Posted on 11/12/2024 4:06:00 AM PST by MtnClimber
For years, reforming the Constitution has been a misguided conservative issue. Downplaying the danger of a runaway convention, impatient conservatives have campaigned to ask the states to call a Constitutional Convention (Con-Con) to consider reforms and amendments that might address their many legitimate concerns.
Now, leftists are appearing on the reform horizon, calling for major constitutional changes.
One impatient leftist is Prof. Erwin Chemirinsky, dean of the Law School at the University of California, Berkeley. His new book, No Democracy Lasts Forever: How the Constitution Threatens the United States, goes beyond reform and calls for scrapping the Constitution altogether. He thinks the document has outlived its usefulness.
The leftist shift against the American Constitution is surprising. Liberals have long used (and abused) the Constitution to their benefit.
They proclaimed it a “living” document that conveniently changes with the times and liberal demands. By finding pockets of penumbra inside the document, liberal Supreme Court justices have legislated from the bench, striking down traditions and conservative initiatives. Democrats have long accepted the results of the Constitution’s Electoral College for decades without problems.
Over the years, people have complained about certain parts of the Constitution. Some have tried to amend it. However, few on the Left or Right have ever said it threatens the United States.
Chemerinsky does, and goes one woke step further. Changing the narrative drastically, he says the Constitution was flawed from the beginning -- the product of a group of white slaveowners. Its anti-democratic elements cannot be reformed while population and political shifts are making these flaws increasingly worse, contributing “greatly to the crisis of American democracy.”
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Communism makes everyone a slave to the state. How would that be for a flawed foundation?
The constitution is an obstacle to tyranny.
It’s the ultimate memory hole for America to forget its own Constitution.
Because freedom is an impediment to their agenda.
All those pesky restrictions on the government always get in the way of “Democracy”.
The leaders of the movement are the enemies foreign and domestic of the United States.
Our Freedom makes all the other POS countries around the world look like sht. We give their citizenry are reason to agitate and challenge their own corrupt governments.
Domestic enemies are paid millions by foreign enemies to turn against their own Nation. Not just politicians but state run media, hollywood, et al.
The followers are brain washed indoctrinated rubes evident in Charlie Kirks Turning Point campus exchanges.
That’s why.
The Constitution of the United States was designed to protect the people from the power of the State.
There are enough examples of oppressive governments in history, and had seen and fought one. Democracies can become extremely oppressive if curbs are not put on them. And we have enough democracy in our system to tempt every petty tyrant in the country.
Prof. Erwin Chemirinsky: Your premise that the US is a Democracy to start with is incorrect.
Therefore all else that follows is most likely profoundly flawed.
I am happy not to be one of your students.
Because it protects the nation, people, and political system they hate.
The Left has been dominated by the political philosophy of Progressivism since about 1900. One of the principles of Progresive ideology and thought was the Constitution was obsolete.
A major problem of the Consitution was it deliberately limited the power of the government. Progressivism believed government power was an unlimited power to do good.
Therefore, the Constitution was an obstacle to do good. Ways had to be found to "work around" or ignore the Constitution to do what they wanted to do.
Woodrow Wilson was a major Progressive ideological thinker, writer, and proponent of Progressivism who later became President.
From Woodrow Wilson's Socialism and Democracy, 1887:
The thesis of the states socialist is, that no line can be drawn between private and public affairs which the State may not cross at will; that omnipotence of legislation is the first postulate of all just political theory.
Applied in a democratic state, such doctrine sounds radical, but not revolutionary. It is only an acceptance of the extremest logical conclusions deducible from democratic principles long ago received as respectable. For it is very clear that in fundamental theory socialism and democracy are almost if not quite one and the same. They both rest at bottom upon the absolute right of the community to determine its own destiny and that of its members. Men as communities are supreme over men as individuals. Limits of wisdom and convenience to the public control there may be: limits of principle there are, upon strict analysis, none.
Because it is in their way and they view it as an impediment?
Left dislike’s constitution because it stops them from being bullies.
The only exception to a near perfect Constitution is the Great Compromise as I have stated endless times, however it was necessary at the time to bring the states together and as a result we’ll never get rid of the senate. The senate has been largely uniparty for decades and the closest we can get to slowing it down is the repeal of the 17th Amendment. We need a COS (Convention of States) to do anything meaningful anyway, balancing the budget would be another good example.
The Constitution gets in the way of their being king over an all controlling one world government
“The constitution is an obstacle to tyranny.”
You summed it up nicely.
What I don’t get is how roughly half of the population of the country, most of whom will never be in any position of power, want tyrants to govern them. I don’t get it.
Because people on the left are severely politically myopic
It has almost always been leftists that embraced totalitarianism in order to get what they want. Unfortunately the leftist media has successfully convinced people that totalitarianism (which they call fascism) is somehow right, or conservative, but liberty and authoritarianism are on a different axis all together from left/right.
People on the left hate people.
If they didn’t hate people, they wouldn’t be so willing to sacrifice their rights and liberties just to accomplish a few goals.
There are some people on the left who want abortion so badly that they will forsake all the protections of a constitution, forgo the need for checks and balances, and override elected representation, all to get it.
The care not for, or are too ignorant of, the lessons of history. Once your rights and protections are gone, you will not just become worthless to the powerful, they will view you with disdain and contempt.
Even Michael Moore admitted, us commies, LGBT, immigrants, poc, and your children are coming for you, and when kamala is elected its coming! .
as if the stolen biden presidency wasn't bad enough!
“ The constitution is an obstacle to tyranny.”
Awesome short summary !
Liberals who are in despair right now should understand that
“A charter of negative liberties,” as Odumbo the Kenyan Law Professor once complained.
It places fetters on their desires to rule by fiat and command the serfs to blindly obey their will.
The 2nd Amendment is Despot Kryptonite.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.