TIFTON — The Constitution was written over 200 years ago and there are many who profess it is a living and changing document. Well, that is an image they wish to portray with the intent a judge or law can change it.

The Constitution is the framework for the federal government. It lays out the powers given by the people to the three different branches of government. It is based on the fact that all power is that of the people and some of that power is granted to the federal government.

The Constitution has sections called articles, the first three of which define the three branches of the federal government:  No. 1, legislative (Congress); No. 2,  executive (president); and No. 3,  the judicial. Of the remaining four sections, No. 4 has to do with the states’ interactions and new states admitted to the union.

No. 5, Amendment, is where we find the hint of truth of a “living document.” It allows for a process to amend the Constitution. Notice it requires specifics, which have nothing to do with writing a law or judicial activism. It lays out a specific process for Congress and the states to execute, before the framework of the Constitution can be amended. Then there are No. 6, Debts, Supremacy, Oaths, and No. 7, Ratification.

After the seven articles are the amendments, the first 10 of which are known as the “Bill of Rights,” which were ratified on 12/15/1791. Over the years there have been 17 more amendments added.

The need for the federal government has not changed just because times have changed. Yes, we have TV, but it is only a tool of communications; thus information flows faster. We have cars and trucks, but that only means we can live and work at farther distances and goods can be moved faster. We have refrigerators, which means we can keep food fresh longer.

I can go on forever with the new things in society since the inception of the country, but they are just tools. The keys to our problems are not the tools, but rather the morals of our country, which have declined. The lack of faith and reason to constrain one’s evil desires is the true problem. Until these things are called out, we will continue to spiral downward.

In the amendments, there is a great example of how the Constitution truly does live, as it was intended. In the early years of the 20th century, the progressive movement wanted to save everyone from liquor, so the 18th Amendment “Liquor Abolished / Prohibition” was promoted and passed. The nation saw its error and the infringement on individual rights and repealed the 18th Amendment with Amendment 21, “Amendment 18 Repealed,” in 1933.

In the recent past, several people have written about this country being a democracy, which Webster Online defines as “government by the people; especially : rule of the majority.” However, the United States is a Republic, Webster Online “a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.” This is what the founding fathers understood and is why they designed Congress in the manner they did.

The House of Representatives were directly picked by the people. The Senate was not. The Senate was designed to protect the states’ rights. The state representatives elected them and the citizens elected the state representatives. This ensured the people of each state could hold their state congressmen accountable for their actions and the state congress would elect federal senators to represent the interest of the state.

Federalist Paper 58, written by James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, goes into detail about this fact and here is one specific line which tells a large part of the story: “The peculiarity lies in this, that one branch of the legislature is a representation of citizens, the other of the States: in the former, consequently, the larger States will have most weight; in the latter, the advantage will be in favor of the smaller States.”

There is much more understanding to be found from these documents, but the plain fact is, we have once again made a mistake with the 17th Amendment. This has caused senators to play to special interest groups and worry about where the donations are coming from, instead of the states’ rights, causing state rights to have been diluted over the years since the 17th Amendment was passed.

There is tons of information out there on the founding fathers, their principles and mentalities available. Three great documents to start with are the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Federalist Papers.

From just this material, you can learn and invest as much investigative time as you want and come up with great questions to ask potential candidates, family and friends. I recently had the honor to ask questions in a congressional debate. One of my questions was, “In the Declaration of Independence there were at least 27 grievances listed. Other than taxes can you name some of those grievances?” Give it a try.



Jeff Korson

Alapaha