I wrote this in 2006 for a Scout Troop while I was in American Samoa.OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS AS U.S. CITIZENSBy Mark R. Hales, Esq., (former) Assistant Attorney General of American Samoa
The protection of freedoms and rights within the United States are found in the Constitution. Describing the Constitution of the United States, former lawyer, law professor, law school dean, President of Brigham Young University, and Utah Supreme Court Justice, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, a current member of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stated, “The United States Constitution was the first written constitution in the world. It has served Americans well, enhancing freedom and prosperity during the changed conditions of more than 200 years. Frequently copied, it has become the United States’ most important export. After two centuries, every nation in the world, except just [a select few], has adopted written constitutions, and the U.S. Constitution was a model for each of them. No wonder modern revelation says that God established the U.S. Constitution and that it ‘should be maintained for the rights and protections of all flesh, according to just and holy principles’” (D&C 101:77).[1]
Truly, the U.S. Constitution was established “by the hands of wise men whom [the Lord] raised upon unto this very purpose” (D&C 101:80). George Washington described the formation and creation of the Constitution as “a miracle.”[2] The miraculous creation of this supreme sacred document was directed by the divine hands. President Washington proclaimed, “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than the People of the United States. Every step by which they have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. And in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of future blessings which the past seem to presage.”[3]
James Madison similarly declared in reference to the Constitution, “It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it, a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and so signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution.”[4]
The supernal and inspired Constitution, along with the Bill of Rights and other Amendments protect the inherent rights of speech, press, assembly, and free exercise of religion just to name of few. It has prevented slavery, allowed women to vote, and expanded equal rights to all people. In my opinion, there are five major direct or indirect provisions of the Constitution. These included: (1) Sovereignty of the People, (2) Separation of Powers, (3) Limited Powers of Government, (4) The Principle of Representation, and (5) the need of a Moral and Righteous people.
Ezra Taft Benson, former Secretary of Agriculture under U.S. President Eisenhower and Prophet and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints indicated that the Constitution’s genius lies in basic, eternal principles including: (1) free agency is God-given; (2) the proper role of government is to secure the rights and freedoms of individuals; (3) basic human rights are God-given; (4) people are superior to the government they form; and, therefore, (5) governments should have only limited powers.[5]
Duties and obligations are the inseparable companions of rights. The responsibilities of those under the umbrella of the United States Constitution can most easily be described by the introduction of The Preamble of that vary document. “We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.”
How do we as U.S. Citizens help form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility or harmony, provide for the common defense, promote general welfare, secure blessing of liberty, and protect all other constitutional rights for ourselves, families, and others? For clearly we all do have a duty to defend it as our own personal Title of Liberty. As Albert Einstein declared, “The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.” Let me make just a few suggestions in what our duties are in respect to the preserving and upholding the Constitution.
We should all read and study the U.S. Constitution. We should be familiar with their specified rights, regulations, and responsibilities. Familiarity with the constitution is necessary to oppose any infringement of these inspired fundamentals.
We should be law-abiding citizens, supportive of national, state or territory, and local governments. The Church of Jesus Christ’s of Latter-day Saints 12th Article of Faith declares:
“
We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” In addition, the Church’s official declaration of belief states: “We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them…We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside” (D&C 134:1, 5).
Most importantly, to uphold, preserve, and protect the Constitution and our constitutional rights, we must be moral and virtuous. Regarding the moral and virtue of the people of the United States, Elder Dallin H. Oaks has stated, “Those who enjoy the blessing of liberty under a divinely inspired constitution should promote morality, and they should practice what the Founding Fathers called ‘civil virtue.’”[6]
James Madison, who is known as the “Father of the Constitution,” stated there has to be “sufficient virtue among men for self-government” and that “republican government presupposes that existence of these qualities in a highest degree than any other form.” [7]He further asserted that “to suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people is a chimerical idea.” [8] In addition, Madison said, “If such an immoral and uncivil day should come [to America], then this last and fairest experiment in favor of the rights of man will be turned against him.” [9]
George Washington, during his first Inaugural address declared, “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” [10]
John Adams, the second U.S. President, likewise declared, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by mortality and religion.” [11] Adams later declared, “Liberty can no more exist without virtue… than the body can live without a soul.” [12] He also said, “[The Constitution] was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” [13]
Elder Oaks echoed the opinion of the founding fathers when he declared, “It is part of our civic duty to be moral in our conduct toward all people. There is no place in responsible citizenship for dishonesty or deceit or for willful-law breaking of any kind. We believe with the author of Proverbs that ‘righteous exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov. 14:34). The personal righteousness of citizens will strengthen a nation more than the force of its arms.” [14] Likewise, the sins of nations will tear it apart quicker than any opposing army.
In reference to the same Proverb, Samuel Adams declared, “revelation assures us that ‘righteousness exalth a nation,’ … the public liberty will not survive the total extinction of morals.” [15]
Daniel Webster likewise held, “If we, and our posterity, shall be true to the Christian religion, if we and they shall live always in the fear of God, and shall respect his commandments… we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country;…we may be sure of one thing... our country... will go on prospering and to prosper. But, if we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunction of morality, and recklessly destroy the political constitution, which holds us together, no man can tell, how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity.” [16]
Francis J. Grund (a European by birth but a keen observer of the American life in the 19th century) declared, “I consider the domestic virtue of the Americans as the principal source of all their other qualities. It acts as a promoter of industry, as a stimulus of enterprise, and as the most powerful restrainer of public vice. It reduces life to its simplest elements, and makes happiness less dependent on precarious circumstances; it ensures the proper education of children, and acts, by the force of example, on the morals of the rising generation: in short, it does more for the preservation of peace and good order, than all the laws enacted for that purpose; and is a better guarantee for the permanency of the American government, than any written instrument, the Constitution itself not excepted” or excluded. [17]
Francis J. Grund likewise declared, “No government could be established on the same principle as that of the United States, with a different code of morals. The American Constitution is remarkable for its simplicity; but it can only suffice a people habitually correct in their actions, and would be utterly inadequate to the wants of a different nation. Change the domestic habits of the Americans, their religious devotion, and their high respect for morality, and it will not be necessary to change a single letter in the Constitution in order to vary the whole form of their government. The circumstances being altered, the same causes would no longer produce the same effects; and it is more than probable, that the disparity which would then exist between the laws and the habits of those whom they are destined to govern, would not only make a different government desirable, but absolutely necessary, to preserve the nation from ruin.” [18]
The Constitution was based on principles of moral absolutes, derived from Judeo-Christian traditions of a Divine Supreme being, as set forth in the Bible - Old Testament and New Testament. In addition moral absolutes can be evidenced in environmental values, social orders, and financial methods. James Madison believed that the governance of the Constitution was based off Christian principles, including the Ten Commandments when he said, “We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of the government - far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments.” [19]
These divinely given moral absolutes include, but are not limited to the protection of life and its creation, liberty and freedom, family and the family structure, the pursuit of happiness, free exercise of religion, justice, the need of accountability, and the preservation of chastity, fidelity and morality.
Elder Oaks has further declared, “However, others deny the existence of God or deem God irrelevant to the human condition and the fabric of the creation and execution of law. Persons who accept this view deny the existence of moral absolutes. They maintain that right and wrong are relative concepts, and morality is merely a matter of personal choice or expediency,” [20] and argue that there are no such things as universal right or wrong, just good or bad arguments. With this view the existence of moral absolutes are questioned, and “the most fundamental moral questions have at least two sides, and every assertion of right or wrong is open to debate.” [21]
The rejection of moral absolutes in regards to chastity has lead to the public debate of gay marriage and abortion. As a lawyer, I see the legal reasoning and constitutional rational used to argue the need to expand equal rights in order to trump moral responsibility, but I am not willing to support their conclusions. The entire debate regarding these two controversial issues is the elimination of personal accountability associated with violations of moral absolutes under the cause of “equal rights.” The rights of sexual freedom do not trump rights of life.
Many, in their pious podiums pontificate religious support of these horrific dogmas. They argue that “Christian love” extends to the act, not just the actor. However, notwithstanding their blatant mockery of God and His divine word, this is nothing more than the use of current philosophies of man mingled with scripture to please popular society. Such is the influence of Satan by declaring the inexistence of moral responsibilities and rationalizing away the application of law to avoid the punishment of law and the condemnation of society. They declare that morals are relative to individual interpretation and that the broadest interpretation should be the standard for all, so that all actions, despite how vile it may be, can be justified under the guise of freedom and received its cherished protection.
Elder Oaks has declared the destructive results individualized interpretation of morals. “One of the consequences of shifting from moral absolutes to moral relativism in public policy is that this produces a corresponding shift of emphasis from responsibilities to rights. Responsibilities originate in moral absolutes. In contrast, rights find their origin in legal principles, which are easily manipulated by moral relativism. Sooner or later the substance of rights must depend on either the voluntary fulfillment of responsibilities or the legal enforcement of duties. When our laws or our public leaders question the existence of absolute moral values, they undercut the basis for the voluntary fulfillment of responsibilities, which is economical, and compel our society to rely more and more on the legal enforcement of rights, which is expensive.” [22]
The call or demand for equality for all sexual behavior and its subsequent lifestyles and relationships is simply a façade regarding the avoidance of personal liability for violations of moral absolutes. In the liberalistic view of today, it is simpler to seek a change in the law in the pursuit of justice then it is to accept the existence and need to comply with moral absolutes. They seek to discredit the influence of God in the Constitution in order to take sin out of the law and life in support of life styles that imitate love and the nature of humanity.
“Today, those who yell ‘I am free” are often bound by the fetters of passion, the chains of greed and the bonds of iniquity. They are at the forefront of those wanting to alter the Constitution to meet their immediate personal desires. On the one hand they want no moral restrains, and on the other hand they demand that government plan and provide for its citizens so that they are freed from personal responsibility. Their ‘freedom’ is but another band of slavery.” [23]
These arguments of “free love” destroy the need of self-mastery and restraint; however, true freedom requires self-restraint. “Freedom by law to act out one’s choices requires enormous self-restraint, for without self-discipline freedom is readily abused that external controls must be imposed to maintain order and prevent chaos.” [24] “Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites…Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.” [25]
Laws are the extension of humanity’s standards, beliefs, and expectations. As society’s standards become more carnal, sensual, and devilish - so too goes the laws and judicial determinations of the nation. Lifestyles and activities that were considered repulsive have steadily become socially accepted and now legally protected. The gradual decay of society through the guise of constitutional protection is described in Alexander Pope’s renowned verse.
Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.[26]
And let me add an additional verse.
Once embraced we protect it by law,
And reinforce our freedom’s fatal flaw-
That the evil can change the legal decree,
To protect that which is of depravity.
Albert E. Bowen has professed, “Freedom is not bestowed; it is achieved. It is not a gift, but a conquest. It does not abide; it must be preserved.” [27] Absolute freedom is obtained by obedience to moral principles, which in turn creates a moral self-government. Self-government involves self-control, self-discipline, an acceptance of the most unremitting obedience to correct principles. It demands commencement with its high privileges. Duties are the inseparable companions of rights. No other form of government requires so high a degree of individual mortality. This freedom’s only threat is an amoral self-government controlled by modernistic or liberalistic principles of absolute agency with no or limited consequences.
History has proven that the strength of a nation is directly proportional to morality. Nations fall when morals fall. Men become weak when they choose to live their life based on their own sexual pleasures and appetites and execute laws to support their sexual riotous lifestyles. To protect and preserve this nation we must uphold that which is most scared and holy, the divine and natural sexual relationships only between a husband and a wife. The support of any other relationship shakes the very foundation of this nation and tears the constitutional fabric to a fine thread. Frenchmen Alexis de Tocqueville described the United States’ need to be moral and good as follows: “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.” [28]
In addition to living and supporting moral lifestyles, we the people must be honest and true to others and the government for it is only honesty that keeps us obeying and sustaining all laws, covenants, and contracts and “is the keystone that holds any organization together.” [29] Honesty to one’s self is integrity and “is the most fundamental source of a person’s wealth.” [30]
The strength of the United States is unequivocally linked to the individual integrity and honesty of each citizen (or national). The chain of civic virtue that binds this nation is weakened each time a citizen (or national) lies, cheats, or steals. Just as the soul of man is seen in the secret silence of solitude, so is the soul of the United States evidenced in the darkest corners of society where actions, though illegal, go essentially unnoticed. Therefore, it is our duty and obligation in support of the fabric of freedom to maintain a sense of true character, even in the unseen darkness of seclusion.
The dispositive example of the often unnoticed but true character of the nation is the actions that occur when the walls of the family since the strength of this nation is utterly correlated to the success of the family. Elder M. Russell Nelson, also a current member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has stated that “the family is the basic unit of society, of the economy, of our culture, and of our government.” [31]
Every political and government body, how great or small, is only as strong as the family unit. The principles that create, protect, and sustain a family are the same principles that create, protect, sustain, and operate all government actions and policies. The strength of this nation is not indicated by what happens in the White House, but what happens in our house. It is not what is discussed and accomplished in board rooms, but what occurs in our living rooms. Former First Lady Barbara Bush similarly declared, “Whatever the era, whatever the times, one thing will never change: Fathers and mothers, if you have children, they must come first. You must read to your children and you must hug your children and you must love your children. Your success as a family, our success as a society, depends not on what happens in the White House but on what happens inside your house.” [32]
The formation of this nation was not easy and required hard work and sacrifice. Likewise, the further maintenance of the principles of freedom requires a hard working and industrious people. The continued growth and success of the United States will only be achieved if each person exerts himself to his greatest potential; mediocrity efforts by a people produce a mediocre nation.
We must work for what we want and cannot be a people of handouts. What we obtain too cheaply we will esteem to lightly. When we as a people forget the work of the past and except the success of the future to be presented on a silver platter, all that has been obtained will be lost. To be successful as a people, and thus as a nation, we must be active in thought, word, and deed. Paul H. Dunn, in his book, The Ten Most Wanted Men declared, “Nature gave man two ends - one to sit on and one to think with - a man's success or failure depends on the one he uses most.” [33] When Americans begin to use the end to sit on more than then the end to think is a clear sign that we as a people have become complacent and no longer feel a need to work. As America sits and expects success to simply come, the process of decay takes place given that only the rolling rock gathers no moss.
To preserve our Constitutional rights we must be active in our pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness and not simply accept complacent mediocrity. Work is hard, but that is why it is necessary. Without work, we would never reach our potential. Little effort produces little growth. We must not be satisfied with being given a fish, but the knowledge to learn how to fish.
In addition, “[c]itizens should also be practitioners of civic virtue in their conduct toward government. They should ever be willing to fulfill the duties of citizenship. This includes compulsory duties like military service and the numerous voluntary actions they must take if they are to preserve the principles of limited government through self-reliance. For example, since U.S. citizens value the right of trial by jury, they must be willing to serve in juries, even those involving unsavory subject matter. Citizens who favor morality cannot leave the enforcement of moral laws [exclusively] to jurors who oppose them.” [34]
“The single word that best describes a fulfillment of the duties of civic virtue is patriotism. Citizens should be patriotic,” declared Elder Oaks. Patriotism is best described by Aladlai Stevenson: “What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times?...A patriotism that puts country ahead of self; a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outburst of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.” [35]
We must stand for the principles that we believe in and protect the fundamental rights in pure harmony with moral absolutes, including watching and protecting those within the minority. However, equal rights do not indicate free reign or agency to do what you want under the pretext of constitutional protection or the expansion of laws to condone activities that violate these fundamental moral absolutes. “Equal rights” is not an invitation to sin. Instead, equal rights means each of us are equally responsibility to bring ourselves to the application of these moral absolutes, for only obedience to laws provide its promised rights.
Former Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints James E. Talmage asserted, we must “stand for the Constitution and do not believe in any false notions of advancement and enlightenment and progressivism such as seeks to undermine that foundation of our liberties.” [36]
These are duties and obligations nestled into the paramount document called the Constitution of the United States of America. May we all use our hands in pursuit of that which is just and true, and protect the words of God found in these divine documents.
[1] Dallin H. Oaks, Freedom Festival, Provost, July 5, 1987 (See also Ralph C. Hanock, Just and Holy Principles, pg 138). [Hereinafter referred to as “Oaks: Freedom Festival”]
[2] Letter from Washington to Lafayette, 7 Feb. 1788 (See Just & Holy, pg. 149)
[3] See Just & Holy, ix.
[4] James Madison, Federalist Papers, Essay 37
[5] Bryon R. Merrill, Government by the Voice of the People, The Book of Mormon: Mosiah, Salvation Only [6] Through Christ, Edited by Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, FARMS 1990, page 126 (Citing Ezra Taft Benson, The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner. Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1986)
Oaks: Freedom Festival, (Just & Holy, pg 148)(quoting Ezra Taft Benson, The Constitution, a Heavenly Banner, pg. 23)
[7] James Madison, The Federalist, no. 55
[8] James Madison, (See Johnathan Elliot, ed. The Debates in Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, vol 2. , pg. 175 (See Just & Holy, 188
[9] James Madison (See Gaillard Hunt, Ed. The Writings of James Madison, vol.1 pg. 459-60
[10] George Washington; (See James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the President 1789-1897, US Congress, 1899, vol. 1p. 220 See Just & Holy, 160)
[11] John Adams (John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles F. Adams, 1854 (Cited by L. Tom Perry, “Truth and Liberty” Speeches of the Year 1987-1988 BYU, page 27-35) (See Also Just & Holy, 161)
[12] John Adams (See Bernard Bailyn, “A Fear of Conspiracy against Liberty,” in Robert F. Berkhofer, Jr. The American Revolution, pg. 101 (See Just & Holy, 187)
[13] John Adams (Cited Robert J. Matthews, “Patterns of Apostasy in the Book of Mormon” (Helaman), pg 73 quoting by W.O. Nelson, The Character of Liberty Deseret Book, 1987); (See also John R. Howe, Jr., The Changing Political Thought of John Adams, Princeton: Princeton Univ. 1966, 185 (See See Bryon R. Merrill, Government by the Voice of the People, Mosiah, page 128)(See Just & Holy, 148)
[14] Oaks; Freedom Festival (Just & Holy, pg. 148)
[15] Letter from Samuel Adams to John Scollary of Boston, April 30, 1776 , from the Samuel Adams Papers(See Just & Holy, 187)
[16] Daniel Webster , Webster's Historical Society Address, NY: Press of the Historic Society, 1852 (See Bryon R. Merrill, Government by the Voice of the People, Mosiah, 128)
[17] The Americans, in Their Morals, Social, and Political Relations Boston: Capen and Lyon 1837, pg 71-72 Robert J. Matthew, “Patterns of Apostasy in the Book of Helaman” (Helaman), pg 74
[18] Id.
[19] James Madison; (See Russ Walton, Biblical Principles of Importance to Godly Christians, pg. 361) Quoted by M. Russell Ballard, July 5, 1992, Provo Utah Freedom Festival, (See Just & Holy, 160)
[20] Dallin H. Oaks, “Religious Values and Public Policy” (See Just & Holy, pg. 150) [Hereinafter referred to as “Oaks: Religious Values”]
[21] Oaks: Religious Values, pg.150
[22] Oaks: Religious Values, pg.151
[23] Bryon R. Merrill, Government by the Voice of the People, Mosiah, 133
[24] Bryon R. Merrill, Government by the Voice of the People, Mosiah, 118
[25] Edmund Burke (Irish political theorist), The Works of Edmund Burke, 12 vols. Boston: Little, 1901, 4:51-52 See Bryon R. Merrill, Government by the Voice of the People, Mosiah, page 118)(See also Just & Holy, 186)
[26] Alexander Pope, Essay on Man. Epistle ii. Line 217 (See also Clyde J. Williams, “Deliverance from Bondage” Mosiah, page 267)
[27] Albert E. Bowen, General Conference, April 3, 1938 (See Just & Holy, 89)
[28] Alexis de Tocqueville (French historian); See Ezra Taft Benson, God, Family, Country: Our Three Great Loyalities, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1974, 360; Bryon R. Merrill, Mosiah, page 128
[29] Gordan B. Hinckley, Standing for Something, Times Books, 19
[30] Steven R. Covey, Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, 298
[31]Ensign, November (2005)
[32] To the graduates of Wellesley College, Text of Mrs. Bush's Speech, Washington Post, June 2, 1990 (Cited by James E. Faust, "A Thousand Threads of Love" Ensign, (Oct. 2005), pg 4)
[33] Dunn, Wanted, 236
[34] Oaks; Freedom Festival (Just & Holy, pg. 148)
[35] Adlai Stevenson, speech given in New York City, 27 August 1952 (Cited by Oaks; Freedom Festival (Just & Holy, pg. 148)
[36] James E. Talmage, General Conference Report Oct. 1912, (See Just & Holy, 70).
