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Professor: Take our country back, from the Constitution
cbsnews.com ^

Posted on 01/27/2013 8:36:51 AM PST by Sub-Driver

Professor: Take our country back, from the Constitution

The U.S. Constitution - a document perhaps too revered, says Georgetown law professor Louis Michael Seidman. (Library of Congress)

(CBS News) Is the U.S. Constitution truly worthy of the reverence in which most Americans hold it? A view on that from Louis Michael Seidman, Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University:

I've got a simple idea: Let's give up on the Constitution.

I know, it sounds radical, but it's really not. Constitutional disobedience is as American as apple pie.

For example, most of our greatest Presidents -- Jefferson, Lincoln, Wilson, and both Roosevelts -- had doubts about the Constitution, and many of them disobeyed it when it got in their way.

To be clear, I don't think we should give up on everything in the Constitution. The Constitution has many important and inspiring provisions, but we should obey these because they are important and inspiring, not because a bunch of people who are now long-dead favored them two centuries ago.

Unfortunately, the Constitution also contains some provisions that are not so inspiring. For example, one allows a presidential candidate who is rejected by a majority of the American people to assume office. Suppose that Barack Obama really wasn't a natural-born citizen. So what?

Constitutional obedience has a pernicious impact on our political culture. Take the recent debate about gun control. None of my friends can believe it, but I happen to be skeptical of most forms of gun control.

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: academicbias; antiamericanism; anticonstitution; constitution; constitutionalcrisis; littleredschoolhouse; naughtyteacherslist; sedition; seebsnews; wddim
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To: Libloather

And all those who did not vet him but had the obligation to do so.


61 posted on 01/27/2013 11:41:17 AM PST by 353FMG ( I refuse to specify whether I am serious or sarcastic -- I respect FReepers too much.)
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To: Sub-Driver
Constitutional law professor starts ragging on the Constitution?

Sounds like a midlife crisis. Either that or it's a clever marketing gimmick. Or is it just what Con Law professors do believe nowadays?

FWIW, somebody changed his birth place on Wikipedia to "Pyongyang, Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

62 posted on 01/27/2013 12:05:35 PM PST by x
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To: Sub-Driver
Seidman again? This blowhard POS was all over the news in December. Like this idiotic rant in the NY Slimes claiming we should give up the Constitution.

The man has gone off the deep edge.

Let us hope his 15 minutes of fame ends soon.

63 posted on 01/27/2013 12:31:54 PM PST by upchuck (America's at an awkward stage. Too late to work within the system, too early to shoot the bastards.)
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To: upchuck

This guy IS the Zero information voter. Let’s hope students boycott this moron’s classes.


64 posted on 01/27/2013 12:52:36 PM PST by 4Liberty (Some on our "Roads & Bridges" head to the beach. Others head to their offices, farms, libraries....)
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To: Sub-Driver

Our Constitution is as nearly sacred as a secular document can be!


65 posted on 01/27/2013 1:35:28 PM PST by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not a Matter of Opinion)
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To: Sub-Driver; All
(CBS News) Is the U.S. Constitution truly worthy of the reverence in which most Americans hold it?

If patriots really revered the Constitution then they would have read it for themselves, about 14 or 15 pages, far shorter than the Holy Bible, instead of letting corrupt lawmakers read and interpret it for them.

And Constitution-savvy patriots would probably have used their voting muscle to stop the federal government from becoming as unconstitutonally big as it is today, patriots now arguably under judgement from God.

So is today's patriotism nothing more than a fad?

66 posted on 01/27/2013 2:45:24 PM PST by Amendment10
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To: Sub-Driver
Do we have what it takes to rid our society of the treasonous scum that infest our education system in the event of any civil conflict? Those who have actively undermined our Constitution couldn't be ignored or rehabilitated.

www.OathKeepers.org

67 posted on 01/27/2013 3:28:33 PM PST by ThermoNuclearWarrior (www.OathKeepers.org/oath/)
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To: Sub-Driver

Where to start?

“...If obama wasn’t a natural born citizen.” I think that’s an admission. And it will be admitted by obama before too long.

We wouldn’t let the UN rule us? We’re moving that way fast.

He doesn’t like the electoral college. So, why don’t we make this country a true democracy where majority rules. I wonder if he’d like that.


68 posted on 01/27/2013 3:30:15 PM PST by Terry Mross
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To: Sub-Driver

Where to start?

“...If obama wasn’t a natural born citizen.” I think that’s an admission. And it will be admitted by obama before too long.

We wouldn’t let the UN rule us? We’re moving that way fast.

He doesn’t like the electoral college. So, why don’t we make this country a true democracy where majority rules. I wonder if he’d like that.


69 posted on 01/27/2013 3:30:38 PM PST by Terry Mross
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To: maxwellsmart_agent

Can you imagine what it would be like if every law abiding citizen had their gun taken away? Every house in America would be ripe for the picking. And you wouldn’t even be safe with a guard dog. The cops would shoot it.


70 posted on 01/27/2013 3:40:32 PM PST by Terry Mross
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To: kcvl
"If you have even a pretty small minority, they can block amendments, ....."

Even amendments that say things like, "It shall be an affirmative defense against any felony charge, that the victim deceased was a moronic Georgetown professor of law"?

Like that, Brainiac?

71 posted on 01/27/2013 4:13:52 PM PST by lentulusgracchus
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To: Amendment10
We are headed for collapse regardless of whether we do it on our terms, or wait around without much of a plan until we have a complete economic collapse.

The Patriot movement doesn't have much time to grow before taking action. We don't have time to dwell on our past inaction either. It's not a new problem. It has affected us for generations, and cowardice is clearly not the reason for our inaction. There hasn't been enough support for the Patriot movement in the past for whatever reason. We should be thankful that the patriot movement seems to have significant support now even though it holds an unknown strength. It gives us hope in an imminent conflict. We have the potential for victory that most other western nations lost a long time ago.

www.OathKeepers.org

72 posted on 01/27/2013 4:53:06 PM PST by ThermoNuclearWarrior (www.OathKeepers.org/oath/)
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To: Sub-Driver
What's crazy is that liberals should LOVE the Constitution rather than curse it as they do. After all, abortion is constitutional, right? And the New Deal and the Great Society too, right? Why, even Obamacare is constitutional! Just about everything they've ever asked for, the Constitution has given them.

So why are they complaining? I think it's because deep down in their grubby little liberal hearts they know that none of this stuff is constitutional, and somehow that gnaws at them.

73 posted on 01/27/2013 5:15:34 PM PST by Yardstick
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