The celebration of our founders’ 1776 revolt against King George III and the English Parliament is over. Let’s reflect how the founders might judge today’s Americans and how today’s Americans might judge them.

In 1794, when Congress appropriated $15,000 to assist some French refugees, James Madison, the acknowledged father of our Constitution, stood on the floor of the House to object, saying, “I cannot undertake
to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a
right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of
their constituents.” He later added, “(T)he government of the United
States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is
not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity
is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” Two hundred years
later, at least two-thirds of a multi-trillion-dollar federal budget is
spent on charity or “objects of benevolence.”

What would the founders think about our respect for democracy and majority rule? Here’s what Thomas Jefferson said: “The majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and
by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of
society.” John Adams advised, “Remember democracy never lasts long. It
soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy
yet that did not commit suicide.” The founders envisioned a republican
form of government, but as Benjamin Franklin warned, “When the people
find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the
republic.”

What would the founders think about the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Kelo v. City of New London decision where the court sanctioned the taking of private property of one American to hand over to another
American? John Adams explained: “The moment the idea is admitted into
society that property is not as sacred as the laws of G0d, and that
there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy
and tyranny commence. If ‘Thou shalt not covet’ and ‘Thou shalt not
steal’ were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable
precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free.”

Thomas Jefferson counseled us not to worship the U.S. Supreme Court: “(T)he opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own
sphere of action but for the Legislature and Executive also in their
spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch.”

How might our founders have commented about last week’s U.S. Supreme Court’s decision upholding our rights to keep and bear arms? Justice Samuel Alito, in writing the majority opinion, said, “Individual
self-defense is the central component of the Second Amendment.” The
founders would have responded “Balderdash!” Jefferson said, “What
country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from
time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let
them take arms.”

George Mason explained, “(T)o disarm the people (is) the best and most effectual way to enslave them.” Noah Webster elaborated: “Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed. … The supreme power
in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole
body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any
band of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the
United States. A military force, at the command of Congress, can execute
no laws, but such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional;
for they will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire
the inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them
unjust and oppressive.”

Contrary to Alito’s assertion, the central component of the Second Amendment is to protect ourselves from U.S. Congress, not street thugs.

Today’s Americans have contempt for our founders’ vision. I’m sure our founders would have contempt for ours.

http://www.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2010/07/08/we-were-warned/