Four Sheets of Parchment v. 2032 Pages of Government Control

[GaryDeMar]

The Constitution of the United States was written on four sheets of parchment. If you count the Preamble and all 27 Amendments (remember there were originally only ten), it comes out to 20 typed pages. If you don’t count the signatures and amendments, you’ll have a document of 11 typed pages. No single Amendment is a full page. Many are only a single sentence in length. The First Amendment covers a multitude of freedoms: religion, press, assembly, speech, and the right to petition the government. It does it with only 45 words. Those original four sheets, about 4500 words, were good enough to serve as a document to govern a nation.

Can you imagine a 2032-page healthcare care bill with similar interpretive powers for Congress, the courts, and an always-in-power bureaucracy? Consider how much damage the two governmental branches have been able to do with just four sheets of parchment. What will they be capable of doing with 2032 pages of a healthcare bill that will enable them to govern every facet of our lives?

Do you remember how the Supreme Court came to legalize abortion in 1973? Seven of the nine justices agreed that they had found in the “penumbra”—the “shadows” of the Constitution—the right to abortion. Here’s how Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote the majority opinion, argued for the shadowy “right” to kill preborn babies:

The Constitution does not explicitly mention any right of privacy. In a line of decisions, however . . . the Court has recognized that a right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy, does exist under the Constitution. In varying contexts, the Court or individual Justices have, indeed, found at least the roots of that right in the First Amendment . . . in the Fourth and Fifth Amendments . . . in the penumbras of the Bill of Rights . . . in the Ninth Amendment . . . or in the concept of liberty guaranteed by the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment . . . .These decisions make it clear that only personal rights that can be deemed “fundamental” or “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty” . . . are included in this guarantee of personal privacy. They also make it clear that the right has some extension to activities relating to marriage . . . procreation . . . contraception . . . family relationships . . . and child rearing and education . . . .

Notice that first line: “The Constitution does not explicitly mention any right of privacy.” But it doesn’t matter. One can be found in its shadows, and like shadows, they can be interpreted in almost any way, like the game parents play with their children asking what they see in cloud formations. “I see a bear. . . I see a dog . . . I see healthcare rationing . . . I see the right to abortion because the Supreme Court says it’s a right.”

But didn’t some Congressmen vote for the healthcare bill because abortion was stripped out? A lone Republican fell for this nonsense. Once government is in control of something, it gets to define it. Bureaucrats, judges, special interest groups, and all around guilt-manipulators will shine their lights on the dark places of this bill and create the shadows they need to force their long-term agenda on all of us. This healthcare bill is not about health; it’s about control.

It’s a shame that many in the pro-life community don’t see this. They believe they won one for the unborn. They haven’t. They only made it easier for so-called moderates to vote for a bill that one day will support abortion on demand and many new government mandated provisions that will affect us in ways that we cannot now imagine.

While abortion is a violation of the sixth commandment, this healthcare bill additionally violates the second (sets up the State as an idol), fifth (makes the State our parent), eighth (supports legislative theft), and tenth (makes covetousness a national pastime) commandments. No one has described what we are in for better than Herb Schlossberg did in his book Idols for Destruction:

“Rulers have ever been tempted to play the role of father to their people. . . . The state that acts like a wise parent instead of a vindictive judge has been an attractive image to many people. They include ecclesiastical authorities who have completely missed the point of the gospel warning to ‘call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven’ (Matt. 23:9). The father is the symbol not only of authority but also of provision. ‘Our Father who art in heaven. . . . Give us this day our daily bread’ (Matt. 6:9, 11). Looking to the state for sustenance is a cultic act [an act of worship]; we rightly learn to expect food from parents, and when we regard the state as the source of physical provision we render to it the obeisance of idolatry. The crowds who had fed on the multiplied loaves and fishes were ready to receive Christ as their ruler, not because of who he was but because of the provision. John Howard Yoder has rightly interpreted that scene: ‘The distribution of bread moved the crowd to acclaim Jesus as the new Moses, the provider, the Welfare King whom they had been waiting for.’

“The paternal state not only feeds its children, but nurtures, educates, comforts, and disciplines them, providing all they need for their security. This appears to be a mildly insulting way to treat adults, but it is really a great crime because it transforms the state from being a gift of God, given to protect us against violence, into an idol. It supplies us with all blessings, and we look to it for all our needs. Once we sink to that level, as [C.S.] Lewis says, there is no point in telling state officials to mind their own business. ‘Our whole lives are their business’ [God in the Dock, p. 134]. The paternalism of the state is that of the bad parent who wants his children dependent on him forever. That is an evil impulse. The good parent prepares his children for independence, trains them to make responsible decisions, knows that he harms them by not helping them to break loose. The paternal state thrives on dependency. When the dependents free themselves, it loses power. It is, therefore, parasitic on the very persons whom it turns into parasites. Thus, the state and its dependents march symbiotically to destruction.

“When the provision of paternal security replaces the provision of justice as the function of the state, the state stops providing justice. The ersatz [artificial and inferior substitute] parent ceases executing judgment against those who violate the law, and the nation begins losing benefits of justice. Those who are concerned about the chaos into which the criminal justice system has fallen should consider what the state’s function has become. Because the state can only be a bad imitation of a father, as a dancing bear act is of a ballerina, the protection of this Leviathan of a father turns out to be a bear hug.[1]

If this bill passes the Senate, abortion will be the least of our problems because the government will have a new definition of welfare to work with. Healthcare can and will be interpreted to mean what the judges say it means. We are under a Constitution, but as history has shown the Constitution is what the judges say it is.

Endnote:

[1] Herbert Schlossberg, Idols for Destruction: Christian Faith and its Confrontation with American Society (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1983), 183–84.

[Thomas]

Good post, I was lamenting last night on an email list concerning the seeming inability of our people to form any consensus around the Biblical ideology and principles of American liberty. One paragraph I briefly touched on the health care issue, which seems to be in line with your thoughts:

"We have a wonderful heritage of liberty of conscience especially as it regards our religious beliefs, but it seems to me that its been converted into an inverse doctrine. Every man has become an island unto himself, whereby one's beliefs are private and cannot be called into question as to their validity and are necessarily compartmentalized away from and out of the public stream of ideas. Yet our enemy advances daily precisely because their political ideology and all of their political activity is the canonicalization of their religious beliefs (e.g., the State is man's Sovereign Lord and it will predestinate all men and provide a political salvation by and through its centralized planning).

As they [liberals] move in terms of consistency of their principle we are seeing before our very eyes, especially with the health care issue, the clarity to which their doctrine of predestination is taking shape - every man is becoming a cell in the macro-life of the body politic, and it will predestinate your total life and every aspect of it. If you reject this political salvation, then you are necessarily mentally ill or suicidal, which is simply evidence of your need of statist dominion over your health care. It's no wonder they didn't care what the majority of people thought about it - the fact the majority opposed it was the evidence that they are morally justified in forcing it upon us."

[Jeff Swanson]

Thank you, for this topic and your stance. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to hear Brian Johnston the Author of “Death as a Salesman” speak on this very subject. His point also was the danger of big government taking the place of a creator and individual’s responsibility of caring for one another. If you have never met him he would be a great guest on your Radio show, because he has a great grasp of the subject and the Constitution.

[Crev C]

All 3 branches of the American Government have been attempting to displace God's rightful place in our founding and in our founding documents, but especially the Legislature and the Court. Rights cannot come from Government, this we all know. But those in Government who would supplant these rights would argue that "since God doesn't exist (they don't recognize Him or His Authority) then your "rights" come from nothing; therefore the State is Supreme, and has become the granter of "rights'. This bill, 2032 pages of Abomination against the Liberty of a Free People, is not a law just yet. But it is not a Constitutional Amendment, although Nancy Pelosi gloats and preens as though it is. If it is approved by the Senate and signed into law, it can be repealed at a later date. And consider this; if Obama is shown to not be qualified to hold the office of the Presidency, any bills or treaties that he signs will become null and void. But the catalyst for civil anger and unrest has been sown; Americans are livid at the usurpation of power and defiance of limited authority that Congress has abused in order to pass this monstrosity. They are completely drunk and deluded with their "power". We must bring them to sobriety; they will not become sober on their own.

[mgranny]

This article is helpful to me. It is very good in giving us detailed facts of the liberal lawmakers’ never ending manipulation of the Constitution. It points out that an ever growing and very costly bureaucracy is in force, implementing and keeping an artificial system, so full of gaps and contradictions.

The present health care crisis is the direct result of replacing God’s Natural Law with man-made law. God commanded us to take care of our own parents, but we delegated this responsibility to the government. In 1935 we created the Social Security Act, which explicitly promised the “protection of the elderly.” Supposedly, half of the cost of this program is paid by the employer, and only half is deducted from the employees’ pay check. This, of course, is a lie, because the employer immediately passes this “cost of staying business” to the employee and to the consumer. In reality, the worker pays for everything. Nevertheless, it seemed that the young generation successfully circumvented God’s Law, and passed the responsibility of supporting the aged parents to society at large.

What happened? The same liberal government that produced this anti-family scheme—in utter blindness to consequences—began to advocate the desirability of fewer children. In 1973 the Supreme Court legalized abortion. Consequently, in the next decades the ratio between the workers and retirees drastically changed. By the end of the 20th century, it became clear that the government can no longer fulfil the responsibility so recklessly assumed. It seems the system is bankrupt because there are too many claimants. Actually, we have killed off a large number of the young people who were supposed to pay for the Social Security program. Yet, the “wise social planners” would not repent. They would not admit the total failure in manipulating the God-given family laws. Instead they are cooking up new ungodly “solutions.” This time they are trying to eliminate the old people, in order to match them to the numbers to the young, reduced by abortion. So much for the “protection of the elderly” by government.

My only disagreement with this article concerns John Howard Yoder’s interpretation of Christ’s miracle of feeding the crowd. Luke 9 clearly describes that the people had no idea that Jesus going to feed them. Jesus withdrew to a deserted place.

“But when the multitudes knew it, they followed Him; and He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who had need of healing.” Luke 9: 11

The multitude loved Him. They listened to Him in the heat of the day without food and drink, and only when the “day began to wear away” Jesus produced the food. To me the lesson is: Follow God, and don’t worry about food.

God’s Laws protect the hungry, the elderly, the widows, and the orphans.
Christ is the power of the Living God. The Christian Socialists mistakenly believe that Jesus represents the power of the State; this is causing the confusion.

[Angel76]

It has always been amazing to me how so many see words as subjective. They have taken apart our constitution and twisted it to make it read the way they WANT it to read...just as they have the Word of God. I have taken a literal stance on both with only two words changing anything. Those words are "like" and "as", showing comparison to.

[mgranny]

The Word of God is difficult to interpret because all spiritual knowledge starts with a subjective experience. The Bible recounts the critical moments in the lives of Jacob, Abraham, Moses, the Prophets, and the Apostles. They encountered God personally. God is not a preacher; He is a friend. He talks heart to heart with “chosen” or “elected” people, whose calling is to communicate and share their experiences with the rest of us. If their reports “make sense,” that is, if they resonate with our own, personal, spiritual experiences, we become “true believers.” This is religion, a tie of shared faith based on comparing subjective experiences of many individuals.

The significance of Christianity is that in the person of Christ God became a "mass communicator." God chose to “become flesh” in order to “bear witness to the truth.” (John 18:37) Christ’s appearance in the “face of the crowd” was no longer a subjective experience. God became a public speaker, openly addressing the whole world. This took out some of the mystery of the nature of God. Moreover, He revealed the will of God and showed us how to serve Him properly. Thus, through Christ, spiritual knowledge became universal. Still, a degree of uncertainty remains, because Christ’s words do not resonate with everyone, only with those who desire to be with God by faith. “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37). We still have to meet God individually. God came to meet us half way; He cannot come all the way. (Luke 15:20)

I think we may not compare the interpretation of the Constitution to the interpretation of the Word of God. The “Four sheets of Parchment” is the result of the Declaration of Independence. It is a relatively recent document. It is short, but it was written by people who made their original intent clear. They also wrote many other works; their position is certain; we only need to study them a little.

We do not need to be “spiritually inclined” to understand that the basic Law of our land represents the insight and the will of freedom loving, God-fearing, and democratic patriots. They gave us their laws in harmony with the “laws of nature and of nature's God,” in order to help us to remain an independent and democratic nation indefinitely. Any interpretation contrary to their original intent is simply perversion and sophistry.

[rzhonda12]

Americans I am begging you to get off your rears and rise up against this take over of the government and the Islamic world. We did have a wonderful America but Obama and his Muslim Islamic Radical Group is going to take our country away from us. Wake up American, we have got to show these evil WH and Islamic people that this is our country and noone is taking it away from us. We have worked ourselves to death to have what we have now and no two bit WH or Islamic nation is going to take this away from us. Rise Up America and go back to the WH and lets show Obama, Reid, Pelosi, and all the rest of those crooks at the WH that we mean business. We need to go in there and fire everyone of them. We are their bosses and they work for us, so why in the world are we going to let them do all these bad things to. Do you not care about your nation anymore. I sure do and I had rather be dead than to let these scoundrel imprison us with all this crap that they are doing. RISE UP! RISE UP! America I am screaming at all of you that won't do anything to help our country. We need all of you to stand up to this Radical Muslim Islamic Communist including Soros. Soros is from Hungary and he has made his money from being a crook. He is a Hungary Communist Rich Man that is paying these Islamic groups to come here and take everything away from the American. Please help our nation before it is too late. We have got to stop this government run healthcare immedicately.

I called one of the Senators in our state this week that voted against the healthcare reform and he was blessed out by alot of people that wanted this government run healthcare. Don'g these people realize what this means to all of us if it goes thru. We will not have our wonderful America, is that what everyone wants. It's coming and there is nothing free like all of you think. We will have these big taxes to pay, no Senior Citizen treatment. Are all of you Communist that got mad because Shuler voted against the Healthcare reform bill. You have all lost your marbles if you think you will something for nothing. Get a life and remember the more you lay on your couch and do nothing and get fat that you will have to pay thousands of dollars for being fat, what does that mean. Stand up American and fight for what is ours. We are the ones that have worked hard all these years, for what to let these scoundrels take this away from us. The Lord expects us to stand up to these Radical people and don't let them turn us into Radicals, because he will bring his wrath down on us.

[Tom F]

As I hear the talk radio people analyze the things that are happening to our country, and as I read the many emails calling for "writing / calling / emailing / blastfaxing our elected representatives, does it not occur to anybody, that these elected representatives DO NOT CARE what their constituents desire. They are doing what they are doing, knowing full well that it is "unconstitutional" and that the majority of the American people are against it.

If these elected "representatives" know that the only thing "we the people" can do to them is send them an email/letter/blast fax, does anybody really believe that they will change their behavior? To me, it is getting down right laughable to threaten to do these things, because THEY DO NOT CARE, they will do what they want, regardless of the Constitution or the will of the people.

That is why they are in such a hurry to get all these radical bills past, before "we the people" can mount any kind of a defense. But, since the American people are not used to having their elected representative act like third would dictators, they are having a hard time figuring out how to stop the pirates from commandeering our country and leading us into a socialist / communist / tyrannical form of government. The only hope for our country, as I see it, is for God to raise up "deliverers" like He did in the book of Judges. The emails aren't going to win the day.