By Dan Calabrese ——Bio and Archives--April 5, 2018
American Politics, News | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us
A resolution that would change the Tennessee Constitution to say that God is the source of liberty for the state’s citizens is gaining momentum. The House passed the measure last year and it will go before a full Senate vote after clearing a judiciary committee this week. One of the main sponsors of the House joint resolution is Rep. Micah Van Huss, a Republican from Jonesborough. Van Huss is proposing that the state constitution say, “We recognize that our liberties do not come from governments, but from Almighty God.” Amending the Tennessee constitution is a lengthy process. Proposed changes must pass by a majority during one two-year General Assembly, and then pass by at least two-thirds in the next, and then be approved by voters in a gubernatorial election year.Just an exercise in semantics? I don’t think so. If liberty comes from God, that means it’s inherent. You don’t need anyone to give it to you. You don’t need the state to confer it on you. You just have it by virtue of being born. The state’s role is to protect your liberty, not to grant it to you or decide how much you’re entitled to. That matters for a number of reasons. For one thing, it makes it harder to justify state actions that presume to grant you new liberties, because it’s not the state’s role to grant liberty in the first place. A lot of people think the U.S. Constitution confers on them the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, the right to religious freedom and all the rest. It doesn’t. What the Bill of Rights does is acknowledge that these rights are inherent and inalienable.
View Comments
Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain
Follow all of Dan’s work, including his series of Christian spiritual warfare novels, by liking his page on Facebook.