I tire of the phrases, “It’s my constitutional right” and “I have a constitutional right to . . .” – fill in the blank. No, you don’t have a “constitutional right” to anything. Constitutions don’t give rights. Governments don’t bestow rights upon you. Rights don’t come from men, employers, leaders, kings, diplomats, elected representatives, parents, priests, polls, popular consent, treaties, agreements, grants, charters, court rulings, or constitutions. Rights come from God. Period. 

To say that you have a “constitutional right” to something is an admission of defeat, submission, and servility. If a constitution gives you that “right,” it is really a privilege and can be taken away. If a constitution gives you a right, then that right can be altered or changed if the constitution is changed. Would you cease to have the right to keep and bear arms in your own private self-defense if the political Elite passed an amendment to repeal the Second Amendment? If you think that’s how rights work, you are not my ideological ally, but are an enemy to the Republic. 

Our Founding Fathers knew the source of mankind’s sacred rights. They declared: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 

This statement, enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, is formal U.S. law. A belief that that God exists and granted us inalienable rights is part of our DNA as Americans. Someone who denies these key tenets denies the foundation America was built upon, denies the Declaration of Independence, denies the colonists’ argument for Independence, and denies Freedom itself. 

Alexander Hamilton explained that our rights did not come from documents. While speaking of the right of revolution, Hamilton made these overarching remarks: 

“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power. 

“The nations of Turkey, Russia, France, Spain, and all other despotic kingdoms, in the world, have an inherent right, when ever they please, to shake off the yoke of servitude, (though sanctified by the immemorial usage of their ancestors;) and to model their government, upon the principles of civil liberty” (Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted). 

Hamilton knew that dusty old documents, charters, and constitutions are incapable of granting a single right to anyone. They may reiterate rights, formally declare them, or reinforce them, but they do not create them or bestow them upon anybody. 

The beautiful thing about rights is that they belong to everyone equally at the same time. We inherit them at birth and carry them with us every second of the day until death. The only true human equality, therefore, is in individual Freedom that may be enjoyed by every person, black, white, male female, without cost. 

The only exception to the fact that no human power can justifiably strip any person of their God-given rights is if the individual forfeits them by violating the rights of another person. Notice I did not say that rights may be taken if someone refuses to inject poison into their bodies, or inhibit the free flow of oxygen into their lungs by covering their mouth with a mask, or opt out of using the twisted vocabulary an overly offended group demands you use, or acknowledge a man’s deluded fantasy when he says he’s a woman. None of that makes one liable to lose his rights. Only the actions of a person to infringe upon the rights of another person can cause them to forfeit their own sacred, undeniable, and inalienable rights. 

Thomas Jefferson put it best when he defined Liberty thus: 

“[R]ightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will, within the limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’; because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual” (Thomas Jefferson to Isaac H. Tiffany, April 4, 1819). 

Your rights are yours. They are free gifts from God. He endowed your spirit with Liberty and free will when He placed you here on this planet that He created to test your obedience to His laws and your ability to follow His Son Jesus Christ in the face of opposition. He has never rescinded our rights. The thought, then, that government dares abrogate our rights is offensive and repugnant. Jefferson said: “The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them” (Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America). And so it is. 

Please refrain from saying that the Constitution – as inspired, brilliant, and incredible it is – gives you your rights. That is what you say, whether you mean to or not, when you refer to “constitutional rights.” If you want to use the phrase “constitutionally guaranteed rights,” that is more acceptable. The Constitution was written to define the proper role and scope of government so as to prevent government from infringing upon our God-given rights. Said otherwise, it was written to protect our rights from the greedy and tyrannical hand of government. 

I love Liberty. I love my rights. I declare that all of us – every man, woman, and child – was granted fundamental rights by their Father in Heaven, that they were activated upon birth in mortality, and that unless a person forfeits them by maliciously infringing upon another’s equal rights, no government, no society, no poll, no consensus, no referendum, may take them from him. 

Stand in defense of your rights. God gave them to you; don’t fear what rasping, desperate, demonic politicians and schemers threaten to do to you. Their corrupt temple of evil is beginning to crumble. The Lord has promised it will be thrown down and the last vestiges of wickedness will be destroyed, burned, and abolished. 

The Devil’s days are numbered, though in his death throes his rage will be terrible and will cause much destruction. Brace for it. Prepare for it. Call on the Lord to protect your family. Focus your faith on the Savior Jesus Christ. Repent and get right with your redeeming Advocate. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free” (Galatians 5:1). 

Zack Strong, 
January 22, 2024