I posed the following question on Facebook: Do you think the 9th Amendment is more important than the 10th Amendment?
9th Amendment:
“The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
What are you thoughts?
David DeGerolamo
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The 9th. This country was founded on certain rights that every individual has and no government has the right to trample.
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
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…….”
The 9th and 10th Amendments must be taken together. The 9th declares the pre-existence of individual rights, the proper understanding of which is requisite to the interpretation of ALL LAW, from the Constitution on down.
Then the 10th declares that from those pre-existing individual rights some are, or may be, delegated to the States; and then some of those rightly delegated up to the States may be further delegated to the Federal Government, but the SOURCE of all rights is G_d, pre-existing all government, and G_d does not give rights to governments, but rather He has granted such rights to that which He created in His Image -- which is the Individual Man.
And therefore, all rights in their earthly manifestation, originate within the Individual Man, and only from there may they be delegated. Thus, any powers not delegated by the Individual Man are retained by him (whether he even recognizes or names them), as the Individual Man is the earthly origin of all rights, having received them from G_d as a part of the act of Creation.
Only by denying the existence and Sovereign Authority of God can this structure be overturned to assert that ‘rights originate from government and are delegated to States and thus down to individuals.’
This is obvious to any who recognize the Sovereign Authority and Creative Power of G_d, and G_d alone, to create, and therefore to delegate.
The ultimate delegation originates with G_d in the act of creation itself -- when G_d, in the act of creation, bestows upon man His image and Likeness, out of which originates the sole source of ALL earthly rights and authority.
Neither, they are co-equal in importance in regard to the purpose for which the Constitution was written. Would one ask which is more important, the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost?
And LT we are in complete agreement on the indispensable fact that God is the foundation on which the entire structure is based. Without that rock all is subject to the whim and precarious nature of man, not resting on the unchanging righteousness of a sovereign God but rather on the brutish desires of man and his ability and willingness to utilize power to attain them.
Since Jesus himself recognized that only the Father knows the time for the end, that is good enough for me. As for the original question, it now seems unimportant since the Constitution and the rule of law have been usurped by the Federal government.
“Would one ask which is more important, the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost?”
If there is only one God and He created all things and He is a jealous God and all glory is to go to Him. I would think there is only one answer.
John 17:1-4
“17 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”
Jesus has been given ALL authority/power under Heaven and we are His, which to me means for us there is NO difference in that we cannot approach God without our Savior, Jesus the Christ. For us they are co-equal just as the 2 amendments under discussion are both indispensable.
To approach God by other means, other than Jesus, would put us in the position of offering “strange fire” or unacceptable sacrifice, meaning we would not be washed clean by the shed blood and therefore subject to judgement and damnation. ….
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
He, Jesus, is our Lord and Savior. There is NO other path to the Father granted to man.
I cannot agree with any thought that the Constitution and the design it provides for government will ever be unimportant. In fact I would contend that their importance is DIRECTLY related to the importance we put upon them meaning that no piece of paper can or will ever replace the fortitude and commitment of the people.
“As for the original question, it now seems unimportant since the Constitution and the rule of law have been usurped by the Federal government.”
I think the usurping was done by the “Federalists”, Hamilton chief among them, back in 1787. And quibbling over the language and weight of various clauses and amendments strikes me as nothing more than a re-arranging of the Titanic’s deck furniture.
If the Founding Lawyers had wanted the individual States to retain authority over DC, the Constitution would say so…in plain language.
Obfuscating language: Feature, not bug.