Today is Constitution Day, the anniversary of the signing of our founding document as a nation. On this day in 1787, delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia signed the Constitution and presented it for ratification by the member states. Ratification was achieved in 1788 and our government began operations under the new Constitution in 1789.

This is a day to celebrate and remember our founding, and our history as a nation of laws. And it’s a day to renew our vigilance to make sure those laws and rights are preserved and followed even today.

The Constitution was written to create a central federal government that was strong enough for our mutual defense and protection but subject to the specific power limitations set forth. The framers wanted to restrict the activities of the federal government to only those powers they listed, to prevent too much power from falling into the hands of a very few or even one person.

The first group of amendments, the Bill of Rights, included very specific limits on the powers of the federal government. These were not rights given to us by the government; rather, these amendments recognized rights that were inherent to us as people and were to be protected against federal interference.

Today many of these rights are under attack by our very government. The power to levy taxes for the necessary operation of the government has turned into a power to tax for any purpose at all. Major areas of government policy are carried out by unelected and unaccountable “Czars” appointed by President Obama and responsible only to him. Time after time the federal government is assuming powers it was never given, those which the 10th Amendment says are reserved to the states, or to the people.

The very idea that Congress would consider legislation to tax our energy resources, not for necessary purposes but to shift power over energy resources away from states like Texas is an assault on the Constitution.

The very idea that Congress would consider legislation requiring citizens to have health insurance, fining them if they don’t, and setting up government-run health coverage has no basis in the Constitution.

This year, let’s celebrate Constitution Day by remembering the purpose of the Constitution, to regulate what the government is allowed to do, and let’s renew our commitment to fight for those principles. Our fight can begin right here in District 17.