To paraphrase an old cliche, if we don’t stand on something, we’ll fall for anything. The founders of this great land passed on this doctrine in the words of our Constitution — a legacy we refer to as our founding principles. We are created equal, given equal opportunities, freedom to worship the way we choose and we are given certain unalienable rights by our Creator, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

However, recent events stand as a reminder to remain vigilant in protecting the founding principles we enjoy and cherish.

The Obama administration’s recent rule requiring faith-based employers to provide insurance coverage for services such as sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs and contraception is a gross infringement upon the constitutional rights guaranteed in the First Amendment.

Catholic organizations like schools, charities and hospitals would have to provide services that violate their conscience. So they fought back. In response to the backlash, the White House released a new policy, which is nothing more than the old one with a fresh coat of paint.

Instead of religious employers being forced to provide these services, their insurance companies will be required to do so.  But it’s still the employer who pays for these policies. More fundamentally, individuals deserve equal First Amendment and conscience rights to that of organizations.

But what can you expect when our president repeatedly waves aside the principles found in our Constitution, with his most recent decision to make a recess appointment of  three individuals to the National Labor Relations Board while the Senate was in session, an act forbidden by our constitution.

Throughout the long history of our nation, the executive branch appoints the most senior federal officers and after receiving Senate confirmation they can assume office. Obama’s decision to circumvent the Senate and this long-established process was not only an insult to their constitutional power of oversight but also leaves an air of uncertainty for job creators as our nation now has to wait for the courts to decide the future legality of the NLRB’s upcoming decisions.

However, one must remained concerned as to whether the judicial branch is fully aware of what is at stake. Recently, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg advised the new Egyptian government to not look at the U.S. Constitution as a model for government. Instead, she suggested the South African Constitution, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or the European Convention on Human Rights would be more appropriate. What has happened to our nation when a Supreme Court justice, whose job is to uphold the Constitution, advises other countries not to use it?

Our Founding Fathers left us with principles of individual responsibility, religious freedom and limited government.  The government’s role is to protect, cherish and honor these principles, not trample on them. Perhaps George Washington summed it up best in his farewell address, “Towards the preservation of your government … it is requisite … that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles."

Click HERE to read the original article at MLive.com.