The Right to Life: The 'Something Back' of the U.S. Constitution

10/14/2012

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not the right to abortion, but rather the right to "Life"

It declares that governments are "instituted among men," not to secure the right to an abortion, but rather "to secure" the right to "Life."

It declares most fundamentally that we are subject to, and in fact derive the very basis of our government from, "the laws of nature and of nature's God."

For Lincoln, the Declaration of Independence contained within it the "something back" of our Constitution. It was the "word, 'fitly spoken,' which has proved an "apple of gold" to us."

The Constitution and the Union are a "picture of silver, subsequently framed around" the "apple of gold" of the Declaration.

"The picture was made, not to conceal, or destroy the apple; but to adorn, and preserve it. The picture was made for the apple--not the apple for the picture," said Lincoln.

What this means is that the Constitution is made, not to conceal or destroy the right to Life, but to adorn and preserve it.

That "something back" of the Constitution is a "culture of life," a culture of life that leads to a culture of liberty, that leads to a culture for the pursuit of happiness.

And that's why Roe v. Wade is a lie and is not part of our Constitution because it conceals and destroys the right to life, it does not adorn and preserve the right to life. It blurs and breaks the "golden apple."

Roe v. Wade is directly inimical to the Declaration of Independence's right to life.

I am unapologetic about it: It is simply un-American, unpatriotic to allow the slaughter under color of right of 1.5 million of the weakest Americans annually, and what is more, to call it part of our Constitution.

It's un-American, frankly it's downright criminal and immoral, to take what used to be felony crimes--mala in se--and make them Constitutional rights.

It is a political blasphemy.

What it does is to take the frame of silver and make it into a frame of pewter.

What it does is take the apple of gold and replace with pyrite, with fool's gold.

Roe v. Wade is directly set against the "something back" of the Constitution.

Now Lincoln gave us, that is all Americans who want to be true to their founding traditions, our marching orders: "So let us act," Lincoln said, "that neither picture or apple, shall ever be blurred, or broken."

Let us then act, so that neither the Constitution nor our Declaration be blurred or broken.

Let us act so that the right to life in our Constitution and in our Declaration is not blurred or broken, but is extended to all including those Americans who are most defenseless and most disenfranchised, those Americans who happen to be in the womb of their mothers.

Let us act to recapture the Constitution so that it is a frame of silver.

Let us act to recapture a political philosophy and a jurisprudence based upon the apple of gold.
That gold standard is a political philosophy based upon the natural law, the law of "Nature and Nature's God,"

Let us act to recapture this "something back" of our Constitution.

Liberal law professors and liberal justices have stolen both the silver frame and apple of gold from us.

Every one of our founding fathers was steeped in the "something back" of the Constitution, the natural law.

Every one of our founding fathers that was a lawyer had read Blackstone's Commentaries on the laws, who said: "Good and wise men, in all ages . . . have supposed, that the deity . . . has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which is, indispensably, obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution whatever."

"This is what is called the law of nature, which, being coeval with mankind, and dictated by God himself, is, of course superior in obligation to any other. It is binding over all the globe, in all countries at all times. No human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid, derive all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this original."

This is the apple of gold.

Every one of our founding fathers was familiar with books about the natural law: books by Hooker, Grotius, Hutcheson, Pufendorf, Burlamaqui, Vattel. The fact that most of us, even lawyers, don't even know who Hooker, Grotius, Hutcheson, Pufendorf, Burlmaqui, and Vattel are shows how our law schools have failed us.

How can we understand the "something back" of the Constitution when we don't know the minds of our fathers?

Instead we read the liberal political philosophy of John Rawls or Richard Rorty in our law schools, a political philosophy where there is no such things as the "something back" of the Constitution.

Now, to teach our children, ourselves, and our judges about this "something back" of our Constitution is probably something beyond the political process. It is the work of inculturation, perhaps even evangelization, but not politics.

But what's not beyond the political process is to fix the frame, to make sure that it is not of pewter, but that it is once again of silver.

And the way to do that is to put in Supreme Court justices who are "strict constructionists," or "textualists," or "originalists." Men like Justice Scalia. Men like Justice Thomas.

For strict constructionists, textualists, or originalists, the Constitutional analysis regarding the right to abortion is easy. As Justice Antonin Scalia put it: the decision regarding abortion is, from the perspective of the U.S. Constitution, is "absolutely easy," a "no brainer."

Why is it a "no brainer"?

Why because of the first thing I said: the right to life is in our Constitution. There is no right to an abortion in our Constitution.

(This is an adaptation of a speech given at the American Freedom Rally in Corpus Christi, Texas.)

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Andrew M. Greenwell is an attorney licensed to practice law in Texas, practicing in Corpus Christi, Texas. He is married with three children. He maintains a blog entirely devoted to the natural law called Lex Christianorum. You can contact Andrew at agreenwell@harris-greenwell.com.
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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: life, constitution, abortion, Lincoln

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1 - 10 of 12 Comments

Judy Claar
8 months ago
DLL, I concur. It is sad to watch Life change. But change it must. However, not to the degree where there is no more "Right To Life". I, we, watch barbarism return. Stop it we try. And will continue to do so until our dying breath. And in the meantime, all we can do, the most we can do, is what you said in the last few lines of your last post. If only people would listen and take it to heart. "Sacred Heart Of Jesus, Pray for Us".
DLL
8 months ago
Pope Benedict and John Paul 2 as well as Pope Paul are huge heroes for me. The Catholic Church is blest to have had them as Popes. The encyclicals that they have written are classic. They are documents of human spiritual as well as basic human freedom. It is all a matter of faith and reason. The work of the founding fathers of the United States were by men of Faith in God,more or less,it could not have to had been otherwise,as no one would take these documents of freedom very seriously. I do not doubt their intent at the time they were written as anything but pure and honest,good basic common sense. All of the above mentioned respect life and human freedom and dignity. All believe that the government of the people is a sacred trust given to those that govern,as a sacred Holy and honest endeavor. The fine ideal must be the reality of our government as they rule us each and everyday. This is my prayer. The fact that this seems to be changing is why my previous posts express my concerns and my alarm for what is changing to destroy the very meaning of the value of each and every human life. Today there is an attempt to change the nature of the historical perspective of history so that the motives of historical figures is grossly distorted. There are a couple of movies coming out about Abe Lincoln and as a result of there content Lincoln is unrecognizable. One has Lincoln as a vampire slayer and the other as some angry,evil warlord of the Civil War. History is distorted. The human perspective about what constitutes a human right is agenda driven. Money talks,lots of it,and this huge amount of money invested in certain key figures,is changing our laws from what was universally understood as very reasonable,to what is now completely beyond reason and common sense. We have very much to pray to God for,as well as praying for one another. My prayers are with you Sara,Judy and Mr Greenwell,as well as for all people everywhere. The Heart of Christ is the Sacred Heart of the love of God,a God of mercy and grace. Let God be Supreme governor over all,as He is the perfection of a Holy,just,pure and ever lasting Heavenly government,the perfect example for each and every earthly government. Eucharistic Adoration will change the World and is the perfect place to pray to God for this change. Faith,reason and common sense is a gift of God. It is only sin that utterly destroys these gifts of God. Sin is unreasonable,the force of resistance to God that destroys all human perspective,as well as our collective endeavors to establish peace,as well as governments that are actively right and just,that should be devoted to protecting each and every Human life on our planet,from birth to a natural death.
Judy Claar
8 months ago
A.M.Greenwell: Great article! Interesting. Valid points made. Blessings...
SaraPalen
8 months ago
DLL, I agree life is important, but as Paul said even Pagans, by human nature should know these things.Even a young child can aknowledge the life inside of a pregnant woman. Liberty and the pursuit of happiness which used to mean determining what is the will of God, back in the day of our constitution, are also important. Life is being attacked, as is our liberty, our ability to defend our faith given to us by God and no man. It is not confered by any government. We have to learn our faith to better defend it. We also have to learn what the intent of the founders were.The divine law and natural law are the two branches. God will give us graces, but we have to take them, live them, teach them to our children. For example, B16 is encouraging us to revisit the documents of VII. There are many, but one if I remembe,r talks about our liberties. Our catechism teaches about both the divine and natural law.I do believe that faith is a gift, but much is required to whom much is given. You are right the lack of respect for life will lead to a multitude of other injustices DLL, pray for our country, and please pray for me too.
DLL
8 months ago
Sara:Life is what it is about. Is it of value or not? It is not just natural law that determines this fact. Although it is a factor,life is a gift. in faith it is a gift from God. Without faith it is not. A country without faith or respect for any law that respects life,wether it be natural or otherwise is "The Culture Of Death". That is what todays ever-changing laws determine,who will die and when. These new laws are ever changing the traditional and natural as well as God"s Holy Laws. Now it is the pre-born who die as a matter of convenience. Soon it will be all the weak,infirm the terminally sick or dysfunctional and the elderly. A country with no faith become a people who become their own gods, violating all of the laws that value any life at all and protect the right to life. Assigned death to any who are considered non-essential people,is defined by only one term that violates any given life and that term is MURDER,it is THE murder of the innocents. Are we now in a nation that is starting to demand this reign of terror? Again,that is the question. When life is of no value then it is HELL ON PLANET EARTH! That is the ultimate definition coupled with the term MURDER!
SaraPalen
8 months ago
DLL, is B16 wrong then, cause he says it is in fact about natural law. There may be traps and disagreements and lack of understanding of it, but what else do we have that binds individuals, families, communities and nations? He, along with Blessed JPII know that the identity we have as a people is inextricably linked to the memory of the past. A great understanding of this is in Paul's writings to the Romans.
DLL
8 months ago
The question of the day is not as much to argue over natural law,which is like some kind of a trap,it is wether life has meanining enough to be precious at all and worth our protection. The current events are changing the current laws so that our answer that we now get from our lawmakers of today,is a resounding,NO! This is what the fight is all about. It is not about what men of history meant or thought,it is a matter of what the people of today think and are willing to tolerate. My equation says that loss of life and the meaning of a life,equals a complete loss of human rights and therefore a loss of what it means to be free. Covienience that results in the loss of human life is not freedom it is the reign of terror.
Andrew M Greenwell
8 months ago
@DarthJ: By quoting Lincoln, I am not in any way confirming everything he did or stood for. Recall that this was a speech for a mixed audience, and invoking Lincoln as a rhetorical source for an image which is sound, allowed me to use American traditions to hearken back to an even earlier tradition (the natural law) in the hopes of obtaining a common ground and a friendly hearing to the Catholic social doctrine and Catholic morals which are based upon the natural law. Similarly, we can quote Jefferson without necessarily adopting all his deist and anti-Christian prejudices.
abey
8 months ago
Who ever said 'Law is god", The law which came from God is "Leavened" to become god Clearly defined today, seen itself 'Standing" against the very basic Structure of the "Family". through convincing names like Liberty. The truth is that the law gets leavened for it knows not matters of the Spirit & against these leavens is come The Christ as the Grace, in the Mercy of God to the appointed time.
SaraPalen
8 months ago
that was a great explanation. We must learn our history. Read the works of these people he mentions. It is true. Remember your roots. Identify with your founders on their principles. Do not trade the "guilded, golden frame" for razor thin aluminum foil, easily crumpled and burned in the fire by the next generation undergoing an identiy crisis. Shall we die from lack of knowledge? It is not meant for only the lawyers and other "intelligencia" to know and love our rights.The law is meant for we the people. Concealing this law from the people is a heinous misprision; it is evil and hateful.

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