It's Their Constitution, Too

Ruth Marcus is indignant that we "conservatives" claim the Constitution, implying that they don't.

"Hey, it's my Constitution, too!" she complains.

"Well, me too. It's my constitution as much as it is Michele Bachmann's. She and I may disagree about its meaning, but I am just as committed to its enduring importance."

"Enduring importance?"  It is the ultimate law of the land!  It's not just a document whose importance we honor.   As I said in the comment I left (which follows), There aren't 310 million Constitutions.  There's one.


This whole bit about "we may disagree, but..." is bunk.  Agreement on this document is of utmost importance, or we've got nothing.  And there is plenty of context out there to discern its "meaning".    It's not just up to the interpreter.

What a fluffy little puff-piece of moral indignance, long on feeling, opinion and (being generous here) perhaps unintentional propaganda, short on substance.

Does the term "Constitutionally Limited Government" mean anything to you, Ruth? The Constitution is the domain of Small Government people. Today we call those people "conservatives" -- because they want to "conserve" that Constitutionally Limited Government.

We small-government conservatives don't mention the necessity of government because we know it goes without saying. We're not going to follow every call for the limitation of government with, "but of course, we all know government is necessary."

We are not anarchists. You don't see us out there calling for the downfall of the government. You see us trying to get it back within its proper boundaries.

Read what the founders were reading and writing back when they were working on this document. They agreed government was a necessary evil. Something that we have to have, but something that needs to be kept out of things it ought'n't be involved in.

It may be your Constitution, too -- if by that you don't mean to re-interpret it to mean what you want it to mean. There aren't 310,000,000 Constitutions. There's one. And if it doesn't have consistent meaning, then it means nothing.

You can have it back when you've learned to treat it properly and give it the respect it deserves.