C-Span interviews Senator Ted Cruz for an hour in his Senate Office.
Great interview!
Q: Why do you think the Constitution still works today?
Cruz: THE CONSTITUTION WAS AN ACT OF POLITICAL GENIUS. IT STARTED WITH THE TWO REVOLUTIONS IN AMERICA. WE HAD ONE THAT WAS A BLOODY REVOLUTION OF GUNS AND BAYONETS. BUT WE HAD ANOTHER THAT WAS A REVOLUTION OF IDEAS, WHERE FOR MILLENNIA, MEN AND WOMEN HAD BEEN TOLD THAT SOVEREIGNTY ORIGINATES ON THE TOP, THAT KINGS AND QUEENS HAVE ALL SOVEREIGNTY AND POWER AND ANY RIGHTS WE HAVE ARE GIVEN BY GRACE OF THE MONARCH. LIKE CRUMBS FROM THE TABLE TO BE TAKEN AWAY AT THE WHIM OF THE MONARCH.
AMERICA BEGAN WITH A REALLY REVOLUTIONARY CONCEPT, AND IS REFLECTED FIRST IN THE DECLARATION, THAT OUR RIGHTS, COME NOT FROM A KING OR QUEEN OR PRESIDENT, BUT THEY COME, FROM GOD ALMIGHTY, AND THAT SOVEREIGNTY RESIDES WITH "WE THE PEOPLE" - AND SO THE DECLARATION FAMOUSLY OBSERVED - "WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT, THAT ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL AND ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR" -- THOSE WERE REVOLUTIONARY WORDS -- WITH CERTAIN AND UNALIENABLE RIGHTS -- THAT AMONG THESE ARE THE RIGHTS OF "LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS".
THAT LED DIRECTLY TO THE CONSTITUTION, BUT THE CONSTITUTION WAS NOT A MONARCH GRANTING RIGHTS TO THE PEOPLE, RATHER IT WAS A SOVEREIGN "WE THE PEOPLE" ESTABLISHING A GOVERNMENT. AND AS THOMAS JEFFERSON PUT IT, THE CONSTITUTION WAS TO SERVE AS CHAINS TO BIND THE MISCHIEF OF GOVERNMENT. THAT WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY UNDERSTANDING AND THAT THE KEY TO LIBERTY....YOU KNOW, MADISON, IN FEDERALIST 10, WRITES ABOUT FACTIONS, TODAY, WE WOULD CALL THEM SPECIAL INTERESTS. AND THE FRAMERS UNDERSTOOD HUMAN NATURE. THEY UNDERSTOOD THAT AVARICE AND GREED ARE PART OF HUMAN NATURE. AND SO THEY SOUGHT, DELIBERATELY, TO DIVIDE POWER BETWEEN THE BRANCHES, BETWEEN THE THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT - THE LEGISLATIVE, THE EXECUTIVE, AND THE JUDICIARY, AND BETWEEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE STATES, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT.
AND IN FEDERALIST 10, MADISON EXPLAINS THAT THE PURPOSE OF THAT IS THAT IF THE POWER IS DIVIDED, NO FACTION, NO SPECIAL INTEREST CAN SEIZE THE ENTIRE GOVERNMENT. IF IT'S ALL UNIFIED, UNCHECKED POWER MEANS THAT IT CAN BE ABUSED. aND WHAT THE FRAMERS UNDERSTOOD IS CHECKS AND BALANCES WAS DESIGNED FOR EACH OF THE FEDERAL BRANCHES TO FIGHT AGAINST EACH OTHER.
PEOPLE TALK ABOUT GRIDLOCK IN WASHINGTON, THAT IS PART OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL DESIGN. GRIDLOCK IS A WAY OF SLOWING DOWN THE ATTEMPT BY ONE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT TO EXPAND ITS POWER. IT UNDERSCORES RIGHT NOW ONE OF THE PROFOUND DANGERS OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION. PRESIDENT OBAMA IS, I BELIEVE, THE MOST LAWLESS PRESIDENT WE HAVE EVER SEEN. HE HAS CLAIMED TO UNILATERALLY IGNORE LAWS, CHANGE LAWS.
WE ARE A NATION THAT WAS FOUNDED ON THE RULE OF LAW, THAT NO MAN IS ABOVE THE LAW, ESPECIALLY THE PRESIDENT. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I THINK IS FRONT AND CENTER IN THIS 2016 ELECTION IS WHETHER WE THE PEOPLE WILL REIGN IN AN OUT-OF-CONTROL PRESIDENT WHO IS REFUSING TO FOLLOW FEDERAL LAW OR THE CONSTITUTION, WHETHER WE WILL GET BACK TO THOSE CHECKS AND BALANCES THAT AT THE END OF THE DAY PROTECT OUR INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?326552-...r-ted-cruz-rtx
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