Speech to the Allen County Tea Party Constitution Day Forum
Thank you to the Allen County Tea Party for sponsoring this opportunity to celebrate our Constitution. I am honored to be with you tonight and to be among so many friends.
John Adams described the Constitutional Convention as "the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen." In the two-plus centuries since, Adams' words have more than proven true. Truly the U.S. Constitution is THE standard against which all laws, policies, and interpretations are measured.
The Constitution is one of the greatest documents ever written, a framework our founding fathers provided to advance government "of the people, for the people, by the people." The Framers recognized that the ultimate authority of a legitimate government depends on the consent of a free people, and they constructed our Constitution to protect, not infringe upon, life, liberty and private property.
Thank you to the Allen County Tea Party for sponsoring this opportunity to celebrate our Constitution. I am honored to be with you tonight and to be among so many friends.
John Adams described the Constitutional Convention as "the greatest single effort of national deliberation that the world has ever seen." In the two-plus centuries since, Adams' words have more than proven true. Truly the U.S. Constitution is THE standard against which all laws, policies, and interpretations are measured.
The Constitution is one of the greatest documents ever written, a framework our founding fathers provided to advance government "of the people, for the people, by the people." The Framers recognized that the ultimate authority of a legitimate government depends on the consent of a free people, and they constructed our Constitution to protect, not infringe upon, life, liberty and private property.
This recognition that rights are inalienable and given to man not by government or a monarchy but by God is why I cherish our Constitution and why I swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States while serving our nation in uniform.
Now, at the time our Constitution was drafted, the very existence of the new United States was in jeopardy. Today, we face a crisis of another kind, but one no less dangerous.
My assignment for this evening is to discuss The Constitution in relation to the executive branch, and there is no other way to put it: For the last six and a half years, our nation has been led by a President who repeatedly, unabashedly, and without hesitation has demonstrated contempt for the constitutional limits on his power.
Repeatedly, President Obama has refused to enforce laws because he doesn't agree with them.
Consider the actions this former Constitutional law professor has taken without congressional approval:
This recognition that rights are inalienable and given to man not by government or a monarchy but by God is why I cherish our Constitution and why I swore an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States while serving our nation in uniform.
Now, at the time our Constitution was drafted, the very existence of the new United States was in jeopardy. Today, we face a crisis of another kind, but one no less dangerous.
My assignment for this evening is to discuss The Constitution in relation to the executive branch, and there is no other way to put it: For the last six and a half years, our nation has been led by a President who repeatedly, unabashedly, and without hesitation has demonstrated contempt for the constitutional limits on his power.
Repeatedly, President Obama has refused to enforce laws because he doesn't agree with them.
Consider the actions this former Constitutional law professor has taken without congressional approval:
- Choosing not to enforce existing immigration laws and granting amnesty
- Rewriting Obamacare
- Allowing the EPA to run amok and impose crippling new regulations
- Hiring czar after czar
- Renaming mountains!
- And most recently, refusing to submit his Iran deal to Congress as a treaty
To those of us who understand the real threat posed by radical Muslim fundamentalists who seek to annihilate us and Israel, this is a life-and-death issue. The President's Iran deal will foolishly reward a country with nuclear capability that supports terrorism, thereby endangering American lives and those of our allies.
Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution states:
He [the President] shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.
The President describes his deal, negotiated between our government and the Islamic Republican of Iran as a legally binding agreement between sovereign nations. If that is not a treaty, then what is a treaty? Only those who seek to disparage our constitution would call this something other than a treaty.
Under Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution, the president has the duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." On Iran and so many other issues, President Obama has failed to do his job and disregarded the law.
But it is not just President Obama who has failed. Constitutional government is under attack today more than ever by both Democrats and Republicans in Washington D.C. who seek to maintain power and advance agendas that are contrary to everything our Founding Fathers stood for in promoting liberty.
In the coming election, let us be wary of electing politicians who will abandon the constitutional principles that our Founding Fathers risked their lives in order to advance their political careers. We the People must demand that the era of executive overreach is over and constitutional order be restored.
The continued success of the United States of America is dependent on leaders who will uphold and fight for the U.S. Constitution.
If elected to Congress, I will hold the executive branch accountable but also hold hold my party leaders accountable on whether or not they are fighting to defend our Constitution and restrain executive overreach. This is my pledge to you, and you should expect nothing less from your next elected representative.
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