun. It was the most convenient and effective weapon of self-defense available at the time.
Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I'll take the word of Jesus over the word of Hillary any day!
Notice, too, that the 4th Amendment, the law that protects the "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures . . ." is found in Deut. 24:10,11.
Furthermore, the 8th Amendment, the law that protects us against "cruel and unusual punishment" is found in Deut. 15:2,3. Even our three coequal branches of government are patterned after the three positional offices of Christ as found in Isaiah 33:22.
I said all of that to say this: When we seek to elect men and women to public office, we don't need them to give lip service to a religious profession; we need them to support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
I am also personally convinced that such a person will not often be found in the two major parties, but will most certainly be found in the Constitution Party. Therefore, our nominee (whoever he is), must be willing to clearly articulate the fundamental issues attacking constitutional government today. First on the list is the surrender of our borders and national sovereignty.
Take illegal immigration. The real issue is taxes and the creation of international government. The political elite need cheap labor and cheap services so as to depress wages and consumer costs or else Americans would not be able to afford to pay these outlandish, ungodly taxes.
Furthermore, make no mistake about this: the international corporate elite need regional government in order to manage the global economy they are constructing. But all that stops when a CP candidate takes office. The day a Constitution Party candidate is sworn in as President of these United States, the SPP, the North American Community, the NAFTA super highway, and the FTAA will come crashing down.
The second salient issue to which we must be faithful is the right to keep and bear arms. Had Virginia Tech University not prohibited its faculty and adult students from their lawful right to keep and bear arms, there would have been no massacre.
A CP President must be willing to not only reject any new gun control laws, he must be willing to undo the unconstitutional gun control laws enacted by former administrations.
The third key issue is the right to life. The Constitution Party is the only national party that is unapologetically 100% pro-life. Therefore, our nominee must be willing to use the bully pulpit to push Congress into supporting Congressman Ron Paul's Sanctity of Human Life bill, which recognizes the personhood of unborn babies from the moment of conception.
Furthermore, our candidate must be prepared to tell the nation that no longer will the federal government use the Bill of Rights as toilet paper. We will respect the 4th Amendment, which protects the American people against illegal searches and seizures. Therefore, with a Constitutionist in the White House, federal police agencies will not be allowed to tap our phone lines, read our emails and faxes, or monitor our cell phones without due cause and judicial oversight. In other words, the day a CP nominee takes the oath of office, the Orwellian Patriot Act will head to the dumpster.
Fifthly, a Constitution Party president will stop the unconstitutional use of our brave men and women in uniform to fight unprovoked, preemptive wars. That means, the day our nominee takes the oath of office, our troops will start coming home from Iraq. Furthermore, we will no longer allow our troops to be used as nation-builders for big oil companies and international bankers, and neither will they be used as policemen for the United Nations.
Speaking of the United Nations, the day a CP nominee is elected President, that bunch of Socialists and Marxists at the UN will begin packing their bags and looking for a new home.
And one more thing: the day our nominee is sworn in as President, he will begin enforcing U.S. law found in Section 654, Title 10, which was passed with veto-proof bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress in 1993 and found constitutional by several federal courts, which bars homosexuals from serving in the Armed Forces.
In conclusion let me say, when those brave men stood on Lexington Green and Concord Bridge, and when Travis and Bowie fought to the death on the ramparts of the Alamo, they were not fighting for some "Lesser of Two Evils" mantra. They pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor--and signed that pledge in blood--to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. And Ladies and Gentlemen of the Constitution Party, that is exactly what each and every one of us must be willing to do.
To learn more about the Constitution Party, go to:
http://www.constitutionparty.com/
© Chuck Baldwin
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