Colin McNickle At Large

Our rights are natural, not government-granted

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In a recent commentary in a Southwestern Pennsylvania newspaper, the writer, addressing pushback against coronavirus restrictions, offered a rather startling statement.

After chastising a local talk radio show host (and others) who expressed concerns about the underlying threat to our freedoms – even chiding the commentators for their “confusion about the origin of our guaranteed rights” – he opined that it was the U.S. Constitution “that grants us our rights.”

No, no, no, no. No!

This weekend, Independence Day weekend, is the perfect time to offer this tutorial on the subject. Quoted at length below, it comes from a spot-on Feb. 17, 2006, posting on the Oregon Catalyst website:

“The U.S. Constitution is a document firmly founded in the principle of enumerated powers. The document is meant to set forth the limited powers that the people were granting the government to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty.

“The first sentence of Article I, Section 1, says it all: ‘All legislative Powers herein granted … .’

“It is clear that the people are granting certain powers to the government. The people are not being granted rights. Article I. Section 8, even lists those specific powers granted” to the government by the people.

“In fact,” the blog poster recounts, “James Madison and many of the Founding Fathers … argued against having the first eight amendments as they thought them redundant because those rights remained with (the) people.

“But Alexander Hamilton and others felt it was necessary as those were some of the very rights the king (of England) had taken from the people.

“As a compromise, the Ninth and 10th amendments were added to complete the Bill of Rights and assuage those against listing any rights for fear that those listed may be considered the only important ones.

“The Ninth Amendment truly makes clear for those that may believe otherwise that all rights are the people’s: ‘The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the People.’

“And if you doubt that the Constitution was meant to give only limited powers, the 10th  Amendment should alleviate them: ‘The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the People.’”

Again, neither the U.S. Constitution nor the government grant us our rights. The Constitution enumerates our natural rights. And the primary role of government is to operate per the people’s charge while not violating those rights.

This is the perfect weekend for everyone to remember that it is the people who indeed are in charge – not the other way around.

Sadly, that’s a quaint notion to far too many in government.

Happy Independence Day, everyone. And to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin — if we can keep it, that is.

Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).

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Colin McNickle
Colin McNickle

Colin received his B.G.S. from Ohio University. The 40-year journalism veteran joined the Institute in October 2016. That followed a 22-year career with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 18 as director of editorial pages for Trib Total Media. Prior that, Colin had a long and varied career in media — from radio, newspapers and magazines, to United Press International and The Associated Press.

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