I ran across this article and thought it really expressed what a lot of people are feeling.
It is not party related - it is citizen related.
Posted: Sunday, May 16, 2010 12:00 am | Updated: 7:09 am, Sun May 16, 2010.
By FRANK MIELE/Daily Inter Lake
One of the most worrisome social trends today is that many Americans no longer claim ownership of the Constitution.
I lay the blame on teachers and parents for the very first sentence in this article. I have seen what I can only presume to be younger people say the
Constitution doesn't matter, it is an antiquated piece of paper.
That very sentiment tends to anger and even enrage people who grew up not only understanding it, but fighting for it, and rightly so.
The Constitution is not a living document, and if someone tells you that, they have an agenda to sell you. It is not American to undermine the depth,
meaning, and usefulness of the Constitution.
Every time I write about some constitutional issue, I inevitably hear from some smug liberal scoffing at how "Frank the Constitutional Scholar"
knows more than the judges and congressmen who reign in Washington. Apparently we are supposed to be comfortable with the idea of letting President
Obama, Harry Reid and the judges they appoint and confirm tell us what the Constitution means.
The Constitution was written in plain, understandable English for a reason. It leaves very little wiggle room, intentionally, very little room to bend
and twist the words to ones personal needs.
In both reading the Constitution, and reading history, it is very clear that it was written carefully with these very thoughts in mind, and I feel
this is undeniable fact.
This is a scary thought. First, it is the judges, congressmen and presidents in Washington which the Constitution is supposed to protect us from.
It codifies the LIMITS of their power over "we the people." Second, why should anyone in America be made to feel ashamed for holding up the
Constitution as their shield of liberty? Should it not be as familiar to us, and as vital, as the air we breathe?
Read that first sentence again and again, until you fully understand this. The people in government are not your "friends". They should be watched
over to make certain they are doing what they should do, *not* what we want them to do.
There is a difference.
Why indeed, should anyone be ashamed, riduculed, accused of nefarious intent, or otherwise labeled "for holding up the Constitution as their shield
of liberty?"
If "we the people" surrender interpretation of the Constitution to those in power, then we have abrogated our responsibility as sovereign
citizens.
(snip)
Indeed, the fact that people in this country don't understand their responsibilities as the guardians of the Constitution is a damning indictment
of our educational system.
(snip)
As much as anything, the Tea Party Movement is a reaction to just that haughtiness of Washington, D.C. The ruling elites have used the
Constitution as their equivalent of a get-rich scheme for too many years, and the people are sick of it. Now, finally, we are seeing signs that "we
the people" will not go down without a fight.
And a terrific fight it promises to be. We could even be in the midst of the country's most serious constitutional crisis since the 1800s.
Understand, We The People are not black, nor white. We are neither Democrat nor Republican. We are Citizens of the United States, and any differences
that we have now, or have had in the past need so desperately to be put aside for another time and place. But it simply has no place during a time
where our country is flailing and threatening to become something it was never meant to be.
Indeed, some politicians seem to find the Constitution a bit inconvenient, whether it was George W. Bush with the Patriot Act or Barack Obama with
the Health-Insurance Mandate. There is an oft-repeated story that President Bush dismissed the Constitution as a troublesome "piece of paper." That
may be apocryphal, but there is ample evidence that his successor did call the Constitution "an imperfect document and ... a document that reflects
some deep flaws in American culture."
Perhaps that view of the Constitution is why President Obama once famously pledged that if elected that he would be "fundamentally transforming" the
United States of America.
Do not shoot the messengers, do not attack the person bringing the message no matter whom it may be, because in effect, it is attacking the very thing
that should be protecting you.
The article is excellent, and I urge anyone and everyone to read it.
Read more here.
ETA link: *bonks self in the head*
[edit on 16-5-2010 by Libertygal]
