Speech
We have just begun the fight!
Alan KeyesAugust 28, 2003
Ten Commandments rally in Alabama
On a blistering day in Alabama, Alan Keyes addressed a crowd of 2,000 Ten Commandments monument supporters gathered in protest on the steps of the Alabama Judicial Building, just one day after the monument was removed from inside. The address coincidentally marked the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech given on August 28, 1963.
Thank you. Praise God. Thank you.
First of all, I know that some of us think it's hot out here, but I gotta tell you, I don't think it's nearly as hot for us as I expect it's going to get in the political climate of Alabama for all of those who have cooperated with this federal judge in assaulting and despoiling the liberty of the people of this state!
Now, I want to say how proud I am and how pleased I am that I follow at this podium one of the great voices in America for reason and decency, for family and truth, Dr. James Dobson.
With his help, and the help of other right-minded moral leaders in America, this word has gone out from sea to shining sea, to every state, to rouse the people of this nation to come to the defense of their right to reverence God according to the Constitution.
I don't think there is any doubt that when we look at the history of this country, when we look at the background, we know that it is right to reverence God. It has been said by our Founders, it has been exemplified at every generation. It has been the purr of our hearts in war and in peace. We know it is right. But some of us, including some folks for whom I have great respect and admiration, some of them seem to be confused, because they know that it's right, but they think that we don't have the right. They know that it's right, but they think that we must submit that right to be violated and destroyed on the basis of arbitrary decisions from the federal bench.
I have but one purpose in standing before you here today. For, I think we have heard powerful truths about the rightness and importance and fundamental and critical nature of the Ten Commandments as part of our moral tradition.
Without a moral heart, we shall not maintain our decent liberty.
But to all of those who, in the face of this present situation, have been confused, have been in the dark, have been doubtful, have made their reverence for law the enemy of their reverence for God, I wish to say to them all: the Constitution does no such thing.
And I'm glad that, in point of fact, that's a point that can be proven, chapter and verse, in less than five minutes. We start where Dr. Dobson started- -clear, plain words of the Constitution. Now, I understand that there is an elitist mentality abroad now in this country, exemplified, sadly, by the associate justices of the Alabama Supreme Court. They have taken the Ten Commandments and hidden it away somewhere in the Supreme Court building, where the people of this state will not have access. I understand, though, that if they regard you as a privileged person, they will issue a dispensation and you can go and look at the monument.
It is that spirit of oligarchy, it is that spirit of privilege, it is that spirit of elitism that they have applied to the Constitution- -believing that they have the right to hide it behind the incomprehensible incantations of lawyers and judges, and pretend that we have not the right to apply to its clear words our plain common sense!
But if you have the time, go back and look at the records of the federal convention. Go back and read the Federalist Papers. On practically every page you will find that they held up the judgment of judges, and politicians, and lawyers, and all the rest to a standard of reason and common sense always accessible to the people of this country.
As this is a government of the people, by the people, for the people, they are chosen by the people, and they are ever subject to our judgment- -which today we shall apply.
[member of crowd: "Read, Alan!"]
I shall. You help me. First words of the First Amendment.
[member of crowd: "Thank you!"]
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Now, I gotta tell you. There are those who say that that's a ban on religious establishment. Look at the words, my friend. It is no such thing. It clearly and plainly forbids the Congress of the United States to make any law on the subject, one way or another!
They cannot prohibit religious establishment, and they cannot establish a religion.
But then you say, "But, surely someone can make some judgment," and I say, that's clear in the Constitution, too, in the clear, plain, easily-comprehensible language of the Tenth Amendment: those powers not given to the U.S. government, or prohibited explicitly to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people.
Now, before I go on, I want you to reflect carefully and seriously on what I have just said. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land. It is over all others. We know that to be true. According to Constitution of the United States, the jurisdiction, the power to make judgments about the extent, the nature, the presence, or absence of religious expressions and reverence for God is left by that document, not in the hands of an unelected clique of judges, but in the hands of the states and the people of the states!
Now, y'all will excuse me for a moment, because I know the history of what the courts have done. The courts have been in the business of drawing the Constitution into their obscure precincts, and they have been in the business of mumbling over the document their incantations of obscure legalism.
And we are to believe that as a result of that wonderful power of incantation, they have taken a document that forbids this subject to the federal government, and handed to federal judges the power to dictate it to the entire nation!
Well, today we are in the position of those who have watched the magic trick like this for fifty years. But those arts of evil magic are now undone, because we can explain this magician's trick! We can see past these mumbled incantations!
They say that somehow or another the Fourteenth Amendment magically gives them the power to dictate to the state governments on this matter. Now, I'll grant you that the Fourteenth Amendment does, in fact, enjoin upon the states respect for the equal rights and privileges of all citizens of the United States. But in enjoining that respect, the Fourteenth Amendment does not in one iota change what those equal rights and privileges were before it was passed.
And according to the First and Tenth Amendments, one of the privileges of our citizenship was to be immune from federal dictation, when it comes to the issue of religious establishment!
So, somehow or another, they have construed the words of the Fourteenth Amendment- -[which was meant] to protect the rights and privileges and immunities of all the citizens of this country- -in such a way that the judges on the federal bench can take from us that right which our Founders saw fit to protect first of all in the words of the Bill of Rights.
But you see, they can't accomplish it, because the only thing the Fourteenth Amendment means- -and I know that this is going to be hard for some of the state officials here to hear- -what the Fourteenth Amendment means is that it's not only true that under the Alabama Constitution the officials of this state have the right and duty and obligation to seek the guidance and look for the favor of God. It's not only true that those justices who ran before the people on a platform of reverence for the Ten Commandments owe it to the people to stand with integrity for their display! It's also true, my friends, that according to the Fourteenth Amendment, no state official is to act in such a way as to take away or infringe the equal rights and privileges of citizens of the United States. When they cooperate with Judge Myron Thompson in despoiling the people of Alabama of this right, they violate clearly their obligations under the federal Constitution, as well!
I know that there are some who believe that the whole purpose of the U.S. Constitution was to establish an all-powerful national government, but you look at the document, and you will see that they are wrong. In the change of government that occurred at the Revolution, as Hamilton notes in the Federalist Papers, the states, in and of themselves, surrendered no rights or obligations merely as a result of that change of government. They surrendered only those specified in the Constitution, and as specified in the Constitution, they kept all the rest.
Among those is the right of the people to determine, in and through their state institutions, how they will show their piety, how they will reverence and honor the God who made us free.
That means that in this state, contrary to what Attorney General Bill Pryor is contending- -as he unconscionably tries to treat Judge Roy Moore as some kind of criminal- -contrary to the associate justices, contrary to the silence of the governor of this state, they are not upholding the law when they succumb to the dictates, without law or constitutional foundation, of a federal judge. They are destroying the law, which comes to us in the clear, plain words of the supreme law of this land, the Constitution of the United States.
I stand here, then, with and on account of that man who had the courage, who had the integrity, who had the understanding to uphold the law, when everyone else, in cowardice, was willing to break it.
But what does that mean? See, we know, we should be coming to a better understanding of this now. As the people of this country, and as people in the state of Alabama, we have the right to reverence God, in and through our state institutions, according to our choice. But how shall we overcome the effects of fifty years of federal usurpation of this right?
How shall we overcome the effects of fifty years of abuse and dictation by federal judges who have not the slightest color of legitimacy when they despoil us and take away this right?
Well, I'll tell you something. Easy as it can be. Because the Founders anticipated this kind of abuse, and that is why they did not make the federal courts, even the Supreme Court, the final judges of the boundaries of the power of the federal bench. They left the authority to determine those boundaries to the representatives of the people in Congress assembled.
Our first step- -simple, plain, and clear. We should not go after this judgment, or that judgment, or the other judgment that is based upon this usurped authority. We must rip it up by its roots! We must take it out, according to the Constitution of the United States.
All over this country, wherever they may be, people of good conscience who support the law and the Constitution must demand now that the representatives of the people act as the defenders of their liberty, that they pass in legislation, words that except from the jurisdiction of the federal courts all matters that by the First and Tenth Amendments are left to the states respectively, and to the people.
We can cut the Gordian knot!
And even as one man has stood up in this state, and with his courage, and with his integrity, and with his humble willingness to serve the piety and respect that he has shown all his life for Almighty God- -as one man has made that difference which creates the opportunity for us to see the truth, so with one stroke we can cut through the Gordian knot of court usurpation and obfuscation, and restore in one clean move the right of the people of this country.
We must band together to this end.
I was on a radio program yesterday, and the host suggested that somehow or another the movement of the Ten Commandments represented a defeat or something. And I told him that we were under no illusions, once the officials of this state showed that they did not have the wisdom and courage to stand up for their people, we were under no delusion that there would be any other result, in the end, for the moment.
But we understand, contrary to what some suggest, that this is not the end of a battle. We understand, contrary to what the media would like to believe, that as we have come and shall come to Montgomery to be a living monument to the right of the people to reverence God according to their will in their states, as we have gathered and shall gather, so they must know that we are not defeated.
We have just begun the fight!
One word. One last word. I gotta tell you, I was heartened by the news that the Governor of Mississippi has stood up and wishes to provide a home for the Ten Commandments, that reflects the home which so many of us have made for them in our hearts. But don't you think that as this great movement has begun, as its spirit has been shown around the courage and integrity of one citizen of the great state of Alabama, that it would be right and proper if the governor of this state would stand up first of all!
I appeal to the governor of this state: take the Ten Commandments under the shielding wing of your executive authority!
I appeal to governors in every state: take the Ten Commandments under the shielding wing of your authority! As you are elected to represent the people, elected to represent their welfare, I say that you are elected, as well, to represent their heart, to represent their right to honor God in their states!
Let us then call upon the governors of every state in this union to hear the plea of the overwhelming majority of people in this country, to stand forward and protect our constitutionally-reserved right, and to give us that time we need, in order that our representatives in Congress can now, at this critical moment, take the step that will, once and for all, secure respect for the First Amendment to the Constitution.
If we can sustain this battle, if we can but keep our courage, if we can but draw on that strength which comes to us, as our Founders and leaders in every generation knew it must, from our faith in Almighty God, and though it has seemed for forty years that there was no way to stand against this tide, yet, like Moses parting the Red Sea, we shall drive it back!
And we shall reveal the clear, plain truth, which for a while has been obscured, that in spite of every effort by the elites in the media, in the government, in the courts, to drive a wedge between this people and the Creator from Whom we gain our rights, yet we shall honor Him, yet we shall stand with Him, yet we shall draw our strength from Him, and as in the past, we will prevail!
Thank you. Praise God. Thank you.
First of all, I know that some of us think it's hot out here, but I gotta tell you, I don't think it's nearly as hot for us as I expect it's going to get in the political climate of Alabama for all of those who have cooperated with this federal judge in assaulting and despoiling the liberty of the people of this state!
Now, I want to say how proud I am and how pleased I am that I follow at this podium one of the great voices in America for reason and decency, for family and truth, Dr. James Dobson.
With his help, and the help of other right-minded moral leaders in America, this word has gone out from sea to shining sea, to every state, to rouse the people of this nation to come to the defense of their right to reverence God according to the Constitution.
I don't think there is any doubt that when we look at the history of this country, when we look at the background, we know that it is right to reverence God. It has been said by our Founders, it has been exemplified at every generation. It has been the purr of our hearts in war and in peace. We know it is right. But some of us, including some folks for whom I have great respect and admiration, some of them seem to be confused, because they know that it's right, but they think that we don't have the right. They know that it's right, but they think that we must submit that right to be violated and destroyed on the basis of arbitrary decisions from the federal bench.
I have but one purpose in standing before you here today. For, I think we have heard powerful truths about the rightness and importance and fundamental and critical nature of the Ten Commandments as part of our moral tradition.
Without a moral heart, we shall not maintain our decent liberty.
But to all of those who, in the face of this present situation, have been confused, have been in the dark, have been doubtful, have made their reverence for law the enemy of their reverence for God, I wish to say to them all: the Constitution does no such thing.
And I'm glad that, in point of fact, that's a point that can be proven, chapter and verse, in less than five minutes. We start where Dr. Dobson started
It is that spirit of oligarchy, it is that spirit of privilege, it is that spirit of elitism that they have applied to the Constitution
But if you have the time, go back and look at the records of the federal convention. Go back and read the Federalist Papers. On practically every page you will find that they held up the judgment of judges, and politicians, and lawyers, and all the rest to a standard of reason and common sense always accessible to the people of this country.
As this is a government of the people, by the people, for the people, they are chosen by the people, and they are ever subject to our judgment
[member of crowd: "Read, Alan!"]
I shall. You help me. First words of the First Amendment.
[member of crowd: "Thank you!"]
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." Now, I gotta tell you. There are those who say that that's a ban on religious establishment. Look at the words, my friend. It is no such thing. It clearly and plainly forbids the Congress of the United States to make any law on the subject, one way or another!
They cannot prohibit religious establishment, and they cannot establish a religion.
But then you say, "But, surely someone can make some judgment," and I say, that's clear in the Constitution, too, in the clear, plain, easily-comprehensible language of the Tenth Amendment: those powers not given to the U.S. government, or prohibited explicitly to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people.
Now, before I go on, I want you to reflect carefully and seriously on what I have just said. The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land. It is over all others. We know that to be true. According to Constitution of the United States, the jurisdiction, the power to make judgments about the extent, the nature, the presence, or absence of religious expressions and reverence for God is left by that document, not in the hands of an unelected clique of judges, but in the hands of the states and the people of the states!
Now, y'all will excuse me for a moment, because I know the history of what the courts have done. The courts have been in the business of drawing the Constitution into their obscure precincts, and they have been in the business of mumbling over the document their incantations of obscure legalism.
And we are to believe that as a result of that wonderful power of incantation, they have taken a document that forbids this subject to the federal government, and handed to federal judges the power to dictate it to the entire nation!
Well, today we are in the position of those who have watched the magic trick like this for fifty years. But those arts of evil magic are now undone, because we can explain this magician's trick! We can see past these mumbled incantations!
They say that somehow or another the Fourteenth Amendment magically gives them the power to dictate to the state governments on this matter. Now, I'll grant you that the Fourteenth Amendment does, in fact, enjoin upon the states respect for the equal rights and privileges of all citizens of the United States. But in enjoining that respect, the Fourteenth Amendment does not in one iota change what those equal rights and privileges were before it was passed.
And according to the First and Tenth Amendments, one of the privileges of our citizenship was to be immune from federal dictation, when it comes to the issue of religious establishment!
So, somehow or another, they have construed the words of the Fourteenth Amendment
But you see, they can't accomplish it, because the only thing the Fourteenth Amendment means
I know that there are some who believe that the whole purpose of the U.S. Constitution was to establish an all-powerful national government, but you look at the document, and you will see that they are wrong. In the change of government that occurred at the Revolution, as Hamilton notes in the Federalist Papers, the states, in and of themselves, surrendered no rights or obligations merely as a result of that change of government. They surrendered only those specified in the Constitution, and as specified in the Constitution, they kept all the rest.
Among those is the right of the people to determine, in and through their state institutions, how they will show their piety, how they will reverence and honor the God who made us free.
That means that in this state, contrary to what Attorney General Bill Pryor is contending
I stand here, then, with and on account of that man who had the courage, who had the integrity, who had the understanding to uphold the law, when everyone else, in cowardice, was willing to break it.
But what does that mean? See, we know, we should be coming to a better understanding of this now. As the people of this country, and as people in the state of Alabama, we have the right to reverence God, in and through our state institutions, according to our choice. But how shall we overcome the effects of fifty years of federal usurpation of this right?
How shall we overcome the effects of fifty years of abuse and dictation by federal judges who have not the slightest color of legitimacy when they despoil us and take away this right?
Well, I'll tell you something. Easy as it can be. Because the Founders anticipated this kind of abuse, and that is why they did not make the federal courts, even the Supreme Court, the final judges of the boundaries of the power of the federal bench. They left the authority to determine those boundaries to the representatives of the people in Congress assembled.
Our first step
All over this country, wherever they may be, people of good conscience who support the law and the Constitution must demand now that the representatives of the people act as the defenders of their liberty, that they pass in legislation, words that except from the jurisdiction of the federal courts all matters that by the First and Tenth Amendments are left to the states respectively, and to the people.
We can cut the Gordian knot!
And even as one man has stood up in this state, and with his courage, and with his integrity, and with his humble willingness to serve the piety and respect that he has shown all his life for Almighty God
We must band together to this end.
I was on a radio program yesterday, and the host suggested that somehow or another the movement of the Ten Commandments represented a defeat or something. And I told him that we were under no illusions, once the officials of this state showed that they did not have the wisdom and courage to stand up for their people, we were under no delusion that there would be any other result, in the end, for the moment.
But we understand, contrary to what some suggest, that this is not the end of a battle. We understand, contrary to what the media would like to believe, that as we have come and shall come to Montgomery to be a living monument to the right of the people to reverence God according to their will in their states, as we have gathered and shall gather, so they must know that we are not defeated.
We have just begun the fight!
One word. One last word. I gotta tell you, I was heartened by the news that the Governor of Mississippi has stood up and wishes to provide a home for the Ten Commandments, that reflects the home which so many of us have made for them in our hearts. But don't you think that as this great movement has begun, as its spirit has been shown around the courage and integrity of one citizen of the great state of Alabama, that it would be right and proper if the governor of this state would stand up first of all!
I appeal to the governor of this state: take the Ten Commandments under the shielding wing of your executive authority!
I appeal to governors in every state: take the Ten Commandments under the shielding wing of your authority! As you are elected to represent the people, elected to represent their welfare, I say that you are elected, as well, to represent their heart, to represent their right to honor God in their states!
Let us then call upon the governors of every state in this union to hear the plea of the overwhelming majority of people in this country, to stand forward and protect our constitutionally-reserved right, and to give us that time we need, in order that our representatives in Congress can now, at this critical moment, take the step that will, once and for all, secure respect for the First Amendment to the Constitution.
If we can sustain this battle, if we can but keep our courage, if we can but draw on that strength which comes to us, as our Founders and leaders in every generation knew it must, from our faith in Almighty God, and though it has seemed for forty years that there was no way to stand against this tide, yet, like Moses parting the Red Sea, we shall drive it back!
And we shall reveal the clear, plain truth, which for a while has been obscured, that in spite of every effort by the elites in the media, in the government, in the courts, to drive a wedge between this people and the Creator from Whom we gain our rights, yet we shall honor Him, yet we shall stand with Him, yet we shall draw our strength from Him, and as in the past, we will prevail!
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