“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure 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.” (Preamble to the Constitution)

America is a Federal Republic, not a democracy. The Pledge of Allegiance clearly says “and to the republic.” Neither the Declaration of Independence nor the Constitution mentions the word “democracy.”

Sovereignty was intended by our Founders to reside with the American people, hence “We the people.” The Constitution called for providing for the defense and did not provide for an offense (i.e., foreign intervention in other peoples’ civil/religious conflicts).

Regarding the powers of Congress, Article I Section 8 of the Constitution reads, “to provide and maintain a navy” (to provide for the common defense). Article I Section 8 does not call for providing a standing army, but rather “to raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years.”

Barack Obama has no authority under the Constitution to intervene in the business of Iraq, of Syria, or of Ukraine. And the majority of Americans support this conclusion. It is hoped that the members of the Senate and House vote according to the mandate of both the Constitution and the American people. No more money for foreign adventurism. No president since WWII has overstepped the bounds of the Constitution more than has Obama. Perhaps this is why a recent highly regarded poll labeled Obama the worst president since WWII.

In his oath of office, Obama swore on the Bible to defend the Constitution. Article II Section II of the Constitution details the explicit powers and duties of the president. Do you know how many words in the constitution are devoted to powers and duties of the president? About 300 words. That’s it.  The president has the power to grant reprieves and pardons, make treaties, appoint ambassadors ministers, consuls and judges of the Supreme Court (with the advice and consent of the senate), and fill Senate recess vacancies.

Not much of a list, is it? Of course not because the Founders intended the presidency to be weak, even part time, shaking hands and kissing babies. An imperial presidency, as fashioned by Barack Obama and most of the politicians in Washington, was not in the cards.

“To live under the American Constitution is the greatest political privilege that was ever accorded to the human race.” (President Calvin Coolidge, 1872-1933)

Be that as it may, by the WSJ’s own account, the WSJ has morphed today into the nation’s top daily newspaper by paid circulation, with over 2.2 million subscribers in 12 global versions and nine languages.

To help celebrate its 125^th anniversary, the WSJ has asked a number of contributors for his or her single idea on changing American policy, society or culture. Former secretary of Labor, Treasury and State George Shultz would return to a constitutional government and asks that Congress live up to its constitutional duties. Paul Ryan would fix the jobs-killing unfair tax code, with its over $1 trillion in loopholes. As Mr. Ryan says, “The current code punishes free enterprise and rewards political influence.”

Darcy A. Olsen, president of the Goldwater Institute, warns that the federal government, which has been grabbing power for a century, needs to be brought up tight by state constitutions. Ms. Olson writes, “State constitutions can augment freedoms far above the federal baseline.”

From George Gilder to the former CEO of Intel to Michael Milken to Richard Epstein and others, read here how each would guide America away from the progressives’ big-government, shared well-being fiasco.

In The Washington Post article “It’s time for Progressives to Reclaim the Constitution,” E. J. Dionne, Jr. concludes, “Those who would battle rising economic inequalities to create a robust middle class should insist that it’s they who are most loyal to the Constitution’s core purpose. Broadly shared well-being is essential to the framers’ promise that ‘We the people’ will be the stewards of our government.”

Let me see if I have this right: Broadly shared-well being is essential to the framers’ promise? Debbie and I have been many times to Monticello, including a return visit just this spring. And the estates of Madison and Monroe are in the same part of Virgina. Jefferson, Madison and Monroe were neighbors.

Unless our eyes and ears were deceiving us in our Virginia visits, it is just a bit of a stretch to say that these owners of huge estates were the least bit interested in “shared-well being.”

The Preamble of the Constitution reads, “Promote the general welfare.” That is promote not provide, and general welfare hardly has a ring of “shared well-being.” Among our Constitution’s Articles and Amendments, none is devoted to economic inequalities, a robust middle class, or shared well-being—or, for that matter, democracy.

So, with that backdrop, I checked in for the views of my friend Bob Levy, Chairman of the Libertarian-based Cato Institute. Debbie and I are enthusiastic Cato benefactors and meet with Cato scholars throughout the year. I asked Bob for his take on the above progressives-centric “shared well-being “proposition.

Bob replied, “Regarding Dionne’s column, its standard polemics claiming that our principle constitutional values were meant to be democracy and equality. There’s very little historical support for that proposition. The framers’ focus was on liberty, as secured through a constitutional republic.”

In that the word democracy does not even appear once in the Constitution, the story, it seems, kind of ends right there. Progressives since the time of Woodrow Wilson (an even worse president than Obama, Clinton, Carter, Johnson or Roosevelt) have destroyed the America intended by our Founders. The Supreme Court and the Fed have been co-conspirators. And it would be unfair not to include the big government, nation-building, conservative fraud that was the George W. Bush presidency.

Click to my recent post “The Imperial Presidency” for some additional background on just what the progressive approach has done for Americans recently.

Finally, this summer take a trip to Monticello with the family for a look at what Liberty is all about. Before you head out, order a copy of the Cato Institute’s Constitution/Declaration of Independence booklet. It features an insightful preface by Cato senior fellow Roger Pilon on the brutally abused General Welfare Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause. Debbie and I know Roger and his wife well and are proud that we have an opportunity to often get to visit with the real leaders of liberty, constitutional fundamentalism, and small government in America—the Cato Institute scholars.

Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S., has created one of the most vital books on the health of your family you will ever find, The 150 Healthiest Food on Earth. The lavishly illustrated, 358-page weighty tome gives you more vital information on foods that can keep your family healthy than any other publication I have ever come across. And I am always on the look out. I have given the book to family members and often advise it for others. My goal here is pass on ideas that perhaps you did not previously know about. 

Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Jonny writes that EVOO has been shown to reduce blood pressure, as well as the need for blood pressure medication, by a whopping amount. According to Jonny, olive oil decreases risk of colon and bowel cancer. Dr. Mark Houston, director of the Hypertension Institute at St.Thomas Hospital, is Jonny’s go-to guy for all things related to hypertension. Dr. Houston is cited as believing that monosaturated fats make nitric acid more bioavailable, which makes it better able to keep the arteries dilated.

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