tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213291.post5018256378526124181..comments2023-06-28T09:59:42.375-05:00Comments on The Clue Batting Cage: The Constitution: Does it Still Matter?philmonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10385793223534322848noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213291.post-51019629234567692142011-07-08T22:44:55.628-05:002011-07-08T22:44:55.628-05:00"We need more people out there who have read ..."We need more people out there who have read the Constitution and understand it in the context in which it was written -- why it says what it says, and what it means."<br /><br />I think this is happening to a degree. At least I hope it is. I have noticed liberals are now giving the reponse Cylarz' encapsulated above (essentially that it's not important.) Not too long ago in our history the Constitution was a go-to resource for them to find new "rights" and "meanings" e.g. right to privacy (Roe V Wade), abuse of the commerce clause, separation of church and state... to establish their policy by fiat on an uneducated public. <br /><br />It would seem they are not achieving those kinds of victories on an unsuspecting public anymore. More of us are educating ourselves on the "original intent" of the Framers so their (lib's) easiest out is to declare (at least in effect) the Constitution irrelevant.<br /><br />Well, I'm with you. It's not. It framed the government of the greatest country in the history of the world. Maybe we should give it due attention and respect and do everything we can to make sure it remains intact and functioning the way it was initially intended.Whitehawkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13655992902329694045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213291.post-26673966319924869132011-07-08T12:06:50.658-05:002011-07-08T12:06:50.658-05:00Oh, and Cylarz ...
Conservative: "The Consti...Oh, and Cylarz ...<br /><br /><i>Conservative: "The Constitution doesn't say you can do that. In fact, it specifically says you can't."<br /><br />Liberal: "What's a 'constitution'? Oh, RIGHT! That parchment thing signed by the dead slave owning white guys. Erm, uhm...commerce clause! Next question."<br /><br />Conservatives: ".........." </i><br /><br />That was awesomely on point. Good distillation of reality these days.philmonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10385793223534322848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213291.post-77794422972750177612011-07-08T12:04:15.206-05:002011-07-08T12:04:15.206-05:00Ooh, sorry Aaron. I didn't notice that it was...Ooh, sorry Aaron. I didn't notice that it was a guest post by you. I have updated accordingly to make sure you are cretited. And I'm afraid I tend to understate praise (something I got from my dad, I guess) ...<br /><br />Your piece was excellent, not just "pretty good". We used it in our local 9/12 Tea Party meeting last friday with our Constitution Study group ("Principles of Liberty") -- to draw attention to what "the other side" is saying and why they are wrong. But more importantly, to underscore the primary focus of our group, and that is education.<br /><br />We need more people out there who have read the Constitution and understand it in the context in which it was written -- why it says what it says, and what it means. <br /><br />This makes it harder to pass off people like Stengel as "experts" that the uneducated masses will just swallow without question. The media has been able to do this for too long.<br /><br />Hopefully, people are waking up to the "you got your experts and I got mine" game. There's no substitute for wading through it yourself.philmonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10385793223534322848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213291.post-90532221909897431832011-07-08T08:48:27.320-05:002011-07-08T08:48:27.320-05:00thanks for the praise on my piece.
Cylarz
you ar...thanks for the praise on my piece.<br /><br />Cylarz<br /><br />you are hitting on a good point.<br /><br />There used to be a strong tradition of liberal strict constructionism. For instance Hugo Black as a rule of thumb was as devoted to following the constitution as written as Scalia is today, only he usually came to different conclusions. If Black was just putting on an act of trying to be faithful to the original written constitution, he did so for decades.<br /><br />And in fact we tend to think that the framers were far less... for lack of a better word... liberal than they really were. For instance liberals are very quick to assert that the founders would not have support interracial marriage, an odd assertion given the high probability that Thaddeus Stevens, the Father of the 14th Amendment, was himself in a long-term relationship with a black woman (and he was white as you might guess). The parade of horribles liberals trot out whenever we talk about following the constitution as written is largely imaginary.<br /><br />otoh, liberals know how to invoke the constituion and pretend it matters to them. What did they complain about for 8 years under Bush? That he was behaving unconstitutionally in how he dealt with the War on Terror (and other matters). That makes it hypocritical to then advocate for a living interpretation of the constitution* but there you go.<br /><br />------------------------<br /><br />* And it is hypocritical to argue for a living constitution, because Bush could have easily invoked the very same theory to justify torture. Stengel highlights that the framers didn't know about Lady Gaga as if that matters a damn.<br /><br />But what is more significant is that the framers had little contact with terrorism or the islamofascism that inspires it. So if the constitution can grow and change to meet the supposed challenge of the Gaga, why not also bin Laden (may he rest in flames)?A.Worthinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14274848170181147489noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5213291.post-62456183940021571142011-07-08T03:03:46.872-05:002011-07-08T03:03:46.872-05:00I think what bothers me is that the only people wh...I think what bothers me is that the only people who still use the word "Constitution" at all...tend to be overwhelmingly conservative.<br /><br />Wasn't there a time in the US when we could always count on something called the "loyal opposition?" This meant that when one party was "in power," the other would be busy holding their feet to the fire, making sure they didn't commit dishonest acts in office, or violate our Constitution. The other side was always ready to pounce on politicians from the in-power side.<br /><br />Now, it's....<br /><br />Conservative: "The Constitution doesn't say you can do that. In fact, it specifically says you can't."<br /><br />Liberal: "What's a 'constitution'? Oh, RIGHT! That parchment thing signed by the dead slave owning white guys. Erm, uhm...commerce clause! Next question."<br /><br />Conservatives: ".........."Cylarznoreply@blogger.com