As a "strict constructionist," Alan Keyes believes the Constitution should be interpreted and applied as written — not as distorted by dictatorial courts or self-serving special interests.

But he goes a step further, to ensure true understanding of the intent of the Founders: he believes that interpreting the Constitution accurately requires the additional perspective of the Declaration of Independence — the "self-evident" truths of which the Constitution was intended to frame into law.

Since the original intent of the Constitution was to ensure through law what the Declaration expressed in principle, Dr. Keyes argues, the Declaration should be held up as the ultimate interpretive framework for studying and implementing our revered Constitution.

Leave out the Declaration, as many do, and the Constitution becomes subject to the personal whims of revisionist judges, relativist intellectuals, cultural engineers, and others who reject the very premises of our nation's founding.

This "Declarationist" perspective is something Dr. Keyes takes seriously and brings into all his political thinking and public policy positions.

Dr. Keyes explains his perspective in these words:

The Constitution represents an effort to put together a framework of government that reflects and respects the basic understanding of justice and right that is succinctly articulated in the Declaration. It is, to the Declaration, what an architect's drawing is to the principles of engineering. The architect, with an understanding of those principles, puts together a framework in which those principles are embodied in a viable or workable model. And that is, of course, what our Founders were seeking to do when they put together the Constitution of the United States. . . .

It [therefore] seems to me it is impossible to understand the meaning of the Constitution, or the meaning and intention of the Founders in putting it together, if you don't do it against that background [of the Declaration]. And this is why it surprises me, sometimes, when we encounter people who otherwise have the reputation of being conservative in their understanding of the Constitution who reject that entire background as irrelevant.

. . . I would have problems if one is going to say it is possible to interpret the Constitution without reference to the philosophy of government whose principles are succinctly stated in the Declaration.

Foremost among the Declaration principles that Dr. Keyes believes should guide interpretation of the Constitution are these:

1. All human beings are created equal and endowed by God with unalienable rights;
   
   
2. The purpose of government is to secure these rights; and
   
   
3. No government is just or legitimate if it systematically violates these rights.
   
   

Adhering to the above self-evidently true ideals — Dr. Keyes believes — would go a long way to preventing misapplication of the Constitution, or otherwise abusing the Founders' intent when they framed our government's basis for law.

To read a masterful discussion by Dr. Keyes of the importance of the Declaration of Independence in understanding the Constitution, see "The Declaration of Independence and the Spirit of American Law," Feb. 21, 1997, Thomas Aquinas College — from which the above quotations are taken.

For a summary of the principles outlined in the Declaration, see "Declaration Principles" (prepared by Dr. Keyes and some of his associates).