The U.S. Constitution needs more patriots defending its principals in order to safeguard America’s freedom, national speaker KrissAnne Hall told a packed room of the Four Corners 9-12ers at the Cortez Elks Lodge.
And for Hall, a constitutional activist and attorney, understanding the genealogy of the country’s most defining document reveals the tyranny, strife and revolution that led to its ultimate creation.
The problem isn’t exclusively conservatives or liberals, Democrats or Republicans, Hall says; rather, “the man in the mirror” is to blame for the gradual erosion of rights and liberties of citizens.
“It is a common fate of the lazy to have their liberty stolen,” she says.
During a lively 90-minute speech, Hall unfolded a staggering backstory leading up to the American Constitution, reaching back to the historic revolutions and kings of England.
The Norman invasion of William the Conqueror in 1066 was a significant date. It was an era of common-law judges, but William eliminatesd common law and enforced taxes without representation.
It is the beginning of “the fox watching the henhouse,” Hall said.
The Magna Carta in 1215 was another milestone, and one for the masses. It was the first document forced onto a King of England in an attempt to limit his powers and protect the rights of everyday people.
“A revolution was born. You never know what seed planted will result in uprising,” Hall said. “We inherited our constitutional values.”
Testing the audience’s grasp of world history — an earlier quiz on the First Amendment was much easier — Hall reminded the crowd of the Grand Remonstrance of 1641, a time of diminished property rights and disarming of the people.
Hall pointed to a Liberty County, Fla., sheriff, arrested and removed from his post this month for alleged misconduct in an attempt to defend a resident’s right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.
“We stand behind the sheriff,” she said.
The English Bill of Rights of 1689 is another foundation of the U.S. Constitution, according to Hall. It limits the power of government and lays down rules for free speech and regular elections.
“Separation of powers, we did not invent that; executive orders violate the Constitution,” Hall pointed out. “We need to listen to the wisdom of the framers.”
A fountain of one-line zingers, Hall closed with a few warnings.
“By doing nothing, we become cheerleaders to tyrants. Are we teaching our kids to be patriots or slaves? If we do not know what rights are how will you know when they are gone?”
jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com