Core Beliefs:

• We affirm the Christian character and heritage(1) of our State, and the Bible as the basis of morality on which the legitimacy of our laws rest.


• We affirm the fundamental principles of American republicanism as originally set forth in the draft version of the Virginia Declaration of Rights(2) and reiterated in the Declaration of Independence, constituting the basis and foundation of government.


• We believe in the sovereignty, freedom and independence of the several States and affirm the principles asserted in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798/1799.(3)


• The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the land;(4) its provisions, along with those of this State, are operative alike in a period of war as in time of peace, and any departure therefrom, or violation thereof, under the plea of necessity, or any other plea, is subversive to good government and tends to anarchy and despotism.(5)


• The government of the United States is a government of enumerated powers, and all powers not delegated to it, nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people thereof.  Among the powers so reserved to the States is the exclusive regulation of their own internal government and police; and it is the high and solemn duty of constitutional government to guard and protect the people of the several States from all encroachments upon the rights so reserved.(6)

FOOTNOTES:

1. America’s Christian Heritage Week
2. Virginia Declaration of Rights, draft version
3. Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798/1799
4. U.S. Constitution, Article VI, Section 2
5. West Virginia Constitution, Article I, Section 3
6. U.S. Constitution, Amendment X