The Walt Blackman Show
Understanding America: The Constitution and Its Effects
Ever wondered if our government officials truly adhere to the principles of our U.S. Constitution? Are the liberties and responsibilities it uphold still acknowledged in our current era? Join me, Walt Blackman, as we dissect and scrutinize high-octane topics like these, guided by the insightful book, Your Nation to Save by Shane F Krause. We'll attempt to make sense of our Constitution, its preamble, and the role of our executive branch, particularly in these unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hold on tight as we journey back in time, unmasking the intentions of our founding fathers, their daunting navigation through the slavery issue during the American Revolution, and the three-fifths compromise. We'll shed light on the formation of the Senate, the rationale behind choosing two senators per state, and its designed role in bill passing. Strap in for an enlightening exploration into the past and its resonating effects on our present. Prepare to be challenged, to question, and to learn.
Free delivery on your first order over $35.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Ever wondered if our government officials truly adhere to the principles of our U.S. Constitution? Are the liberties and responsibilities it uphold still acknowledged in our current era? Join me, Walt Blackman, as we dissect and scrutinize high-octane topics like these, guided by the insightful book, Your Nation to Save by Shane F Krause. We'll attempt to make sense of our Constitution, its preamble, and the role of our executive branch, particularly in these unprecedented times of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hold on tight as we journey back in time, unmasking the intentions of our founding fathers, their daunting navigation through the slavery issue during the American Revolution, and the three-fifths compromise. We'll shed light on the formation of the Senate, the rationale behind choosing two senators per state, and its designed role in bill passing. Strap in for an enlightening exploration into the past and its resonating effects on our present. Prepare to be challenged, to question, and to learn.
Free delivery on your first order over $35.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Strap in. You're listening to the Walt Blackman Show, the show that brings you hardcore conservative straight talk. Welcome to the no PC Zone. Hi everybody, it's.
Speaker 2:Walt Blackman, I hope you're having a great and wonderful day. Welcome to the Walt Blackman Show. This is the show where you get all your political information out front, with a no PC Zone. So get ready and get set, and we are ready to go on the Walt Blackman Show. Hello everybody, it's Walt Blackman and welcome to the Walt Blackman Show. I am so glad that you were able to make it.
Speaker 2:Today we are going to be talking about the Constitution, and I think it's important that we talk about the Constitution as we get closer to election season. A lot of people, as we get closer, more people, claim to know about the Constitution but probably have not even read the preamble of the Constitution. A couple of weeks ago, I was able to go to a event where I was blessed to be able to hear a speaker. His name is Shane F Carras Carras, correction, carras and he is actually running for mayor of Gilbert Gilbert, arizona. He's written several books and one of the books that I'm going to be referring to a lot today is his book titled your Nation to Save, line by Line Explanation of the US Constitution, second Edition, and it was forwarded by a good friend of mine, former Congressman Matt Salmon, and if you are familiar with the name of Matt Salmon, matt Salmon was a congressman, he founded the Freedom Caucus and he also ran for governor last cycle. Good friend of mine and I often speak to him and also the author of this book, shane. We are really good friends and just a terrific. Terrific person, a wealth of knowledge, and you know, shane is a widely sought after speaker throughout the United States, so not just in Arizona. He's the director of the American Academy for constitutional education and he is a professor of constitutional law and an expert trial attorney. He's written and lectured extensively on the principles of freedom and the Constitution and has been called by many the best instructor of the Constitution of the country. I'm going to have Shane on this show a little later on, not today, but a little later on during the pot and future podcast.
Speaker 2:But I wanted to introduce his book a little bit and please, please, if you have an opportunity, to go out there and get on. I believe it's on Amazon and he really breaks down the Constitution and how the book is set up. He actually will put the actual text of the Constitution on one side of the page and on the other side of the page he breaks down what that is now and he starts with the preamble of the Constitution, and it starts out that we, the people of the United States, are known to perform a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity. Do our day and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Now, a lot of us had to memorize that, and that's what we did when we were in school. We memorized it and went about our way. However, shane actually breaks down that preamble and he says in his book I'm going to read this from his book he says Just as do people have the power and the ability to separate themselves from the bands of tyranny, so too do the people have the power and the ability to establish a system of government that promotes freedom and responsibility among the people who doles whom they elected to govern.
Speaker 2:My question to you is is that really happening? Is that happening in our government, or are elected officials truly, truly representing us and following the letter of the law of the Constitution? He also goes on to say that recognizing the unenable and inherent right to govern themselves. That means the people he is talking about. The people of the United States created the Constitution for the following reasons and number one he goes on to form a strong central government made up of the Union of States that are joined together by a common purpose. Now, what's that common purpose that these folks were joined together to do? That these states came together to do Well, number one protection. Number two, to make sure that we could regulate commerce, that we build a strong central government to be able to negotiate for funding this brand new country taxes and to let me war, we have to do that, and so on and so forth. The other reason that Shane goes on to talk about this is to ensure equality in just treatment to all, the principles of due process and fairness in the application of the law. Now think about what's going on today. What's going on with former President Trump. Is that happening?
Speaker 2:He also breaks down that the government must not pick and choose who we are, who it will protect are who it harasses. They can't do that, but they are breaking the Constitution by doing that, and that's the executive branch doing this. All powers, all powers in the Constitution, must protect us all equally. It's also to ensure within the American borders, which it's also to ensure peace within the American borders, which comes through internal and external defense, meaning protecting our borders. Is that happening? Are our borders protected? All we gotta do is look to the southern border here in Arizona and see the deaths not happening.
Speaker 2:Now, since that is not happening, has the President of the United States, joe Biden, broken his oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and is it unconstitutional not to protect our borders? It's easy for you to understand that. Now it goes on to meet the needs of the general population, in order to allow society to function relatively free from government or even private interference. Are we, as citizens of this country, able to exercise freely from the federal government? I think not, especially when we're talking about the COVID stage, because a lot of businesses were shut down and they did that for health reasons and so on and so forth. However, according to the Constitution of the United States, that executive order was non. It didn't fall in line with the Constitution. It was unconstitutional to do that and then, finally, to ensure liberty from one generation to the next. That is the Constitution. That is what should be happening in the Constitution.
Speaker 2:Now just a little background on why we came to the Constitution, and it's two words constitutional convention. Now, if you're not hip or up on your history, the Constitution was written during the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia. There were 55 delegates that actually went to the constitutional convention and they went there to amend the Articles of Confederation. Now I've read the Constitution, I've read the Articles of Confederation, I've read the Anti-Fedalist Papers and the Anti-Fedalist Papers and I suggest folks try to do that if they have the time. Now. The Articles of Confederation was written and actually enacted through a vote of the Congress that they had from 1781 to 1789, and it was the country's first written constitution. It was the first set of laws.
Speaker 2:Now, the Constitution was a product of political compromise and after, you know, a long series of debates and arguing over the issue, such as states' rights, representation and slavery, delegates from small and large states disagreed over whether the number of representatives and the new federal legislators should be the same for each state, so on and so forth, and, as was the case under the Articles of Confederation are different from and depending on the new states. So they were trying to figure out. You know, for example, new Jersey had a set number of delegates or representatives from New Jersey, virginia the same thing, connecticut the same way. However, each state, as they came up with their compromise, each state had two seats or, exactly correction, two senators, and based on the number of the population of that state, had representation in the House of Representatives. That is something that came out of the Constitution, it came out of the Constitutional Convention.
Speaker 2:Now, as we are diving in, talking about both the House's, the lower house and the upper house, as you know, the House of Representatives is the lower house, the Senate is the upper house, and in Article 1 of the Constitution now remember, we've got three articles Article 1, article 2, article 3, article 1 is the Legislative Branch, article 2, if you don't remember, is the Executive and Article 3 is the Judicial Branch. And Article 1 of the Constitution, primary, addresses the lawmaking functions of the Legislative Branch. Now again, I am getting this information out of Shane's book, your Nation to Save, line by Line explanation of the United States Constitution. This is where I am referencing this information from. So, in Article 1, all legislative powers here in granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States which shall consist of the Senate in the House of Representatives. That's pretty self-explanatory and I just kind of went into that.
Speaker 2:So, depending on the population of the state, that determines how many representatives they will have. For example, arizona, based on our population, we have nine members of the House of Representatives and we have two senators. Each state has two senators. Now how they came up with that? For example, let's think about California. California has the most representation in the House of than any other state because it is so, so big. I think they have 39, to be exact, 39 representatives from California and they have two senators.
Speaker 2:How they came up with that in the Constitutional Convention was some of the some of the states that were larger wanted to do a popular type of vote. So that means they would have gotten more people and it would have been unfair. And some of the smaller states wanted the lower house, wanted representatives, and it because of their demographics, of how many people, their population base. So they came up with a compromise of a upper house and a lower house, two senators per state base, and then for the House of Representatives, depending on the population would determine the amount of representatives they would have. That was a compromise.
Speaker 2:That kind of that was kind of the first step towards a balance of power when we were talking about the legislative branch, and we know that the legislative branch makes the laws, not the judiciary. And anytime we see the judiciary branch when I'm talking about the Supreme Court and we see them making laws, that's unconstitutional, that is not their purpose, and we'll talk about that a little later and we'll talk about why. It's important to understand that, because we've seen, we've seen laws come out of the judiciary, the Supreme Court. Now the House of Representatives shall. Well, let me go back a little bit. We know that the House of Representatives creates laws. They do that. No one else can do that. The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of several states, and the electors in each state shall have the qualifications to represent the numerous states through the legislative branch.
Speaker 2:We're gonna continue on. However, you know what time it is. We are going to take a break and we will be right back. Well, it's time to pay the bills, everybody, and we do that by going to our sponsors, wb Consulting Services LLC. Wb Consulting is your trusted source of Arizona public policy related issues, offering expert analysts and advice for economic growth and business investment. Their experienced team of advocates for pro-business tax policy and tax-perform proposals will ensure the best possible outcome for your organization's success. So stay informed and make informed decisions with WB Consulting LLC An objective approach to your public policy. And if you wanna give them a call, all you need to do is call toll-free 1-888-341-5871. Are called them directly 6029607553. That's WB Consulting Services LLC.
Speaker 2:Now back, so let's go ahead and talk about section two of the original constitution. And when we're talking about section two, I've already read the first part of it. Now, no person shall be a representative who is not attaining age of 25 years of age and have been seven years a citizen of the United States and shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the state in which he shall be chosen. So basically, the person has to be from the state that they are elected from. They can't be from Connecticut and be elected in New Jersey, so on and so forth. Representatives in direct taxes shall be appropriated among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding the whole number of a and I say it clearly a free person, including those bond to service for a term of years and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all persons.
Speaker 2:Now let's talk about the three fifths plan. A lot of folks have heard the three fifth plan or compromise, and it is to do with slavery. Now it also what it is the three fifths compromise, a further compromise on slavery, prohibiting Congress from banning the importation of enslaved people until 1808. Article one, section nine After all the disagreements that were going on in the constitutional Congress, there was a bridge that they were able to come to, so slaves were actually counted as three fifths. The South wanted the slaves to be counted as a whole, as a whole person. However, the Northern states knew that if they were counted as a whole person, there would be more power in the South, and this you can find this in article one, section nine. Now, after all of this in a constitution was signed by all the delegates on September 17th, 18th, 1787, and it was ratified by the 13 states that it was submit into law. The three fifths compromise. And a lot of folks confused the three fifths compromise with something other than what it is. And, as I said again, the compromise was an agreement between the Northern states and the Southern states and the United States constitutional convention, and it's really really, you know, hard to really to grasp that the country would count, wouldn't even consider a slave as a whole human being, and that's kind of, you know, that's a shocking to me.
Speaker 2:Now, many of the founders you know, though many of them were slave holders. You know, thomas Jefferson, george Washington, so on and so forth. Many of the founders acknowledged that slavery violated the ideal of liberty that was central to the American revolution. Now here we have a country fighting for their rights, fighting for freedom. However, a lot of those folks that were leading the country were slaves holder, slave holders. But because the founders were committed to the sanctity of private property, private property rights, the principles of limited government and the pursuit of intersectional harmony, they were unable to take bold actions against slavery, believe it or not. So it was a double as sword for them. So, moreover, the South founders through, you know, through going throughout the process, embraced a slave based culture with, with, with, you know, throughout their traditions, and thought that slaves should be counted as a whole.
Speaker 2:Now, that's, that's kind of an oxymoron. We've got the the, the north, saying people in the north saying well, no, you know, it's not fair, you can't count them as a whole person, they're not really a person. They're three first fourth of a person. And the south who actually owned the slaves we're talking about? No, no, no, no, no, no. They're a whole person. That and they're, they're. They're human beings. I mean they're. You know we treat them like animals and cattle. I mean God, you know, please forgive that. However, you know they are a whole person and it was the implication of slavery that really answered that question while they were going through.
Speaker 2:You know this document, you know about liberty and freedom, and Slavery was a big deal. So the compromise of the Repres of the Constitution really, really laid that out, and we'll talk a little bit more about slavery and the end of slavery in the 13th Amendment, but that's, that's. That's down the road Again. Now every person would be counted as a whole person, except for slaves and, believe it or not, american Indians were not even counted because their reasoning for that is that they didn't pay taxes, and Slaves would be counted again as three-fifths of of a person. Now the clause also goes on to guarantee the individual rights to be Represented in the House of Representatives and that that represent representation hinged on the population. That's why we had the three-fifths Compromise in the Constitution. That is why they, the founders, in their just remarkable wisdom Markable wisdom said we need to have a balance of power here. We need to have a Balance of power because if we do not have a balance of power, that's gonna be a problem. And that's how they fixed that and, as you know, that's that's what they did.
Speaker 2:Now, in section three, united States Of the United States correction, the Senate of the United States should be comprised of two senators from from each state. We all know that. Please forgive me if I I don't mean to Upsult your intelligence. However, some folks really don't know that, and they are. They were chosen by the legislative branch, believe it or not. Now that was changed Down the road where they were also elected.
Speaker 2:So what would happen there is that the state, for example, let's let's just say Arizona, arizona. I know Arizona was not part of the original states, original 13 colonies, so please don't say well, black man doesn't know that Arizona was part of the 13 colonies. They'll say that. However, I want to be clear. I am using Arizona as an example. Now, arizona has nine members of the House of Representatives and and they have two senators immediately after they shall be assembled in the Congress and Correction correction. I'm sorry about that and I'm taking this from his book. Immediately after they shall be assembled in consequence of the first election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into their classes. So they have three separate classes.
Speaker 2:If you do not know, in the Senate, the Senate, the seats of the Senate Of the first class should be vacated at the expiration of the second year, of the second class at the expiration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the second year of the fourth year, and of the third class at the expiration of the six years, so that one third may be Choosing every second year. Now, why did they do that? A lot of people say that's just confusing. I'd rather just they do all do six years and it's done. They could not do that because they have to have a rotational basis, because they wanted to be able to slow the process down of bills. Basically, the thought was is that Members of the House of Representatives were more emotional, there were more debates, there were more arguments and that bills were rushed through. The purpose of the Senate was to be able to slow to pay. Slow that bill down so it could be digested, it could make sure that it met constitutional measures, constitutional test, and that it was something that was really needed in the United States. Now, many people don't know this.
Speaker 2:However, senators were chosen from the states, the state houses. Now, going back to Arizona, where I started, the population voted on members of the House of Representatives, two, or they had a slate of people who, their names, went to those state houses and those state houses, the delegates at the state houses, voted on two individuals to be US senators and they, basically senators, actually worked for the state that they came from, instead of what we see now, that senators actually are working for the federal government, which should not be, and we've seen that. Now, if you're not catching on, still let me break it down from his book, the constitution, the explanation of this part in his book each state has an equal representation in the Senate. Every state has two senators, each of which serves a six year term and has one vote in the Senate, one vote in the Senate. So, instead of again, when we talk about Arizona and again it's just an example Arizona has nine members of the Arizona House, of the US House of Representatives. They have nine separate votes.
Speaker 2:Coming from Arizona, the Senate only has one vote, and you would be surprised at the people who do not know that, while the foregoing is still accurate today and we still use it today to process through which a person becomes a senator has changed. They are no longer appointed by, or voted on in the state house. The process was revised by the 17th amendment because they wanted senators to be chosen from the population, not a group of people in those state houses, because that would actually benefit those blue or red states with majorities in their state houses. And I'm glad they changed that, because if we were living in a blue state in Arizona, guess what we would? Well, we have Democrat senators anyway, however we understand. And now the provision rotates in terms of office for senators so that their entire Senate is not up for reelection at the same time. Genius, genius, if you will.
Speaker 2:And then the first meeting, or class, as they say. As I said, there are three classes of elected senators required a division of senators into three groups, one in which would, in its initial term, at the end of the second year, another group would, in its term, at the end of the fourth year, and so on and so forth. The third group would, in their term, at the end of the sixth year after these initial terms applying the first incoming class of senators, the terms would be continual. That means there were no gaps that we see. There were no gaps, and when senators finished, or they did not finish, their terms, the governor of the state then had the authority, based on the constitution of the United States, to appoint someone until that term came up. That happened in Arizona when Senator McCain passed away McSally I think that's her name, mcsally. She was appointed by Governor Ducey and Governor Ducey made that appointment. Governor Ducey was, or is, a Democrat and he was able to do that. Imagine. Imagine what would happen with a Democrat governor.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, this is Walt Blackman. I hope I did not bore you. This is the constitution. We're gonna be talking more about the constitution. We're gonna be jumping around a lot. Also, what I want you to do is understand. You should be informed at all times, everybody. We'll see you next time on the Walt Blackman Show, the show that brings you hardcore, conservative, straight talk.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the no PC Zone.
