If I were to ask people where do the rights of Americans come from, what would the reader think that the answer would be? Would the reader say from the Constitution? Would the reader say that it comes from statutes and other laws? Most likely they may answer “yes,” but they are wrong.
The rights of Americans come from their humanity and from a nature’s God. That was the belief of John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, James Madison and other Founding Fathers. They also were of the belief that the Constitution embodied that spirit and enshrined it all in a document to stand the test of all time. However, today, there are politicians and others that do not see it that way.
Recently, I saw and heard a recording and a video clip of Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Tom Harkin of Iowa. Harkin, when talking about Health Care, stated that he wanted to make that a right just as the government made the rights of all Americans. Schumer, not knowing that he was being recorded, stated that as a Senator, he and others in that body could do whatever they pleased and that no one can stop them. I found the comments insulting, despicable and ignorant.
If our rights depended on politicians and others, then they can in turn take them away at their whims and liking. Our Founding Fathers knew that and to prevent that from happening, they affirmed the natural law in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution. It is just sad that today there are government officials that not only hate the Constitution and our history, but do not know what is in it and believe that it is an impediment to their acquisition of power. Aside from educating these people, they ought to be humbled.