“The law is the organization of the natural right of lawful defense; it is the substitution of collective for individual forces, for the purpose of acting in the sphere in which they have a right to act, of doing what they have a right to do, to secure persons, liberties, and properties, and to maintain in its right, so as to cause justice to reign over all.” — Frederic Bastiat, essay The Law

At first glance one might read the title of this missive and respond, “c’mon Colonel it’s the legislative branch.” That answer would be true because America is a constitutional republic. In our three branches of government, the one tasked with passing bills, legislation, is the one made up of our representatives, the legislature. However, the question posed by this title goes beyond just the superficial understanding of Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws from which we get the concepts of legislative, executive, and judicial branches. And I am sure many of you realize that there are Americans who cannot articulate that simple construct.

If you embrace the ideals of constitutional conservatism I recommend you to read Frederic Bastiat’s essay The Law. This writing, from the 1850s, gets to the heart of what the law is and the driving factor for those tasked with making law. Bastiat starts from the understanding of the natural rights theory as espoused by the father of classical liberalism, John Locke, in his Second Treatise of Government. We, as citizens, have endowed to us natural rights, Locke expressed them to be life, liberty, and property. Our natural rights are not something given to us by the government, or ruling entities, that is what was referred to as divine rights theory. Thomas Jefferson codified this premise in our very own Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal and that they are endowed, by the Creator, with certain inalienable rights, of these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Jefferson was advised by Benjamin Franklin to change the word “property” to “pursuit of happiness” because the founders did not want anyone to believe that owning another person was a right. Later in the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson again referred to Locke in stating, “the laws of nature and nature’s God.”

The entire intent, purpose of laws, according to these astute writers is to protect our life, liberty, and property. We as sovereign entities have willfully given over our individual right to protect our life, liberty, and property over to a collective, representative, body with that being their raison d’etre.

However, what is happening today is that laws are not being made, but instead rules, edicts, mandates, orders, and directives are being utilized to leverage governmental control over our lives. Case in point, on Tuesday the US House of Representatives voted on HJ Resolution 44, which basically said that the government agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), could not make a rule which carried the power of being a law, the pistol brace ban. Our system has become so perverted that the legislative branch must pass laws that say the executive branch does not have the enumerated power to make law.

Or, consider how the government is now telling you what type of stove, dishwasher, or even car you may possess. So much for honoring our natural right to property. Here in Texas, citizens are taxed based upon their property, and even if you completely pay off your mortgage, the State of Texas can take your home if you do not pay your property taxes. In essence, the State of Texas is renting your home to you.

The progressive socialist leftists are now turning their sights on our very own children. First of all, consider how insidious to have a government trying to ban chocolate milk for kids. But worse, think of States, like Washington and California, who are passing “laws” that express to parents that if they do not allow their child to undergo gender mutilation surgery or take dangerous physiological altering drugs, the State, government, will take away your child and refer to such as child abuse. Now, if you were to take the very same child into a tattoo shop to get them tattooed, well, that is against the law, but body mutilation is just fine?

I am sure many of you can think of many more intrusions of government against your life, liberty, and property. The law exists for us, We the People, to safeguard us, collectively, from the overreach of tyrants. The government, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, exists based upon the “consent of the governed.” There are those who will say, “Hey, Colonel, but we have a representative democracy and these people are being voted into office by a majority.” True, but that is not a license to institute totalitarian and tyrannical ideological agendas and policies that violate the foundational premise of The Law: protecting the individual natural right to life, liberty, and property. As well, it is sad to realize that a good many Americans do not comprehend basic civics, have never read the entire Declaration of Independence or US Constitution, and believe in rule, instead of governing.

Here at the American Constitutional Rights Union, we are very aware of what the intent of the law is, and should be. We understand the rule of law, not just rule. We fight for and defend your individual natural right to have your life, liberty, and property protected. We will never relent in our tenacity to defeat the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the idea of shared misery known as progressive socialism, Marxism . . . it is antithetical to our rule of law and our constitutional republic. We do not agree with making laws that undermine your freedom. And we despise any belief that executive or judicial branches have the power to make law.

It is time we get back to our fundamentals, and elect representatives that understand them, and when they violate such, remove them. The Judeo-Christian faith heritage Creator God endowed you with your natural, inalienable, rights, an ideal unique to our Country, established in our Declaration of Independence. Join us at the ACRU to make a stand and to safeguard The Law.

Steadfast and Loyal.