Does our Constitution still work?

Fox News ^ | October 15, 2014 | John Stossel

[Abakumov]

Does the Constitution still matter?

When it was written, Ben Franklin said the Founders gave us a republic, "if you can keep it." Few people thought the republic would last another 227 years, but it has. The Constitution's limits on government power helped create the most free and prosperous country on earth....

Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) asked President Obama's Supreme Court pick, Elena Kagan, "If I wanted to sponsor a bill and it said, Americans, you have to eat three vegetables and three fruits every day, does that violate the Commerce Clause?" Amazingly, Kagan wouldn't say, "Yes, of course!"

She dodged the question.

Once on the Court, Kagan was part of the 5-4 majority who concluded the government can force us to buy something much more expensive than fruit and veggies: Obamacare can force us to buy health insurance.

Progressives have no problems with that. On my TV show, Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress.com said government making you buy vegetables isn't so strange: "I don't know how to tell you this, but government already makes you buy things like broccoli. What do you think food stamps are? What do you think school lunches are? The government has the power to tax you and buy things with it."

[SkyDancer]

Interesting how the Left quotes from the Declaration of Independence thinking they’re quoting from the Constitution or even from Lincoln’s Gettysburg address ....

[Pearls Before Swine]

Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) asked President Obama's Supreme Court pick, Elena Kagan, "If I wanted to sponsor a bill and it said, Americans, you have to eat three vegetables and three fruits every day, does that violate the Commerce Clause?" Amazingly, Kagan wouldn't say, "Yes, of course!"

That is amazing. She could have said, "Perhaps we could compel you to buy three vegetables and three fruits every day under the Commerce Clause," but force you to consume them?

The problem with political judicial appointees is that they assume the law is only there to be twisted and modified to compel their desired results. She couldn't answer immediately because she was thinking about the implications.

[Abakumov]

Yes or they quote the preamble even though the Court has never ruled that it has any legal meaning.

[SkyDancer]

‘Zactly - they don’t know which document they’re quoting from. Shows their ignorance.

[KC_Lion]

This is the leftist view of the Constitution and how much they care for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvB_qGhyg_k

[RedMDer]

It’s also in ‘cursive’ so most of them can’t even read it.

[Adder]

Well they all share that failing and, worse, legislate and render judgements according to their ignorance.

We all suffer for it.

[SkyDancer]

The thing is that the Constitution protects their right to do that ....

[Billthedrill]

There is a fundamental misunderstanding on the Left of exactly what the Constitution is for, and I think I understand why. What it’s for is that it’s a social contract that keeps us from killing one another over political power. And the reason they don’t appreciate that is that it’s been too long since somebody did. TommyJeff was right: we’re a little overdue for watering that Tree of Liberty. I’m not entirely joking, I do think that the reason the Left can propose the monstrosities they do is that they don’t think there will be any consequences other than dead opponents. And historically that’s not a bad assumption, because it’s mostly perfectly valid except when it’s fatal.

[PapaNew]

It’s like simple math/logic. The Left (L) loves big government (G). The Constitution (C) is against big government (G).

L for G.
C against G.
L against C.

[driftless2]

It is difficult to argue with people who believe that because the constitution gives the gov. the right to tax certain things, it has the right to tax anything it wants at whatever rates it wants. The libs pass some law extorting hard-earned money from citizens, and that gives them the right to extort however amount of money they want to extort. Lib "logic."

Of course, libs believe in strong gov. anyway. They have little or no faith in the common American to solve his or her own problems. Under the guise of "caring" and "helping" the average American, lib-led fed. gov. just gets larger and larger.

[haroldeveryman]

“There is a fundamental misunderstanding on the Left of exactly what the Constitution is for, and I think I understand why.”

The left understands all too well what the Constitution is for. It’s about denying power to people like them. And people like them are all about power. Obama has repeatedly expressed his regret that the Constitution has prevented him from executing much his agenda.