On the Constitution and remembering first principles

George Mason, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry worked on the U.S. Constitution. They also drafted the Constitution of Virginia and, in it, they said, "No free government, nor the blessings of liberty, can be preserved... but by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles."

The Founding Fathers understood that the preservation of our liberty requires us to revisit the first principles with regularity. Yet, in Congress, the concept of liberty—in the sense in which our Founders used it—has long been forgotten. Surely, our politicians are to blame for this to some extent. But, more importantly, it is "we, the people," who are to blame for not reminding them frequently of these first principles.

We, the people, have taken our liberty for granted while the politicians who have "settled themselves" far away "in that federal city" (Washington, DC) and forgotten the first principles of liberty for the people. For these important principles the politicians have substituted the near surety of their own re-election by buying votes using taxpayer money through numerous and growing entitlement programs for corporations, unions, special interest groups and individuals.

As we, the people, have asked (or, at any rate, allowed) the government to do more and more for us, we have willingly surrendered—step by step—more and more of our liberty. As the people keep asking, the courts and the politicians are more than willing to accommodate in exchange for their re-election. (Note: Re-election rates hover around 85 percent now.)

Now we have an over-reaching federal government that—unless ObamaCare is overturned—has demonstrated virtually unlimited power over the lives of “we, the people.” Unlimited power to compel us to do whatever the government chooses is totalitarianism, even if we still live in a "democracy." It was the federal republic that was intended by our Constitution to defend us from this, but we have long ago lost site of that precious fact.

It's time to wake up America! Stop the madness!