For those of you who have not taken the time to read, or study the Tennessee Constitution, (inside or outside of the General Assembly, much less the media), there are a few passages that are very important to understand the proper functioning of a constitutional republic. These passages also shed light on the certain problems with how government now functions in Tennessee.
Article II
Section 1. The powers of the government shall be divided into three distinct departments: legislative, executive, and judicial.Section 2. No person or persons belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any of the powers properly belonging to either of the others, except in the cases herein directed or permitted.
Section 3. The legislative authority of this state shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives, both dependent on the people.
Section 24. Appropriation of public moneys. No public money shall be expended except pursuant to appropriations made by law. Expenditures for any fiscal year shall not exceed the state’s revenues and reserves, including the proceeds of any debt obligation, for that year.
Tennessee Constitution, current
As an initial matter, one that will be essential if you hang around to the end of the video (below) will be:
Article 1
Section 2 That government being instituted for the common benefit, the doctrine of nonresistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish, and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind.
Especially pertinent to this conversation are the following sections.
By the way, the “balanced budget” that so many legislators crow about at the end of session every year, is in fact Constitutionally mandated by section 24 of Article 2, not something that the General Assembly has a choice in.
It is the job of the legislators to make law, and to take bad ones off the books. The Administration, which by the way is the Governor, and those hired by that office to assist him in his duties, are responsible to see that the laws of the state are faithfully enforced.
To the point made earlier in Section 2, his office and the sundry employees he hires are not empowered to make laws, that belongs to the legislature. And just as they may not make laws, they should not be involved with trying to advocate for or against them while on the clock.
All the “letter agency” heads and their employees, from TBI, Departments of Safety, Education, and children’s Services, (you know the unelected bureaucrats that have so much to do with running your lives) are not answerable to the People, just the Governor.
The judiciary is the branch that decides if laws passes and signed are Constitutional, not the Administration.
One of our most important Constitutional chains placed on government is the one which mandates in Article 10 Section 1 which states that ” Every person who shall be chosen or appointed to any office of trust or profit under this Constitution, or any law made in pursuance thereof, shall, before entering on the duties thereof, take an oath to support the Constitution of this state, and of the United States.”
These being the facts, how can a legislative body so constrained continue year after year to subvert the intent of the 2nd Amendment with impunity, along side the Administrative branch which is compelled by their oaths to protect the rights enumerated in the Constitutions of both the state and Union? Do they not know the Constitutions?
Our Tennessee Code Annotated in § 39-16-403 states that “(a) A public servant acting under color of office or employment commits an offense if they Intentionally deny or impedes another in the exercise or enjoyment of any right, privilege, power or immunity, when the public servant knows the conduct is unlawful, they are guilty of a Class E felony if they do.”
Our Federal Law says in 18 U.S.C. § 242, “Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States…shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.”
How many times have we heard that ignorance of the law is no excuse?
Those who are tax payer paid are working under color of official employment and law. Why, if they are denying you the right to carry firearms for your own protection as detailed in by the United States Supreme Court repeatedly in its decisions in Heller, McDonald and Bruen are these public officials allowed to continue with impunity?
Because we let them!
Finally some words of wisdom from Mark Twain, “Never argue with an idiot, they will drag you down to their level and beat with experience.”
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