Newspapers / The Transylvania Times (Brevard, … / June 24, 1954, edition 1 / Page 14
Part of The Transylvania Times (Brevard, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
•■•MMMMtlMMMMSMIiiMHIIMI VIUOtMgMMMMIIIIIIMtltliailMMUnMItlMMIMfmQ OUR CHIEF GUARDIAN By MAXWELL G. PANGLE Perhaps very few of us fully appreciate our government here in the United States, else more of us would study its principles and all of us would support it better. Through the past, from the earliest times right up to the present time over most of the world, govern ments have exploited the citizens whom they were supposed to serve and to protect. Knowing this his torical fact, all of us are, to some extent, suspicious of most of the acts of our federal government. Here in the United States, that at titude constitutes a dangerous and needless fallacy. While the American colonies were still under the rule of Eng land, they were permitted a large degree of self government so that the leaders learned a great deal about the operation and effects of self-imposed laws. In other words, the colonists developed the theory and practice of democracy to a greater degree than ever before in the history of the world. Even when the government of England did pass laws for the colonies and at tempt to enforce them here, those laws were relatively benevolent when compared with the rule of other countries over their colo nies. Nevertheless, in spite of the local or relative freedom among the colonists, the mother country taught the people to fear govern ment. This fear drove them to re bellion against England and result ed in the formation of a constitu tion for what is now known as the United States of America. in tne next place, let us study some of the results which this fear put into the constitution. First, it made the framers base the whole structure upon the principle that all “just” powers are derived from the will of the people who are gov erned. They then proceeded to write into the document all sorts of provisions designed to protect the citizen from the oppression of the government. At first thought, it seems very strange that the citi zens should need protection from that organization which is set up as protector, Yet, it is very true. We often think of the constitution as an instrument set up to enume rate our rights as guaranteed by the government. On the contrary, a large part of it is taken up in prohibitions on the state to prevent it from taking away from-us rights and privileges, which may or may not even be mentioned in the con stitution. We as a people are ex tremely jealous of our rights, which is as it should be. However, we should recognize the fact that for every right there is a correspond ing responsibility borne, not only by the government, but by the citi zen as well. Above we mentioned the origin of just powers. What are they? Every government oi' whatsoever form has inherently three essential powers. These are powers of lega tion. That is, every state has the right to make laws, to judge laws, and to enforce laws. These powers may be vested in one person as in the case of Hitler, who could make any law, judge the application of the law, and execute the person whom he judged to have violated that law. That is despotism at its worst. The framers of our constitution had experienced the rule of a mild despot and decided that it was not good, so they divided the three powers of the state among three separate groups of officials. It is the business of the congress to make the laws. It is the duty of the Supreme Court to interpret both the constitution and the laws made under it and to apply these same laws to specific cases. It is the sworn duty of the executive de partment to enforce the laws. So long as we preserve the constitu tion and keep inviolate this sepa ration of powers we can not allow our politicians to become despotic. Perhaps you think that there are no politicians in this country who would like to become dictators. Well, there are plenty of them. Some have made quite a splash in the political pool and caught the eyes of the gullible public. Just one example, Huey P. Long. You can think of others living and scheming at this very minute. We think of the rights as stated in the constitution, but it recog nizes the fact that there are oth ers which are implied because one short document could not cover all human life for all time. It also im plies certain privileges which are granted to some citizens and not to others, such as the privilege of voting. Now, the constitution makes up our fundamental law upon which all other legislative acts of both state and nation must be based. In other words, it makes the foundation of our liberty. Hence, if we destroy our fundamental law, we destroy our liberty. The con stitution could be destroyed by three different methods. We, the people of the United States, by a majority vote could replace it with a new one or change the entire form of our government. We could rebel against it and enter into a state of anarchy. Or, we could just neglect its provisions and fall into a state of personal rule. Or, again, we might allow certain popular politicians to defy the constitution and thus secure a following which would be large enough either to destroy the force of fundamental law or to result in civil war in case we have strong enough execu tive to attempt to enforce the law with federal troops. I might add as an afterthought that if we should be conquered by a foreign nation, we certainly would lose our constitution, our liberty, and prob ably our very lives. Strangely enough, it now be comes necessary to ask: What is the constitution? The short docu ment is written in comparatively simple, non-technical language. It would seem that any educated per MORE HOMEWORK IN LESS TIME | and BETTER MARKS^ FULL size KEYBOARDS orona world’s Fastest PORTABLE! ALL-FAMILY FAVORITE TOOl Yes, everyone likes to use the SmithC Corona portable for. writing letters, typing reports. And it’s fun to learn to type on a Smith-Corona. i SEE IT DEMONSTRATED Once vou see it, you’ll know that; Smith-Corona is the portable for you. It’s truly the finest precision writing instrument of its kind. FOR SALE BY Transylvania Times Times Arcade Dial 2-4111 son could read it and say, “There it is. Follow it.” But it is not that easy. It must be interpreted and applied to specific cases. Whose business or duty is it to make these interpretations? It could be done by the congress, who makes the laws; but if so they would not have time to make any other laws and also that would make congress an oligarchy or autocratic ruler of the country. It could be left to the president, but he could thus become an autocrat and en force only such laws as it suits him personally. These suggestions seem silly when we remember that in this country we have a clear division of powers with a system of courts to interpret and apply both fundamental and statutory laws. The Supreme Court of the Unit ed States is at the head of this system. Chief Justice John Marshall proved that there is no other way to judge the laws than by the courts and that the Supreme Court has both the right and duty to de clare a law either of a state or the nation to be contrary to the mean ing of the constitution and, hence, null and void. Now we are ready to answer the question asked above. What is the constitution? It is what the Supreme Court of the United States said it was when they last spoke on a certain issue. It does not require any very great depth of learning to see that our fundamental rights are guard ed by the Supreme Court. They are guided, not only by their own training, experience, and intelli gence, but by a long succession of decisions before them. Then, so long as we maintain the integrity of the Supreme Court we will re main a free people. It is this same court which makes it no longer necessary to fear our government because it really is the chief guard ian of our liberty. To illustrate this, let us take a brief look at the recent decision declaring race segregation in the public schools to be unconstitution al. Negroes are citizens and havj a right to the equal protection^ the law, according to a plain sj* ment in the constitution. Thei'S lem then is, does equal school cilities give them the equal proj tion of the law? The Suprj Court says not. Certain high cials, such as governors of states and some senators they do. That man or group of^ who would deny a right to one would just as readily deny ar er right to any other group, would be taking a right and Rock Quan A large delegation from Dui Rock Masonic lodge will attenc * 15th annual Wing’s Quarry ing of the 18th district Me next Friday, W. W. Cole, deputy grand master in South lina announces. Brevard Masons annually at* this large gathering of the gre in nearby South Carolina. Started during the term of Sal uel Aiken of Travelers Rest as di trict deputy grand master, “rock quarry meeting” has cor to he South Carolina’s biggest sonic gathering. Each year from 2,500 to morj than 3,000 Masons from all o\ South Carolina and from as maf as 23 other states and several fol eign countries have attended. The Masons will begin gatherq at the big rock basin north Travelers Rest off Highway 2} before 6 p. m. Then during the course of meeting, a special degree repr^ sentative of the 13 lodges in district will confer the master son’s degree on a class of can! dates. Mr. Cole said he will annoui ing it into a privilege, which, done enough or in the case of important right, would destroy liberty of all citizens. Shall we citizens follow the decisions of thJ highest court of the land or intrui our rights, our liberty, and on very lives into the hands of se] seeking politicians? The constitution does not pre vide explicitly just how a decisiol of the court is to be enforced, bu| it is understood that the executi^ department, headed by the prdM dent, has this duty. In most cas« those involved in a decree hall obeyed the orders of the court jua | like loyal citizens should do. How ever, in the case under considers tion certain persons, including i—r-nff • i «!■ i ii -A WHEN car, the top of Which is 61 like that We know, b< has held such i me uiiquesuonc^r-saies leader in its class. And with good reasons in styling, room, power, value. But today, folks like you have pushed Buick success even beyond such bounds. Today, the top sales standings of a full generation have been changed. Today, latest sales figures for the months of 1954 reveal this enal fact: national volume, regardless class, Buick is outselling in America except two of called "low-price three ” a tip too good to pass up. That’s the tip-off that Buick must have the hottest styling of the times and the sweetest performance of the year. More important, that’s the tip-off that Buick prices are well within the reach of more and more people — and that such prices buy a lot more automobile per dollar. So why not look into the tomorrow styled Buick that puts you so far ahead today? Gome in, or phone us this week for a demonstration. Then you can judge for yourself that Buick really is the beautiful buy—by far. WHEN BETTER AUTOMOBILES ARE BUILT BUICK WILL BUILD THEM* Coffey Buick Company PHONE TU. 3-4301 NORTH CALDWELL STREET BREVARD, N. C.
The Transylvania Times (Brevard, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
June 24, 1954, edition 1
14
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75