"Reserved to the States..."

A quick read-through of the Bill of Rights will leave you with a sense of how narrow the powers were that our Founders gave the Federal government. The First Amendment begins with the words “Congress shall make no law...” and the rest of the document continues in that vein. Congress' rights are limited so that the peoples' rights can be preserved. It's not that Madison and the other Framers didn't have a wealth of good ideas to pour into the new republic. They could have written dozens of pages into the Consitution to denote what every aspect of life should be like. Instead, they wrote 6 pages. This is because the power to determine all issues except for the ones addressed in the Constitution was left to the states, or to the people. Whether a state's citizens pass harmful laws or not, the federal government is duty bound to respect their decisions. Just like a family should never have to be told how to raise their children whether they do it poorly or well, so the states -closest to the people they serve- should be allowed to exercise their own discretion.

That's why it's disturbing to see Christians increasingly looking to Washington D.C. to define moral issues. Amendment X clearly leaves these “to the States respectively, or to the people”. Yet, some pro-lifers suggest that a Constitutional amendment would solve our problems. The proposal is to enlarge Amendments V or XIV to define when life begins. Though well intended, the addition of these words would fundamentally transform our Constitution. For the first time in its long history, it would be offering a moral definition. Once this weapon was added to the arsenal of government, everything sacred could be laid bare before the power of the state. Neither church nor individuals would have the shelter the Constitution was meant to provide in matters of faith. One day this power would be misused. What if an amendment were passed that defined marriage as between “two individuals”, for example? Unable to resist a Constitutional mandate, voters in the states could no longer decide for themselves. Before we rush into a legislative solution, let's remember that it was the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade that declared that the unborn were not human beings. Shouldn't it be the judicial branch, then, where it's resolved? If that ruling were reversed, States could expand their fetal homicide laws to prohibit abortion. This is the Constitutional way to end abortion and protect human life.

J.R.R. Tolkien had profound insight into what happens to us when we use forbidden power to advance our cause. When Frodo naievely offers Gandalf the One Ring, the wizard replies “I would use this ring from a desire to do good, but through me it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine.” Before we resort to a Constitutional amendment to protect the unborn, let's keep that in mind.