Time to Get Back to the Constitution<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
by Jerry Newcombe
 
            Of all the objectionable quotes of 2010, I think my favorite is Nancy Pelosi's where she declared in March that we have to pass the health care "reform" bill in order to find out what is in it.
That's not just bad legislating, it's bad business.
          But that approach not only defies common sense, it defies a good attitude toward the Constitution. When she was asked about the constitutionality of the health care bill (I would say the health care takeover), she didn't really answer except to ask: "Are you serious? Are you serious?"
          Officials of the government swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. Thankfully, it seems that the new leadership in Congress will be taking that old musty, dusty document more seriously. For example, Rep. John Boehner, the Speaker of the House-elect, and other Republican lawmakers in the House wrote up a Pledge to America in September, committing themselves to "require every bill to cite its specific constitutional authority."
          This makes me think of a political cartoon (in a slightly different vain) I saw long ago by Wayne Stayskal, longtime cartoonist of the Chicago Tribune and later Tampa Tribune. The cartoon showed the inside of a legislative hall with the tablet of the Ten Commandments hanging on the wall---behind a glass case, similar to that which houses a fire hose. The inscription by the glass encasement read "In case of emergency, break glass." Stayskal was talking about the Ten Commandments, which ultimately are the basis of our laws.
          But what he says about the decalogue could be said about the Constitution. In case of emergency, go back to what the Constitution actually says.
          If the lame duck session is any indication, we're still in trouble in this country.
          However, there are some who are trying to get back to core constitutional principles in our government. In particular, I'm excited about the plans of Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Elected to Congress in 2006, she has now become the Chairman of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress. I had the opportunity to interview her for Coral Ridge Ministries-TV, shortly after the midterm election.
          She announced that she has decided to introduce some classes for the legislators. The goal is to get the lawmakers more familiar with the Constitution itself. The Constitution is one of those things that everybody gives lip-service to, but in reality few know what it actually says. Rep. Bachmann told our audience, "I'm starting a series of classes on our Constitution, on the Declaration of Independence, and on the Bill of Rights. And so, I'm inviting in our Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, and also legal experts, Jay Sekulow from American Center for Law and Justice, and Mark Levin---different experts on the Constitution to come in every week." This may end up being the first time some of these lawmakers hear what the Constitution actually says.
          Her classes will help remind lawmakers of what the founding fathers did and did not intend. She is planning on having these educational sessions before the week starts---before the first vote is cast, "so that members of Congress can get their minds around our duties as members of Congress from a constitutional perspective. And I think that'll set the tone for the week. I don't know that that's ever happened here before in Congress and I think it's a great turnaround and a great result from this election."
I have often heard it said that every time Congress meets, we lose a little bit of our liberty. I think that has proven true over and over in recent years. Part of the problem is just the nature of the system. Each lawmaker wants to make a name for himself. He wants to bring home the bacon for his district, while decrying the bridge to nowhere in the other lawmaker's state. Perhaps, Michele Bachmann's new classes on the Constitution and Boehner's commitment to Constitutional ties to legislation will help curb the runaway government bureaucracy that has plagued us the last couple of decades.
This way lawmakers can know what is in a bill before they decide to pass it.
 
Dr. Jerry Newcombe is the senior producer and host of The Coral Ridge Hour. He has also written or co-written 21 books, including 14 with the late Dr. D. James Kennedy. Jerry co-wrote (with Dr. Peter Lillback) the bestselling, George Washington's Sacred Fire. He hosts the website www.jerrynewcombe.com.