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September 17, 1787, is the day that 39 of our wise Founding Fathers signed the Constitution. September 17 is Constitution Day! Here is the story…

Per the wisdom of the ancients, there are three forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. These three forms of government degrade into tyranny, oligarchy, and anarchy.

Another way of putting it is that rule by one, rule by a few, or rule by many breaks down into bad government. 

So stated Aristotle, Polybius, and Machiavelli.

Our Founding Fathers studied these ancient governments in detail, plus early modern Europe, and especially England and the 13 American colonies.

What our founders determined was that certain powers of government are best handled by one person; other powers are best exercised by a few; and still others by many. All the other governments of history besides our Constitution were really just accidental power agreements, rather than intelligent design.

Our Constitution has a president who represents monarchy. We have a Supreme Court, which represents aristocracy. And the House of Representatives represents democracy.

The Senate originally represented aristocracy, but since the 17th Amendment in 1913, the Senate now represents democracy. 

Since 1788, when the Constitution was ratified, our flexible system has worked better than any other government in world history.

Proof of this can be found in basic economic statistics. In 1788, the United States had less than 1% of world economic output. By 1888 we had the world’s largest economy, operating on a very small federal budget of just 2% of the Gross Domestic Product. 

PART TWO: OTHER AMAZING ASPECTS OF OUR CONSTITUTION

* Our Constitution was written down. As incredible as it may seem, no government framework prior was ever written down in one document.

* Our Constitution is very short. It was originally only four pages long and then one more page for the Bill of Rights. Every other country today and all 50 states have long constitutions. A short constitution makes it easy for average citizens to know what legitimate powers the government has and what rights the people retain.

* Our Constitution has a mechanism for amendment. This was never done before. Previous governments required a civil war to amend the form of government.

* Our Constitution has a mechanism to add new states, which have the same powers as the pre-existing states. We went from 13 states to 50 states using this process. In all previous governments, when a nation added new territories, the people in the new territories had few powers. This caused nonstop rebellions and secession movements. 

* Our Constitution is resistant to socialism. Socialism is unconstitutional. 

* We have checks and balances, which means one branch of government can slow down another branch. This tends to keep the central government smaller.

* We have federalism, which means our federal government shares power with 50 state governments. 

PART THREE: THE BILL OF RIGHTS

Another unique feature of our Constitution is a legally enforceable bill of rights!

Our Bill of Rights is comprehensive and written in specific language so it can be utilized in a court of law. Another American first!

ANALYSIS OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS

There are three types of rights, and one of them is fake!

If you examine written constitutions around the world, you will notice many listed rights.

But the word “right” is actually used in three different ways.

TYPE ONE: FREE RIGHTS

One type of right is what I call free rights. These are rights that exist naturally and don’t cost the government anything. The rights of freedom of speech and right to bear arms fall into this category.

TYPE TWO: PROCEDURAL RIGHTS

The second type of right is a right that costs the government money, but only if the government chooses to do something that triggers this right.

The right to a trial by jury is the best example of this type of right. It costs the government money to conduct a trial, but the government only incurs this cost if the government chooses to charge you with a crime. This type of right can be maintained in a small, limited government. 

All of the rights in our Bill of Rights fall into these first two categories.

TYPE THREE: FAKE RIGHTS

The third type of a right is a fake right. It is a right that costs the government money no matter what. It’s the type of “right” that Democrats usually talk about.

The best example of a fake right is the “right” to government-paid health care. This fake right costs the government a massive amount of money and means you can only have it with a massive government. No fake rights are found in our Constitution or Bill of Rights. But the United Nations Declaration of Rights contains fake rights like the right to healthcare and a right to a good standard of living (Article 25).

PART FOUR: NOTES ON THE CONSTITUTION

We have detailed notes that tell us exactly what our founders were thinking when they wrote the Constitution!

James Madison wrote down every debate about every clause of the final Constitutional text in his Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787.

In book form, this is 600 pages of incredible detail inside the minds of Madison and other Founders. James Madison is the Father of the Constitution!

Because of these notes, there’s no reason whatsoever to not know what our Constitution means on any point. It created a limited government with expansive rights for the people!

BIZARRE FOOTNOTE 

James Madison was the last signer of the Constitution to die when he passed away in 1836. His wife, Dolley Madison, had all of James Madison’s papers to sell, including his time as Secretary of State and President.

But the crown jewel of Madison’s papers were his notes on the Constitutional Convention, worth a fortune.

Dolley wanted to sell James’s notes on the Constitution to the federal government because they were a national treasure. In 1837 the papers were sold. Yet some members of Congress had objected. They were strict constructionists…

THEY SAID THE PURCHASE OF MADISON’S PAPERS WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL!!!

Rolf Lindgren is the Pints & Politics Director of the Republican Party of Dane County. He is also a singer known as Wisco Rolf and his website is WiscoRolf.com – The Badger State’s Musical Maverick & Liberty’s Voice