President Clinton either has no understanding of the U.S. Constitution or is attempting to enact the greatest violation of the Constitution's Bill of Rights in our lifetime.
The Bill of Rights is not a list of those rights the government gives the people, but rather those rights endowed by the Creator that the government cannot take away from the people.
Under the president's plan for new restrictions on tobacco advertising and sales, the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech will mean that although it is permissible to market a T-shirt with pornographic words and symbols, or with a picture of a hypodermic needle, or a picture of an American flag set ablaze, there will be prohibition of the words "Marlboro" and "Kent."
The First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press will mean that the determination of using color or black and white in some publications will be decreed by the president's executive order based on recommendations from a regulatory agency. Whether text or pictures are used will be mandated by the Executive Office, as will advertising at sporting events.
The Fifth Amendment's guarantee of due process of law regarding property will now be redefined. It will mean that particular manufacturers must spend some of their profits to publicly advocate that their products should not be purchased. Moreover, the word "law" will include such mandates which will not be written or voted on by a legislative body, but written by an organ of the Executive Branch and signed by the president.
Now, the Congress and the state legislatures will not even enter into the process. The process only needs FDA Commissioner Kessler and President Clinton. Under the president's plan, the Ninth Amendment will be void and the Tenth Amendment may be ignored by presidential decree.
The Ninth Amendment states that the rights guaranteed in the Constitution shall not be construed to deny or disparage other rights which shall be retained by the people. The Tenth Amendment reserves those rights not itemized by the Constitution to the states and the people.
Whether it is apparent or not, this country is undergoing prohibition by incremental intrusions. James Madison warned that "there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpations."
Our federal government was invented not to dictate, or control, or regulate, or even influence the behavior of the people, but to guarantee their liberties. President Clinton took an oath on January 20, 1993 to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. That oath is required of presidents by Article Seven, Section One of the Constitution.
Since taking that oath, the president has announced his pursuit of "reinventing government." Indeed he is doing that. That arrogant phrase in light of current events suggests that President Clinton believes he and his administration can do better than the original inventors of our government who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.
Bruce Herschensohn is a Distinguished Fellow with the Claremont Institute in Claremont, Calif. A version of this article appeared in Precepts, a publication of The Claremont Institute. (3 1996 The Claremont Institute. Reprinted with permission.
