The Redlands Tea Party Patriots Salute Martin Luther King for Upholding the Constitution
The Declaration of Independence states:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,…”
This is the foundation of American liberty and the Constitution, which is the foundation agreement for how we govern ourselves as free people.
The 14th Amendment states:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The 15th Amendment states:
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
After the withdrawal of Federal troops from the South in 1877, the Democrats took power in the South and systematically violated the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution depriving African Americans of due process, equal protection of the law and the right to vote, and that was not just in the South.
Dr. King recognized this stating in his famous “I have a dream” speech:
“When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Without necessarily agreeing with everything he said or did, the Redlands Tea Party Patriots take the opportunity of MLK Day to salute Martin Luther King for his work in upholding and enforcing the Constitution of the United States and upholding America’s founding principle “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
“The natural progress of things is for liberty to yeild, and government to gain ground.” Thomas Jefferson [“Yeild” is Jefferson's spelling.]
The experience of African Americans shows the importance of the Tea Party principle of “constitutionally limited government.” Unless government is firmly bound by the Constitution, no one’s rights and liberties are secure.
Gregory W. Brittain
Cabinet Member
Redlands Tea Party Patriots
http://www.redlandsteaparty.com/
