"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Ahhh, everyone's favorite piece of paper. If a teenager were to put one of those "98% of teenagers have _______" and wanted it to be true, then I would suggest putting in "98% of teenagers have no idea what the constitution actually says."
I will be the first to admit that I also have very little idea what the constitution says. I know a few random amendments, and I can be real wise-crack and say "I plead the fifth" all the time, I can regurgitate the basic idea of most of the first 10 amendments, but do we really know what those mean anyway? The constituion is everyone's friend and enemy. When it does what you want, it's swell. When it doesn't people conjure up "Baaah, what does a 220-odd year old piece of paper know." Frankly, I am tired of the constitution. The constituion was written by a man who excpected that the image of America would be a bunch of small farms spread over a bunch of land for hundreds of years, and would prosper as a peaceful nation. Boy, oh boy, the times and circumstances change, but for some reason the constitution does not? My rake broke last year during some intense rakage, and I had a few options to ponder. I proposed the ideas to myself in my head, I could tape the rake with some handy-dandy duct tape, I could use half a rake, or I could go to the store and buy a new rake. While it may be a stretch in context, the basic premise still applies, the constituion is like my rake. America has transformed into a massive world superpower, full of thriving metropolii, and 300 million people (as of this coming fall), America had made it's name not by peaceful diplomacy while still maintaining our farming ways, no we forged our own destiny out of the ashes of World War II. The war ignited the industrial, and technological prowess of the present United States. So clearly the circumstances have changed, so back to the rake, do I just tape up the constituion with some bangin' new amendments!!?? Should we just wing it, if something strange comes up? Or should we go the store (congress, or even the people *shudder*) and whip up a new document that protect the people and deal with all the issues of the day, perhaps enact a new system where a new document is formed every 10-20 years? Make it like the census, get the most educated people to form a new document, and during the next presidential election, have the people vote on it and pass it by a 66% or even 75% majority. Which based on the arguing that went on during the ratification of the present constitution, would be overwhelming.
The process is an entirely different topic in itself which I will not address at this time, but the underlying point remains. The constitution is old, and a new one with more clarification on present day issues be enacted. I realize I am trying to address many issues at once, but it all boils down to, I think the average person is a complete and udder idiot, and only thinks in their own self-interest, and poorly at that. I'll just move into examples.
Warrantless wire-tapping, may or may not violate the fourth amendment, but in my opinion it is necessary. People just can't seem to ever get the "If you have nothing to hide, and it can't hurt you" idea and in only thinking about themselves refuse to think of the benefits. "What, oh my god, the government knows who I called?" Time for the press to abuse the first amendment and shit all over everything. Bottom line, it CANNOT hurt upstanding Americans, it CAN save American lives through the interception of terrorists, or general cronies.
"THE young Iraqi woman was in the wrong place at the wrong time — in an insurgent-riddled town when a group of American soldiers happened to pass by on patrol, noticing her.
Then, says a US official, the soldiers returned to rape her and, in an apparent cover-up attempt, she and three members of her family were killed and her body set on fire." Source
It happened, and I am disgusted by the conduct of our soldiers. We think "How can they do such things" we are knowledgeable, we are informed. An Iraqi citizen wakes up in the morning, reads the same article, the Iraqi citizen is knowledgeable, the iraqi is informed, the iraqi is pissed, not at just 5 soldiers, at 135,000 American soldiers in Iraq, at 80,000 British troops in Iraq, at 300,000,000 people in the United States. The man may get over it, the man may strap himself with explosives and kill 31 people. Ignorance is bliss. Uphold the morals of the United States, a secret military tribunal does the same amount of punishment, but does not risk killing anyone. The same goes for the Haditha "massacre", the work of a few ends up punishing hundreds of thousands of people.How can a document from 1783 be our end-all document? It is asanine that we do not significantly modify on a regular basis. There is no way the circumstances in 1783, can encompass the circumstances in 2006. There were no illegal immigrants, there was extensive technology, they did not possess weapons that could end a million lives in the blink of an eye.
It's time for a change.
1 comment:
While I am heartened that you question the validity and viability of the Constitution as applied to today's present circumstances, I am concerned about what appears to be your misconceptions regarding this document. The Constitution was NEVER meant to be an all encompassing specific set of laws but rather, the guidelines by which this country is governed. It is called a "living document" because of it's flexibility; It's ability to adapt to the ever-changing face of the world. The original Framers knew with absolute certainty that what became our Constitution must have fluidity. The Preamble illustrates this concept quite clearly. The phrase "in order to form a more perfect Union" is there because the Framers were dissatisfied with the United States under the Articles of Confederation. Although they felt that what they had was the best they could have at that time, they wanted something better. The Articles of Confederation had been an experiment that had worked well up to a point, but less than ten years into that experiment, faults were showing. The new United States, under a new Constitution, would be more perfect. Not perfect, but more perfect. Closer to the ideal the Framers wanted to achieve. Skip a couple lines and we come to "promote the general Welfare." That, and the next part of the Preamble - "and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity" - is the culmination of the words prior. The whole point of having tranquility, justice, and defense was to promote the general welfare - to allow every state and every citizen of those states to benefit from what the government could provide. The Framers looked forward to the expansion of land holdings, industry, and commerce, and they knew that a strong national government would be the beginning of that. Remember, the Framers were the most forward thinking and elite men of that era. They were men of vision and progression that understand innovation and change. They were some of the best and brightest of that time as evidenced by the very first line: "We the People." They knew that they were trying to forge a nation made up not of the elite, but of the common man. Without the approval of the common man, they feared revolution. This first part of the Preamble speaks to the common man. It puts into writing the concept that the people were creating this Constitution. Hand in hand with the general welfare, the framers looked forward to the blessings of liberty - something they had all fought hard for just a decade before. They were very cognizant of the fact that they were trying to create a nation that would resemble something of a paradise for liberty, as opposed to the tyranny of a monarchy, where citizens could look forward to being free as opposed to looking out for the interests of a king. And more than for themselves, they wanted to be sure that the future generations of Americans would enjoy the same. That's what "and our Posterity" means - their progeny.
The process of Amending the Constitution and in a very different way, the system of Checks and Balances, are what allow the Constitution to be every bit as valid today as it was 200+ years ago. It was drafted deliberately vague in many areas because the Framers so clearly understand that change is both necessary and inevitable. They made damn sure to allow for this. There are two major ways to amend the Constitution. One is the actual amendment process and the other is something most people don't really think about and I believe is what really gives the Constitution its power. The accepted term is "informal amendment" but that's not really an accurate term since there's no way to amend it informally. What it really alludes to is the fact that the meaning of the Constitution, or the interpretation, can and does change over time. We see this evidenced through the judiciary. As the ultimate arbiter of how the Constitution is interpreted, the judiciary wields more actual power than the Constitution alludes to. For example, before the Privacy Cases, it was perfectly constitutional for a state to forbid married couples from using contraception; for a state to forbid blacks and whites to marry; to abolish abortion. Because of judicial changes in the interpretation of the Constitution, the nation's outlook on these issues changed. And yes, if you really look at the history of these issues, change HAD to come via the Supreme Court and some very courageous individuals, before society followed suit.
In neither of these cases was the Constitution changed. The way we LOOKED at the Constitution changed, and these changes had a far-reaching effect. These changes in meaning are significant because they can happen by a simple judge's ruling and they are not a part of the Constitution and so they can be changed later.
I address only the concept of the Constitution being outdated here and hope that I helped to clarify (and educate) as to why that's just bull. Changes occur to the Constitution daily, if you really stop to think about it. And THAT is the true enduring power and beauty of this document.
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