In the writing of the US Constitution, there was a division amongst the founders on whether or not the new constitution should be accepted over the articles of confederation. The federalists were arguing on behalf of the constitution, and the anti-federalists, argued that the new constitution would grant the government too much authority. Whichever camp was right the Constitution was ratified, and so became the Supreme Law of the Land, but rule by law did not last long.
In the text of this Supreme Law, it was made clear that the authority of office would come from an oath to defend and uphold the constitution. Two years later, after James Madison and others were able to realize some mistakes, the Bill of Rights was added to the Constitution, thus becoming a part of the oath of office. According to the ninth, and tenth amendments: if someone in office, wanted to use a power not listed in the constitution, then they were required by law to first amend said constitution. The other part, was that any law, that was not a part of the constitution could not be enforced on a federal level. States were sovereign in such matters.
Overtime however, in the case of Marbury vs Madison the Supreme Court ruled, that it had a power, not listed in the Law. The supreme court ruled, that it was allowed to define the constitution thus removing a huge check and balance.
To demonstrate this power, lets say an elevator said that it was going Up, but I had the authority to rule that legally Up would mean down. If you had heard the ruling, and understood this new definition, than when the elevator took you to a basement or an underground parking lot, you would have no reason for surprise. Sadly, the majority of people would not even hear about this new definition. So lets say, you have a dying man trying to go the real up on an elevator to get to the ER. The gentleman would press the Up button, just as common sense would dictate, and the elevator would take him down. Lets say the man dies because he's not able to get to the ER in time. This man was clearly ignorant of my ruling, so legally I had nothing to do with his death. His own ignorance of legal definitions killed him. The power to change the meaning of words, gave me the power to change intent, communication, and in some cases establish a false reality.
Now we come back to the Supreme Courts where one of the Branches of government (the Judicial Branch) ruled themselves this redefining power, and than were set loose on the Law. Most Americans do not realize that there is a separate dictionary for Lawyers and Politicians called Black's Law Dictionary. When you are dealing with a legal document, or step into a court room, Black's Law, is the source of all that legalese. It may look like plain English (sometimes) but its not. Just like the Up button looked like it would take the dying man up but would not.
Under law, there was no basis for this power. According to the Constitution... these men, broke their oaths, and thus negated their legal authority. Yet they remained in power, and no one took their oath's seriously enough to stop this. Thus in place of the law a different authority was granted... silent consent of the people. The constitution may be Law, but power does not come from Law; power, as listed in the Declaration of Independence, comes from consent. (legally defined below)
Consent intr.v., -sent·ed, -sent·ing, -sents.
To give assent, as to the proposal of another; agree. Archaic. To be of the same mind or opinion. n. Acceptance or approval of what is planned or done by another; acquiescence.
Agreement as to opinion or a course of action: She was chosen by common consent to speak for the group.
Soon after it should be no surprise that all officeholders followed similar footsteps, and declared new powers unto themselves. Under this system the de-facto law became, that whatever a member of office could get away with, they would do, and this is what we currently live under.
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