The one thing that is perhaps missing in the various legal arguments regarding the interpretation of the ‘Establishment Clause’ in the ‘First Amendment’ to the US Constitution is a proper reading of the words. It states: (I) Congress shall make no law respecting (II) [‘pertaining to’] an establishment of religion, OR (III) prohibiting the free exercise thereof; OR [Congress shall make no law ‘abridging’] the freedom of speech, OR [Congress shall make no law ‘abridging’] the freedom of the press, OR [Congress shall make no law ‘abridging’] the right of the people peaceably to assemble, {AND} [Congress shall make no law ‘abridging’ the right of the people] to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
As far as the notion of separation of “Church and State,” all it says here is that Congress or rather the Federal Government will not intervene or legislate in matters of religion and that it will not deprive [‘take away’] or diminish [‘to lessen’] various other rights guaranteed to the people. Also, what is not usually included in this theme finds its fuller expression in the ‘Tenth Amendment’ which states: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, {OR} to the people.
The Amendments to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights cover the broad range of privileges and rights of citizenship which endeavor to promote peace, tranquility, and the pursuit of happiness; however, these do not mention every aspect of behavior in a civil and representative Democracy, and accordingly, other matters not expressly addressed in the Constitution are ‘reserved’ to the States, or the People, collectively. One of the concerns that the Founding Fathers of the nation had in the 1780’s was concern over the power of Federal Government exercising its will over the rights of the States.
Now it seems these fears were misplaced somewhat because it is not so much the Federal Legislature but rather the activist and politically-partial Supreme Court that almost seems to be a judicially-empowered legislative body within itself through the process of legal ‘Precedent,’ who have either overturned old laws or enacted new ones; bypassing the exclusively sovereign rights of the States and its citizens to make decisions or pass laws in areas of public, institutional, and in private affairs where there is no violation of or prohibition against such as delineated in the US Constitution.
Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
April 22, 2009
pbks@hotmail.com
