[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23021-23022]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            WE, THE SUBJECTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, the United States Constitution 
starts out with the words ``We the People.'' It's right there at the 
beginning, written large so folks don't miss it. It means that we are a 
self-governing people. It means that the Constitution is an agreement 
between the people and the government. It's not an outline of what the 
government will give people. It's designed to keep government in a box, 
to keep it under control. Its purpose is to limit what government can 
do to the people, not the other way around. The Constitution does not 
live. It does not breathe. It's not an evolving document with constant 
change of its true meaning. It says the things it says in plain, simple 
language.
  A current Supreme Court Justice told me recently that the 
Constitution means what five of the nine Justices says it means. Well, 
that elitist statement may be true as a practical matter, but the 
writers of the Constitution never wanted five Justices in a dark, damp, 
secret room to make the Constitution mean what the Judges wanted it to 
mean. It seems many of the Supreme Court opinions are so twisted with 
outcome-based decisions that they are the result of the ebb and flow of 
political and social opinion. The Constitution is not some elusive 
ideal that changes with time but was written to prevent government, or 
Judges, from making it mean different things at different times or 
different things depending on who is in charge, whether it be Judges, 
Congress, or even Presidents.
  There are simple rules for adding to or taking away from the 
Constitution. There is a high threshold on that process for good 
reason. The people have to agree to change the Constitution by the 
complicated amendment process. The Constitution is a self-governing 
people's agreement with our government, an agreement that says to 
government that government must stay within these limits or the 
government violates its contract with the people by disregarding its 
duty to stay within those bounds of the Constitution.
  Now the question to be asked is: Is our government out of control?
  As the Constitution is the framework, the Declaration of Independence 
is our Nation's heart. The Declaration of Independence gave us the 
justification for establishing this new Nation. The Constitution is the 
foundation of this new Nation. The Declaration proclaims that our 
rights come from the Almighty God. They are inalienable. That means our 
rights cannot be stolen from us by government. We must make sure 
government recognizes our individual rights. Government can't change 
what our God-given rights are, and government doesn't give people 
rights. Government has no rights. Government has power, power that 
comes from the people because we give our government that power.

[[Page 23022]]

  Even though it's seldom taught in our Nation's Ivy League law 
schools, rights are from the Almighty, not from government. If rights 
are from government, then government can take them away at its whim. 
Millions of Americans over the centuries have shed blood and even died 
to put government power in its box, in its place. We are to control 
government. Government was not established in this country to run 
roughshod over the people.
  There seems to me, now, to be an attack on individual rights by our 
own government. America's founding as a Nation put an end to the 
centuries-long notion of ``might and power make right.'' Today, some in 
this country want to forget about that. Our Founding Fathers called 
these elites princelings--elite power-grabbers who want to be able to 
tell us how to live and run our own lives. Some are at the levers of 
government right now. Might and power does not make right.
  Some want government to have the power to control every aspect of our 
lives. Those that urge a government takeover of health care are a prime 
example. Government should not have the power over our health, who our 
doctors are, or what medical procedures are allowed. Government should 
not have abusive power over our individual lives. It's really not about 
health or health care. It's about power, and it's about control, 
government dictating how we live.
  In the name of ``saving the planet,'' government wants to tell us 
what kind of light bulbs we use or how much water is in our toilets or 
what type of energy we may or may not use. It doesn't matter if those 
intentions are good; government does not have that authority or right. 
It's abusing the power we granted to it.
  Our government, in my opinion, is out of control, borrowing and 
spending and taxing and taxing, doing things it has no business doing 
for us that it has turned into doing things to us. The American people 
know that their freedom and liberty are being crushed. Has government 
broken free of its constitutional restraints?
  In town hall meeting after town hall meeting across the country, 
Americans have made it clear: Leave us alone to live our lives. Liberty 
over tyranny. Stop spending money we don't have. Government is taking 
our money in the name of government power. The people have had enough. 
They do not want to be treated like subjects of government control.
  And that's just the way it is.

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