Do we need another Constitutional Convention ?

John,
This parallels many stories I've run across in the past. The president has assumed far more power than what he has been granted by the Constitution. It is also clear that the Federal Government itself is quickly becoming a "domestic" enemy.

John, it's well past time to call a Constitutional Convention. The longer we wait, the more bloodshed it will take. One of the things I'd change about the Judicial Branch is to allow them to "veto" a bill, presidential directives, executive orders and such, based on their constitutionality. The process of allowing it to get into law and waiting for someone to object (file a suit) is nonsense. The time between law and overrule allows too much power.

Chuck

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18 Feb 99
Dear Chuck:
I've wrestled with the options and have reached a conclusion to which I am now committed. No mere "form" of government will guarantee liberty or prevent corruption of government. No matter how artfully crafted, no document, no law, can prevent clever men from twisting its meaning or buying their way out of its reach. The only thing that will accomplish that objective is the restraining influence of morality. Such restraint is available in two forms: First internally, by the POWER of the Spirit of God which He gives to all men who will humble themselves in obedience to Him. Second, externally through the application of laws which are expressions (manifestations) of the same law that God writes on our hearts.

I have done much study on the subject and, from an academic perspective, I am fairly well able to argue that God ordained civil government to be the hierarchy through which man "administers" the affairs of God at the state level. No power is legitimate unless it flows from God (Romans 13:1) Government officials are "ministers" of God for "righteousness" (Ro 13:4) There are many others, of course (one does not create a doctrine from a couple of convenient scripture verses) but the theme of Bible concerning civil government is that its legitimate function is to provide sufficient external controls to enable the majority of citizens to "discover" God. Developing a relationship with God, then, imprints His character on our hearts (spirits) and we are then constrained by our obedience and love for Him.

When the founders wrote and debated the Constitution, the nation was in the afterglow of a great spiritual revival (called the "Great Awakening" by history books) and there was a national sense of commitment to Biblical of self-governance. There was an understanding (expressed by nearly all of the founding fathers) that, unless our nation, as a union of people and states, were animated by the Spirit of Christ, the mere "form" of our experimental government could not protect us from the corrupting influences of power.

To propose a constitutional convention today, given the current hostility towards anything Christian, would be the most destructive thing that could possible happen; worse, even, than bloodshed. The lack of spiritual knowledge and maturity is greater than at any time in nation's history. We lack, as a nation, any sense at all of the principles of self-government. We are more comfortable with a system of (thousands of) petty, controlling, manipulative little laws that regulate, in minute detail, every facet of human relationship imaginable. Frankly, we are too spiritually immature to craft so ingeniously simple a document as the original constitution.

As for what country is the most "free" on earth: it can only be that country where the right of the people to choose between good and evil is unfettered by the "mechanical" legalistic posturing of the state.

John A. Sterling