Illinois Valley News

“Our Constitutional Principles and Rights“ was the topic of a Tuesday, April 27 town hall meeting at Anne G. Basker Auditorium in Downtown Grants Pass, attended by approximately 30 people.

The event featured a five-member panel of constitutional experts: Southwest Oregon Mining Association Vice President Ron Gibson; Bill Waggoner, chairman of the Illinois Valley Chapter of the 9/12 Project; John Chambers, who has authored books about the nation“s founding documents; Constitution Party of Oregon Chairman Jack Brown, and Damon Mancuso, leader of the Grants Pass Chapter of the John Birch Society.

Brown said that he has studied the Constitution since high school. He referred to it as a “contract“ between U.S. citizens and their government.

“By and large, that document has served us very well,“ Brown said.

Mancuso stated that the focus of his group is to restore government to its “proper constitutional role.“ He said that even though it is the “defining document for our nation,“ it is being ignored by politicians.

Gibson said that the original purpose of the Constitution was to establish peoples“ rights by restricting government. He added that the Constitution never was intended for an immoral people.

Brown said that the first three articles of the Constitution created the separation of powers, and checks and balances between the three branches of government and gave them clearly defined roles.

The Constitution also establishes that our rights come from God and not the government, Mancuso said. He added that government also can take away rights. Brown touched upon the constitutional concept of the “consent of the governed,“ and said that England“s King George upset the nation“s founders by repeatedly dissolving their legislatures.

Centralized authority was so distrusted by the early Americans, Waggoner said, that the individual states would not ratify the Constitution without the Bill of Rights.

Waggoner said that the text and concepts set forth in the 1620 Mayflower Compact had a big part in shaping the Constitution. That document governed residents of Plymouth Colony after they made their trip across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World.

The concept of the “implied powers“ of the Constitution was rejected outright by Waggoner, who said that there is “no such thing.“

A big benefit of the Constitution, Waggoner stated, is the fact that it“s easy for the average person to understand.

“The Constitution is not written in ambiguous language,“ he commented.

Chambers said that there are three classic forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy and democracy. He said that “every family is structured like an aristocracy,“ and that a monarchy enables those in charge to seize power and never give it back.

“Democracy is great if you have responsible people,“ Chambers said.

Under the Roman republic, Chambers said, a form of “mixed government“ was introduced, and included a balance of power to keep all its elements limited.

Chambers used an analogy to compare those forms of government with those of the United States. He said that the president acts as the monarch, the courts resemble the aristocracy, and democracy is represented by the Legislature.

The United States was founded as a constitutional republic, Chambers said.

Waggoner characterized the American colonists as educated, God-fearing men who studied the Bible. He said that the purpose of the government was to set up a Christian nation.

“We were totally blessed by God,“ Waggoner said.

Gibson followed up on that theme. He said that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. We have kicked God out of public life, Gibson said.

Chaos has resulted, he added, and Americans now are oppressed and scrambling to recover their freedoms.

“We have lost a great deal,“ Gibson said.

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