The Institute on the Constitution's Imaginary Constitution

On the Institute on the Constitution’s Facebook page, the following image was posted on July 12:

The IOTC teachers Michael Peroutka and David Whitney believe that government has no role in the areas listed under family and church in this image above. This is apparently derived from the work of Abraham Kuyper and Christian reconstructionist Rousas Rushdoony (see this source).
As I looked at this, my reaction was that the IOTC teaches the Constitution of their imagination, not the actual one. According to Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, the Congress has the power “to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.” Congress also has the power to establish laws on bankruptcies and to make laws necessary to carry out Congressional powers. However, the IOTC teaches that families have jurisdiction over property and business ownership. Surely, property and business ownership cannot be left to individual families without some form of government regulation to protect the rights of all concerned. Bankruptcies involve individuals (often involving personal property and business ownership) but according to the Constitution, the Congress has the power to make laws regarding this aspect of commerce. Does the IOTC teachers think the Constitution has too much power?
Article 3, Section 2 establishes the courts to decide disputes between citizens over lands (property ownership) as well as other disputes between citizens. The actual Constitution gives citizens a judicial system as a protection. Families may not violate the rights of their members simply because they are biologically related. Churches may not violate the rights of their members simply because a member has signed a church covenant.
Article 4, Sections 2 requires that citizens in one state have the same rights in the several states. Article 6 makes the Constitution the supreme law in the land. The 7th Amendment in the Bill of Rights provides for the right of jury trial. Families and churches cannot claim exemption when disputes arise involving those spheres.
Families can govern their affairs, and churches have freedom to hold their beliefs sacred, unless those activities conflict with the Constitution and the powers given to civil government by it. We will always have debates about what those various limits are, but civil government has a much wider jurisdiction in the actual Constitution than in the one the IOTC teaches.
The IOTC course which is sweeping through Ohio and Maryland especially is particularly dangerous because it claims to teach about the U.S. Constitution but actually seeks to place the Christian reconstructionist interpretation of the Bible over the Constitution.
I prefer the actual Constitution.
 
 

Michael Peroutka Asks for Help from League of the South in Bid for MD Council Seat

Michael Peroutka, fresh off his 38 vote victory in the GOP race to run for a seat on the Anne Arundel County Council, asked for help from the League of the South in his bid for a Council seat in the fall election. In a post on the The League of the South website, League president Michael Hill boasted:

The League office received the following e-mail today. This means that after a vote recount, our Southern Nationalist candidate won the primary election!
Dr. Hill:
I am happy to report that after all votes were counted, we were ahead by 38 votes.
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.
They will come after me in the general election in November. Not only locally, but also from across the country. There are many, as you well know, who hate the idea of Godly, constitutional government.
I ask you to ask the membership for prayers and for whatever financial support they can muster. I am grateful for our friendship and for the work of LS.
Please accept my thanks for your hospitality in Alabama.
I will be in touch.
Michael [Peroutka]
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Hill calls Peroutka “our Southern Nationalist candidate.” For his part, Peroutka goes beyond an informative note to ask for support from the League and expresses gratitude for the “work of LS [League of the South].” This is a pretty clear indication that Peroutka’s return to elective politics is an effort to advance the goals of the League of the South.
Peroutka is probably right about national opposition. Because this race appears to be an effort to promote League of the South principles, I suspect supporters and opponents alike will take an interest in the election.
The motto of the League on the image above is “survival, well-being, and independence of the Southern people.” By Southern people, League president Michael Hill does not merely refer to all inhabitants of Southern states. Hill means European white people. On the “pro-white” website Occidental Dissent, Hill released a statement about the purposes of the League:

As President of The League of the South, I’d like to thank Rand Paul, the GOP, Salon, and all the other cultural, social, economic, and political organs that are helping us separate the proverbial men from the boys. To wit, you are helping us destroy any “middle ground” to which the timid can retreat for safety. Soon, those like Mr. Hunter will learn that there’s no place in the GOP for Southerners who wish to remain . . . Southerners. Just so there’s no chance that you’ll confuse The League with the GOP or any other “conservative” group, here’s what we stand for: The survival, well being, and independence of the Southern people. And by “the Southern people,” we mean White Southerners who are not afraid to stand for the people of their race and region. In other words, we understand what it is to be an historic “nation”–a specific people with a unique culture living on a particular piece of land. And, God willing, we shall one day have a name and place among the nations of the earth.” (emphasis in original)

Hill is glad for Peroutka who won the GOP nomination in Anne Arundel County. However, Hill differentiates Southern Nationalist candidates such as Peroutka from the GOP. While on paper, the ballot will appear to pit a GOP challenger against a Democrat. However, the voters of Anne Arundel County will choose between a Democrat and a Southern Nationalist. The Southern Nationalists want to secede and form a nation of white Southerners. I wonder what the voters of Anne Arundel county will choose?
See also this Capital Gazette editorial correctly noting that Anne Arundel County GOP voters have given their party in a dilemma.

With All Votes Counted, Michael Peroutka Up By 38 Votes in MD County GOP Nomination Race

I called it too early last time, so I am not going to say the race for Anne Arundel County Council GOP nomination is over but according to the Baltimore Sun, all votes have been counted and Michael Peroutka has 38 more votes than runner-up Maureen Carr-York.
Peroutka, current member and former board member of the white separatist group League of the South, has already won a seat on the GOP central committee in legislative district 31.
If the results hold up, Peroutka will face Democrat Patrick Armstrong in the Fall election.
 

League of the South Member Michael Peroutka Leads GOP Field in Anne Arundel County District 5 Council Primary Race, Wins Spot on GOP Central Committee

Past board member of the League of the South, Michael Peroutka, leads in the District 5 GOP nomination to run for Anne Arundel County Council against Democratic winner Patrick Armstrong. Armstrong defeated MD/VA League of the South chaplain David Whitney. Peroutka leads by just 36 votes with absentee ballots to be counted. The final tally won’t be known until all the outstanding ballots are counted by July 7.*
Peroutka also came in third in the race for the GOP Central Committee in MD Legislative District 31 which means he will be a member of the Central Committee and an official in the MD GOP.
According to League of the South President Michael Hill, Peroutka and Whitney are two of about a half-dozen League members to run for office this year. Hill told the Baltimore Sun that League members need to get elected to local offices in order to pursue the League’s goal of Southern secession from the United States. According to Hill, the League advocates for white Southerners and is fighting for the South as a homeland for white people of European descent.
League of the South membership was toxic for Rand Paul’s aide Jack Hunter but apparently not in the Anne Arundel County (MD) GOP.
I wonder if the MD GOP supports Peroutka’s positions on the Confederate army and racial discrimination.
*Earlier I said Peroutka had won the nomination but I failed to take into account the counting of additional absentee ballots. This will begin tomorrow and be completed by July 7. I regret any confusion this caused.

Candidates for Maryland County Council Get Blessing of League of the South's President

Institute on the Constitution’s Owner/Director Michael Peroutka and Senior Instructor David Whitney will face voters Tuesday in the Republican and Democratic primaries respectively for the chance to face each other in the election for Anne Arundel County Council.  The Baltimore Sun profiled them on Saturday and shed some light on their relationship with the white separatist group League of the South.
Last June, Peroutka joined the board of the League of the South and Whitney is the chaplain of the MD/VA chapter of the League. When Peroutka joined the board, he told the League that he would dedicate the work of the Institute on the Constitution as well as his family’s resources to the League. When Peroutka’s name recently  disappeared from the League board roster, I asked League president Michael Hill via Twitter why Peroutka was no longer a board member. I received no answer and so I have been curious about the change. With Peroutka moving into politics again, I thought perhaps they had decided to go separate ways toward their mutual goals. Now we read in the Baltimore Sun article that League president Michael Hill is pleased that Peroutka and Whitney are running for office. Although Hill’s group has endorsed Peroutka before for elective office (when Peroutka ran for president as the representative of the Constitution Party in 2004), the League often shies away from election politics. However, according to the Sun article:

Hill won’t say how many members the League of the South has but said that about half a dozen members are running for elective office this year. He praised Peroutka and Whitney for their leadership in running for office and publicly discussing their beliefs.

Hill has condemned modern America as corrupt so why would he be pleased that his members are running to be a part of the system? The Sun article provides information on that point.

The league advocates for Southern secession to create a new governance for Southern states, including Maryland. Hill said the group first must get candidates elected to local offices before formally pursuing secession.

There you go Marylanders. Elect League of the South members if you want to set the stage for Southern secession.
Hill complains about being called a neo-Confederate group. Perhaps if they didn’t wave the Confederate flag all over the place and lionize Confederate heroes and seek to turn the government back to the Confederate constitution (see the Grey Book), then they wouldn’t get the label. I call them white separatist because Hill’s group advocates solely for white Southerners.