Mike Parker: Jefferson’s ideas can still electrify
Article I, Section 35 of North Carolina’s Constitution has a pertinent reminder as we head to the ballot box. Article I is the “Declaration of Rights,” and Section 35 reads:
“Recurrence to fundamental principles. A frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is absolutely necessary to preserve the blessings of liberty.”
Each semester when I taught English 1100, I used a reader I assembled with the help of Pearson Publishing. I was committed to teaching that writing is the outcome of thinking, so rhetorical modes provide an intellectual framework for disciplined thought.
My long experience taught me students who cannot think clearly cannot write clearly.
That principle applies to more than just students. Anyone trying to communicate ideas with clarity needs to understand WHAT he or she wishes to say. The task then becomes choosing words and composing sentences that most effectively convey an idea to a reader.
When I began persuasive writing, the first piece we read was Thomas Jefferson’s “The Declaration of Independence.” This document provides the bedrock of American political philosophy, just as the U.S. Constitution is the bedrock of American law and legal practice.
Sadly, for most of my students, reading “The Declaration” in my class was the first time they had ever read the entire document. Sure, they were supposed to read it a couple of times in high school, but if most high schoolers have any true genius, that genius lies pretending they have read an assignment to save themselves the trouble of actually reading it.
Since my students had to write a blog about the Declaration and take a quiz on its content, students had a powerful incentive to read it. These young people discovered a strange truth: the people who founded this country did not trust the government. Governments only govern justly with the consent of the people. The Declaration squarely places all legitimate civil and political power in the hands of the people.
In fact, the preamble of “The Declaration of Independence” lists five equally weighted, parallel clauses:
all men are created equal;
we are endowed by our Creator (not the government) with certain rights that can never be stripped from us;
three of those fundamental rights are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;
the sole mission of governments is to protect our rights; and
when any government fails to protect our rights, the people have a right and duty to alter or abolish it.
Thiat final clause never failed to electrify students. How fundamental are the powers of the people? We are powerful even to the extent of undoing and remaking our government.
“This document seems to be saying that we have the right to be left alone as long as we are not infringing on the rights of others – and the government is supposed to protect our right to be left alone,” one of my students once observed.
My heart soared like a hawk.
The people did not create our government, whether state or federal, to be our Big Brother or Great Nanny. Jefferson and the other founders had no trust in human nature. The founders understood that power corrupts, so they tried to limit government power in our lives through the separation of powers and a system of checks and balances.
Jefferson wrote in the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798: “...in questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the constitution. ...”
Jefferson and the others tried to place true power in the hands of as many people as possible to prevent the centralization of power in the hands of the few.
Each time I cast my ballot, I try to vote for those I think will limit themselves to the narrow role expressed in “The Declaration” and codified in the U.S. Constitution.
When you have your chance to exercise one of the most fundamental ways the people express their power – at the ballot box – remember the North Carolina Constitution’s emphasis on “recurrence to fundamental principles.”
Use your power wisely and in a way that strives to limit governmental interference in our lives.
Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
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