[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 18106-18107]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       PRESERVE THE CONSTITUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, the House Judiciary Committee yesterday 
raised the overarching question of our generation: Will the American 
Constitution stand?
  All the laws passed under that Constitution have elaborate 
enforcement mechanisms backed by armed force, but the Constitution 
itself has no such enforcement mechanism. It was designed to be 
internally self-enforcing, with the powers of government clearly 
divided among three separate and equal branches of government.
  But this self-enforcement mechanism can only work when the powers are 
evenly divided, when those who exercise those powers are devoted to the 
Constitution, and when the American people insist on it. That is the 
great question for our generation and for which we are deeply 
answerable. Are we allowing the Constitution to disintegrate before our 
eyes?
  The Constitution makes very clear that only Congress may make laws 
and that the principal responsibility of the executive is to take care 
that the laws be faithfully executed. Yet the executive branch has 
increasingly asserted sweeping powers to unilaterally nullify laws that 
it dislikes, to pick and choose who must obey the law and who need not, 
and even to impose entirely new laws that Congress has explicitly 
refused to enact.
  James Madison, the father of the Constitution, said that its single 
most important feature was giving the legislative and not the executive 
branch the decision of war or peace. Yet the executive now asserts the 
authority to attack other nations without congressional authorization.
  The Bill of Rights protects every American from retribution for 
expressing their political beliefs; it protects a free press from 
intimidation; it protects the free and open expression religious 
beliefs; it protects the means of individuals to protect themselves and 
their freedom; it protects every individual from having their records 
searched or their property seized without due process of law. Yet, 
these fundamental rights have been made a mockery of by the agents of 
this administration from the IRS to the Justice Department to the NSA.
  The rot began long before this administration, but under this 
administration it has become a crisis. All this is happening, we are 
told, for the common good. Ours wouldn't be the first civilization to 
succumb to the siren song of a benevolent and all-powerful government, 
but every society that has fallen for this lie has awakened one morning 
to discover that the benevolence is gone and that the all-powerful 
government is still there.
  Much of the structure of the American Constitution that has preserved 
our liberty for 225 years, that has contained the unwarranted expansion 
of governmental power, and that has preserved the natural and 
individual rights of every citizen has been allowed to decay.
  The form is still there--the institutions continue to function--but 
they no longer serve their principle role to protect the rule of law 
and the liberty of the people.
  Here in this Capitol, we are surrounded by the symbols of the Roman 
Republic. They should be a warning to us. The Roman Senate continued to 
exist 400 years after the fall of the Republic, but its nature and 
purpose had become empty.
  Chairman Goodlatte quoted Gibbon yesterday, who observed that ``the 
principles of a free Constitution are irrevocably lost when the 
legislative power is dominated by the executive.'' That is precisely 
what is happening.
  The institutions of our American Republic continue to operate, but 
the structures within it are rapidly degrading. In this condition, our 
Constitution is becoming like a rotting porch: we can still discern its 
form and purpose, but the structure that gave it strength and support 
is hollowing out through years of abuse and neglect until one day it 
will simply collapse.
  The Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday was the first step by 
Congress to assess the harm already done and to begin reversing that 
damage before it is too late. But I must warn that in its current 
divided condition Congress cannot do so alone. Ultimately, it will 
require the active assistance of the rightful owners of the 
Constitution, the American people.
  How ironic it would be if the liberties of this Nation, heroically 
defended by the sacrifices of nine generations of Americans on far-off 
battlefields, might someday be carelessly thrown away here at home.
  Let that not be said of our generation. Let it be said instead that 
just when our Constitution seemed most in

[[Page 18107]]

peril, this generation rose up, insisted on absolute fidelity to the 
Constitution by those it elected, and then went on to revive, restore, 
and preserve that Constitution for the many generations of Americans 
who followed.

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