Dear Editor:
In 1957, I began the ninth grade in a Catholic boarding school in California. The school was run by a group of priests and brothers whose religious order had originated in Italy. I remember Father Felix was my first year Latin teacher. He had been born in Italy and spent his younger years in Italy when the dictator Benito Mussolini was in power.
I especially remember when he talked about the Latin phrase “Vox populi Es Vox Dei,” which means the voice of the people is the voice of God. I especially remember that he said if we believed that, that we probably believe anything the devil would tell us. He used this to introduce to us the difference between the French Revolution and the American Revolution. The French bought into the notion that the voice of the people is the voice of God.
That means that the French believed that any rights we have were granted to us by our fellow citizens through the democratic process, pretty much what the progressives believe today. He contrasted that to us by saying that our founders held that we have been endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. Later on, in American history, I was told that our Constitution was written to basically protect our inalienable rights from being violated by the government. In fact, the signers of the Constitution were promised that a bill of rights would be attached to the Constitution specifically enumerating how these rights would be protected. It was pointed out to us that the bill of rights were not meant to actually grant us additional rights, but were meant to act as a prohibition on the government by providing protections for us in certain areas of possible government action.
Recently I had a conversation with a candidate for district court judge. Among other things, I specifically asked this person where our rights came from. The reply was a swift, from the Constitution, of course. This person found it novel that I believed our rights came from a higher authority. I was told initially that this person was an originalist when thinking about the Constitution. I have strong reason to believe that this person believes in God. I am not sure what educational background this person really had, except a law degree from the University of Montana. I understand this person identifies with the Republican Party.
It is too bad that there are so many people like that who really do not understand what the founding of this country was all about. What is really discouraging is that this person was not only a lawyer, but actually could be elected a judge!
Dr. W. David Herbert ESQ
Billings
