US Constitution: Happy Birthday…Or R.I.P.?
Posted by Ercille Christmas at 9/16/2011 9:06 AM 
Categories: Cultural
Tags: US Constitution President George Washington presidential executive orders Declaration of Independence Hillsdale College Mount Vernon
Categories: Cultural
Tags: US Constitution President George Washington presidential executive orders Declaration of Independence Hillsdale College Mount Vernon
September 17, 2011 is the anniversary of the birth of the US Constitution, and it should be a happy occasion. Old Glory should be flying proudly in kinship with her fellow symbol of America. The champagne, for those who imbibe adult beverages, should be flowing. The nation should be decorated with balloons and wannabe Shakespearean actors should be at street corners, decked out in Colonial garb, and quoting passages from the US Constitution, sans Teleprompters.
I got carried away there for a minute. None of the above, especially the Constitution itself, may still be in fashion – if we continue to let the ruling class circumvent the US Constitution – or at least try. In any case, even if the Constitution is ignored champagne will still flow. Some of us who do not even drink liquor, may find ourselves, instead of celebrating, drowning our sorrows. Old Glory is hanging in there, even if not in such preponderance, as during the period beginning on September 12, 2001 and for a considerable time thereafter. USC (US Constitution) is not even doing as well as the other USC (University of Southern California) football team. The USC of today’s article, is struggling to remain relevant, while “we the people,” a considerable portion of us, remain silent.
Apparently, part of the problem is that the gene pool of learning, intelligence, patriotism, formerly embedded in any US citizen who attained higher office, has been diluted over the centuries. President JFK once famously exhorted “ask not what your country can do for you.” Somehow, probably from patriotic dyslexia, some of the new breed of politicians, and many residents of the country, have turned that around to mean “keep asking what your country can do for you” – without your giving much in return. The use of the word “resident” is deliberate. Some who are technically US citizens, see citizenship as a nominal identification, useful for benefits, but they are leery of Thomas Paine and his observation:
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
There is “fatigue” in campaigning for office. One has to shake all of those hands, and not cringe at all of these strange people touching one. One has to attend all of those fundraising dinners, with the manufactured food. One has to practice on the Teleprompter, how to read the speech written by speech writers. One has to remember what one’s aides told one to think. One has to be chauffeured around (depending on one’s status). To be fair, many of the novices do drive themselves initially. They soon make up for that deviancy once they have achieved their goal of being elected, to what could potentially turn out to be a lifetime of perks, pork and privileges.
Ed Feulner in this Washington Times article, makes the case why we should read the Constitution. He is right about taking the privileges of individual liberty for granted. My concern is that this “more perfect union,” although still the best union in the world, is not being consistently governed according to the tenets of the Constitution. The famous, or infamous Obamacare situation, is like a patient going through the medical system. It is going through the court system, having tests run to see if it is suffering from “constitutionality-itis.”
This one, instead of the usual second opinion, is probably going to need about twenty odd opinions, before a decision is made whether to have major surgery on it, pump it full of pills, or do not even place it on life support. Calling Nurse Ratchet! I vote to kill it – unless the ruling class, including the president, is placed on the same program. I might be onto something here. One month on Obamacare, and the elites will not even bother to debate. Obamacare will have a bullet between its eyes faster than it takes to spell the name!
But that is not going to happen. Special health care for politicians, is one of those laws/processes not open to the common folk. However, there are special laws that are made for the populace at large, from which the politicians exempt themselves. In America, it is good to be a politician or a diplomat. Both “professions” get immunity from serf laws. Mr. Feulner quotes the first president of the US, George Washington: “The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.” President Washington, in today’s Union, you would be sent to a psychiatrist to examine the state of your mental health, in declaring such a notion.
I don’t think that the framers of the Constitution, some of the “brightest minds” of the time, could have envisioned that “executive power,” granted to the president by Article II of the US Constitution, would have been so grossly expanded. Does this executive power really give the president the right to appoint “czars” and to sign all of those EOs (Executive Orders)? “Implied powers,” sure makes me queasy considering the caliber of persons who could be/are involved in using these implied powers.
Any questionable character and this “most perfect union” could be taken down some really imperfect avenues, maybe even on the road to socialism or communism. With each passing decade, the executive order is being used as “my way or the highway.” What will we do as a country, when we run out of road? The way I view “implied” and “executive” leeway, is that unscrupulous leaders can act as de facto dictators without actually having to take on the name of dictator, while continuing to cloak themselves, in the Constitution – when it suits their purpose.
When this video of journalist Cokie Roberts was sent to me and I heard that the US Constitution is the “problem” in US life/politics, I had to make sure that I had not inadvertently imbibed some alcohol, thereby impairing my senses! Huh? Is this the same US Constitution meticulously crafted by men, sorry Ms. Roberts, with far brighter minds? I would be very interested to find out Ms. Roberts’s suggestions for replacing that “problematic” Constitution. I think that all those nations which have modeled their constitutions on the US Constitution may want to know if they misled themselves by adopting a problem constitution. How could such a problem document survive to be the oldest living Constitution in the world? Where do we send the flowers for the burial ceremony?
What is wrong with a document that from its opening paragraph states its beneficent intentions?:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Looking at that opening paragraph, I can now begin to see why it could be “problematic.” We are certainly not securing the “blessings of liberty,” at least not financial liberty for “our posterity,” not when that posterity will be saddled with almost twenty trillion dollars in debt. I have not changed my opinion that this bequeathing all of that enormous debt to citizens who are currently kids, or not even born, is both immoral and amoral.
Section 6, Clause 1 states:
“Clause 1: The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”
Are the current compensations “ascertained by law,” and if so, who is ascertaining or creating this law, the handsome salaries, the well appointed offices, the ever-increasing staffs?
The president is granted his compensation in Article III, Section 1, Clause 7:
“The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.”
I wonder how that is working out. I am afraid to find out.
In his article, Mr. Feulner stated:
“In our Constitution, we the people tell the government what it can do, and it can do only those things listed in that document and no others.”
That used to be true. I am not so sure anymore. As was reported:
“Rep. Pete Stark, California Democrat, was also asked about Obamacare and whether there were any limits on Congress. His reply: “‘The federal government, yes, can do most anything in this country.’”
Rep. Pete Stark, truer words have never been said, and in such a blatant, arrogant manner. When we get to the point where “most” is omitted from the above sentence, say goodbye to the US Constitution. “Limited” government? Not even the sky is the limit anymore when it comes to federal expansion of power.
“Uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States,” has become “Ignore and/or trample on the Constitution of the United States.” I hope when the Constitution of the United States joins forces with the Declaration of Independence, and decides to retaliate by asserting itself, that those who have tried to “get around it,” or outright try to kill it, will be prepared to stand up like men and take their punishment. Let me make it clear. I am not advocating other than legal or moral means of righting the ship of government, by adhering to the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Therein lays the rub. More and more, the populace is being separated from learning about these precious documents. American textbooks are incrementally being rewritten to exclude valuable portions of American history, especially that about the first president. If kids growing up do not learn about a president who could be a role model not just as president, but as a person, and look closer to their generation, they may not learn what is truly “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
They may instead learn to more readily accept abrogation of such “unalienable rights,” which are “endowed by their Creator,” and come to believe that these rights, if they are allowed to be granted, are attained by fealty to whoever is the current despot. It pains me to think of the even worse political, social and cultural conditions that await future generations. Not only could they be faced with a future of an onerous federal and state (some of them) financial burden, but any pretense of being truly free, in the sense intended by the Declaration of Independence.
For the first time since throwing in my lot with this country, by becoming a citizen, and renouncing loyalty to any other country, I am afraid. Had I not witnessed for myself, the inexorable erosion of freedoms and liberties, by men and women, who would not have had the moral fortitude, physical courage, or intellectual credentials or capacity to found this country, I would never have believed it.
However, as I sit here typing after attending an online celebration of the US Constitution, through Hillsdale College, I have hope. While I do not have a fortune to pledge, as many of the Founding Fathers did in setting up this country, I pledge to support Hillsdale College, and hope to visit one day, including the Kirby Center in DC. As a matter of fact, should fortune come my way, I pledge to underwrite a scholarship for political leaders to attend instruction at Hillsdale College DC Kirby Center, to be schooled in the US Constitution. And hope that in their case, “familiarity (does not) breed (any more) contempt.”
When I first came to the US, I wanted to one day visit the Capitol and the White House. I no longer wish to do so – too many bad memories of recent deplorable activities, especially in the White House, will overwhelm any sense of reverence that I used to have. To experience that sense of reverence, I will one day visit Mount Vernon. I pledge one more thing, as long as life is granted to me, by the same Creator, Who granted me “liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” I will do whatever I can, within the framework of the law, to help to uphold His gift to me. I will not just sit back and bemoan the infringement of that liberty. My keyboard will be working overtime. Oh, I also have faith that this maligned US Constitution will continue to outlive its detractors and those desirous of its death.
Happy Birthday, US Constitution! I raise a glass of non-alcoholic champagne to you…and many more!
I got carried away there for a minute. None of the above, especially the Constitution itself, may still be in fashion – if we continue to let the ruling class circumvent the US Constitution – or at least try. In any case, even if the Constitution is ignored champagne will still flow. Some of us who do not even drink liquor, may find ourselves, instead of celebrating, drowning our sorrows. Old Glory is hanging in there, even if not in such preponderance, as during the period beginning on September 12, 2001 and for a considerable time thereafter. USC (US Constitution) is not even doing as well as the other USC (University of Southern California) football team. The USC of today’s article, is struggling to remain relevant, while “we the people,” a considerable portion of us, remain silent.
Apparently, part of the problem is that the gene pool of learning, intelligence, patriotism, formerly embedded in any US citizen who attained higher office, has been diluted over the centuries. President JFK once famously exhorted “ask not what your country can do for you.” Somehow, probably from patriotic dyslexia, some of the new breed of politicians, and many residents of the country, have turned that around to mean “keep asking what your country can do for you” – without your giving much in return. The use of the word “resident” is deliberate. Some who are technically US citizens, see citizenship as a nominal identification, useful for benefits, but they are leery of Thomas Paine and his observation:
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
There is “fatigue” in campaigning for office. One has to shake all of those hands, and not cringe at all of these strange people touching one. One has to attend all of those fundraising dinners, with the manufactured food. One has to practice on the Teleprompter, how to read the speech written by speech writers. One has to remember what one’s aides told one to think. One has to be chauffeured around (depending on one’s status). To be fair, many of the novices do drive themselves initially. They soon make up for that deviancy once they have achieved their goal of being elected, to what could potentially turn out to be a lifetime of perks, pork and privileges.
Ed Feulner in this Washington Times article, makes the case why we should read the Constitution. He is right about taking the privileges of individual liberty for granted. My concern is that this “more perfect union,” although still the best union in the world, is not being consistently governed according to the tenets of the Constitution. The famous, or infamous Obamacare situation, is like a patient going through the medical system. It is going through the court system, having tests run to see if it is suffering from “constitutionality-itis.”
This one, instead of the usual second opinion, is probably going to need about twenty odd opinions, before a decision is made whether to have major surgery on it, pump it full of pills, or do not even place it on life support. Calling Nurse Ratchet! I vote to kill it – unless the ruling class, including the president, is placed on the same program. I might be onto something here. One month on Obamacare, and the elites will not even bother to debate. Obamacare will have a bullet between its eyes faster than it takes to spell the name!
But that is not going to happen. Special health care for politicians, is one of those laws/processes not open to the common folk. However, there are special laws that are made for the populace at large, from which the politicians exempt themselves. In America, it is good to be a politician or a diplomat. Both “professions” get immunity from serf laws. Mr. Feulner quotes the first president of the US, George Washington: “The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon.” President Washington, in today’s Union, you would be sent to a psychiatrist to examine the state of your mental health, in declaring such a notion.
I don’t think that the framers of the Constitution, some of the “brightest minds” of the time, could have envisioned that “executive power,” granted to the president by Article II of the US Constitution, would have been so grossly expanded. Does this executive power really give the president the right to appoint “czars” and to sign all of those EOs (Executive Orders)? “Implied powers,” sure makes me queasy considering the caliber of persons who could be/are involved in using these implied powers.
Any questionable character and this “most perfect union” could be taken down some really imperfect avenues, maybe even on the road to socialism or communism. With each passing decade, the executive order is being used as “my way or the highway.” What will we do as a country, when we run out of road? The way I view “implied” and “executive” leeway, is that unscrupulous leaders can act as de facto dictators without actually having to take on the name of dictator, while continuing to cloak themselves, in the Constitution – when it suits their purpose.
When this video of journalist Cokie Roberts was sent to me and I heard that the US Constitution is the “problem” in US life/politics, I had to make sure that I had not inadvertently imbibed some alcohol, thereby impairing my senses! Huh? Is this the same US Constitution meticulously crafted by men, sorry Ms. Roberts, with far brighter minds? I would be very interested to find out Ms. Roberts’s suggestions for replacing that “problematic” Constitution. I think that all those nations which have modeled their constitutions on the US Constitution may want to know if they misled themselves by adopting a problem constitution. How could such a problem document survive to be the oldest living Constitution in the world? Where do we send the flowers for the burial ceremony?
What is wrong with a document that from its opening paragraph states its beneficent intentions?:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Looking at that opening paragraph, I can now begin to see why it could be “problematic.” We are certainly not securing the “blessings of liberty,” at least not financial liberty for “our posterity,” not when that posterity will be saddled with almost twenty trillion dollars in debt. I have not changed my opinion that this bequeathing all of that enormous debt to citizens who are currently kids, or not even born, is both immoral and amoral.
Section 6, Clause 1 states:
“Clause 1: The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States.”
Are the current compensations “ascertained by law,” and if so, who is ascertaining or creating this law, the handsome salaries, the well appointed offices, the ever-increasing staffs?
The president is granted his compensation in Article III, Section 1, Clause 7:
“The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.”
I wonder how that is working out. I am afraid to find out.
In his article, Mr. Feulner stated:
“In our Constitution, we the people tell the government what it can do, and it can do only those things listed in that document and no others.”
That used to be true. I am not so sure anymore. As was reported:
“Rep. Pete Stark, California Democrat, was also asked about Obamacare and whether there were any limits on Congress. His reply: “‘The federal government, yes, can do most anything in this country.’”
Rep. Pete Stark, truer words have never been said, and in such a blatant, arrogant manner. When we get to the point where “most” is omitted from the above sentence, say goodbye to the US Constitution. “Limited” government? Not even the sky is the limit anymore when it comes to federal expansion of power.
“Uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States,” has become “Ignore and/or trample on the Constitution of the United States.” I hope when the Constitution of the United States joins forces with the Declaration of Independence, and decides to retaliate by asserting itself, that those who have tried to “get around it,” or outright try to kill it, will be prepared to stand up like men and take their punishment. Let me make it clear. I am not advocating other than legal or moral means of righting the ship of government, by adhering to the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Therein lays the rub. More and more, the populace is being separated from learning about these precious documents. American textbooks are incrementally being rewritten to exclude valuable portions of American history, especially that about the first president. If kids growing up do not learn about a president who could be a role model not just as president, but as a person, and look closer to their generation, they may not learn what is truly “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
They may instead learn to more readily accept abrogation of such “unalienable rights,” which are “endowed by their Creator,” and come to believe that these rights, if they are allowed to be granted, are attained by fealty to whoever is the current despot. It pains me to think of the even worse political, social and cultural conditions that await future generations. Not only could they be faced with a future of an onerous federal and state (some of them) financial burden, but any pretense of being truly free, in the sense intended by the Declaration of Independence.
For the first time since throwing in my lot with this country, by becoming a citizen, and renouncing loyalty to any other country, I am afraid. Had I not witnessed for myself, the inexorable erosion of freedoms and liberties, by men and women, who would not have had the moral fortitude, physical courage, or intellectual credentials or capacity to found this country, I would never have believed it.
However, as I sit here typing after attending an online celebration of the US Constitution, through Hillsdale College, I have hope. While I do not have a fortune to pledge, as many of the Founding Fathers did in setting up this country, I pledge to support Hillsdale College, and hope to visit one day, including the Kirby Center in DC. As a matter of fact, should fortune come my way, I pledge to underwrite a scholarship for political leaders to attend instruction at Hillsdale College DC Kirby Center, to be schooled in the US Constitution. And hope that in their case, “familiarity (does not) breed (any more) contempt.”
When I first came to the US, I wanted to one day visit the Capitol and the White House. I no longer wish to do so – too many bad memories of recent deplorable activities, especially in the White House, will overwhelm any sense of reverence that I used to have. To experience that sense of reverence, I will one day visit Mount Vernon. I pledge one more thing, as long as life is granted to me, by the same Creator, Who granted me “liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” I will do whatever I can, within the framework of the law, to help to uphold His gift to me. I will not just sit back and bemoan the infringement of that liberty. My keyboard will be working overtime. Oh, I also have faith that this maligned US Constitution will continue to outlive its detractors and those desirous of its death.
Happy Birthday, US Constitution! I raise a glass of non-alcoholic champagne to you…and many more!
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