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Friday, May 1, 2015

The [u]nited States Constitution Re-visited

Father Matthew Raphael Johnson shared some thoughts on the essay posted at this site Monday, 13 April 2015, regarding two kinds of constitutions.  We present them now to the reader for consideration.

 . . .
I've gone back and forth on this issue too. Primarily because the separation of powers seem to take sin very seriously. The assumption is that all men seek their own interests. The concept of the constitution is that the state will be essentially divided against itself.
However, the antifederalist condemnations of this idea have all come true.
1. They predicted that representation will be by a professional class of politicians. The idea at the time was that small yeomen who knew each other, would send one of their number to congress. That was what representation meant back then. All parties would have condemned the way it turned out.
2. They predicted a community of interests. That the ruling party will be united on many things, that is, strengthening the state and controlling state governments.
3. Its not checks and balances, but rather a division of labor. The goal is the same.
4. Its naive to think that politicians and bureaucrats will constantly labor under the illusion that they are self-seeking by trying to make other branches weaker. They will very soon figure out that such a way is counterproductive.
5. Bureaucrats are the same regardless of the branch they are attached to.
6. This was also a time before mass media, the conglomerate, debt slavery and the rule of finance capital. Hence, it has no real meaning when the country that created it is long gone.

Source:  E-mail dated 14 April 2015

More of Fr Matthew’s writings and recordings may be found by following this path:


Point number 3 of his is worth dwelling upon.  What is the goal of government? 

The u. S. Constitution says,

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 for the United States of America.


The Confederate Constitution echoed this, but wiĆ° a more religious resonance:

We, the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character, in order to form a permanent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Confederate States of America.


The things they aim for are good, but they miss the point of human life.  The main task of government is to safeguard the Orthodox Church, so that all men may attain salvation through her, which is to say, to attain to never-ending, ever-deepening union with the Most Holy Trinity (man's true goal).  That none of our national or State constitutions mention this is a sign of how far from God we have fallen in the West, and how great is our need for repentance.

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