We keep hearing from the Obama camp how the US Constitution is outdated.
What I'd like to see is their summary of exactly which bits are "outdated", and why.
Freedom of speech? Freedom of association? Prohibition on slavery? Freedom to be armed, against criminals and tyrants? Freedom of religion? The notion that government should be limited to specific, enumerated powers? Which one is "outdated" and why?
The real answer, of course, is that in their Orwellian lexicon, "outdated" simply means "inconvenient"... to their purposes.
By them sagely speaking of something being "outdated", a lot of people who want to appear and feel "reasonable" will nod "reasonably" and go along with it.
The funny thing is, all of the above, and most else in the Constitution, is still considered revolutionary by many governments and "leaders" in the world, and they do not approve. Well, for the sake of being "reasonable" and going with the opinion of "most people", we should ditch the Constitution in order to please them... right?
Here's a related question.
If a majority in the US Congress voted to reinstate slavery, would we expect US citizens to participate in rounding up members of the targeted race? Would we expect members of that race to turn themselves in, or for people to turn in their spouses and children of that race?
Well, why not? If a government creates a law, then it must be OK and we should follow it without question, right?
This why we have a Constitution. Because even majority decisions, or decisions by the Executive branch, need to adhere to certain principles. At least in a society where the Executive isn't given unlimited arbitrary powers.
In the event of the latter... massive, primarily peaceful civil disobedience may be useful to contemplate.
When they demand that newly proscribed people (or items) be turned over, stay home instead. When the newly drafted gangbanger thugs led by lickspittle "political officers" show up at 2AM to collect, the entire neighborhood turns out to suggest they leave quietly.
Too many times in history, people have not responded like that when the thugs turned up and went house to house. I'd like to think that, by now, maybe we've all collectively learned something about this from the 20th century.
What I'd like to see is their summary of exactly which bits are "outdated", and why.
Freedom of speech? Freedom of association? Prohibition on slavery? Freedom to be armed, against criminals and tyrants? Freedom of religion? The notion that government should be limited to specific, enumerated powers? Which one is "outdated" and why?
The real answer, of course, is that in their Orwellian lexicon, "outdated" simply means "inconvenient"... to their purposes.
By them sagely speaking of something being "outdated", a lot of people who want to appear and feel "reasonable" will nod "reasonably" and go along with it.
The funny thing is, all of the above, and most else in the Constitution, is still considered revolutionary by many governments and "leaders" in the world, and they do not approve. Well, for the sake of being "reasonable" and going with the opinion of "most people", we should ditch the Constitution in order to please them... right?
Here's a related question.
If a majority in the US Congress voted to reinstate slavery, would we expect US citizens to participate in rounding up members of the targeted race? Would we expect members of that race to turn themselves in, or for people to turn in their spouses and children of that race?
Well, why not? If a government creates a law, then it must be OK and we should follow it without question, right?
This why we have a Constitution. Because even majority decisions, or decisions by the Executive branch, need to adhere to certain principles. At least in a society where the Executive isn't given unlimited arbitrary powers.
In the event of the latter... massive, primarily peaceful civil disobedience may be useful to contemplate.
When they demand that newly proscribed people (or items) be turned over, stay home instead. When the newly drafted gangbanger thugs led by lickspittle "political officers" show up at 2AM to collect, the entire neighborhood turns out to suggest they leave quietly.
Too many times in history, people have not responded like that when the thugs turned up and went house to house. I'd like to think that, by now, maybe we've all collectively learned something about this from the 20th century.
No comments:
Post a Comment