Enjoy.
John / Billybob
The game changed at the end of the Civil War. The XIV Amend was essentially a new Constitution. Fallout runs up and down the Federal state and includes the eternal Campaign Finance issue and GATT.
The spirit of the Republic lies within the hearts of its citizens.
Good piece, CB. Thanks!
PS.. Did you read law books as a kid and decide your career path then or?
When I first saw the letter, those words were what struck me...
Sterling example of what the founders were trying to do.
“the community at large must raise the edifice...”
We, as a people, cannot afford to give that up.
I still believe in the goodness and honesty of Joe 6 pack and the missus.
Sometimes I wonder how much common sense they have, but can’t always have yur cake and eat it too!
Interesting article. As for your question,although I know it’s somewhat after the fact I doubt had I been alive I would have agreed with the 1857 Supreme Court decision concerning Dred Scott !!!
In 218 years it is we, not our government, who have “raised the edifice” of the Constitution. But sadly, in recent decades, it is we who are tearing that edifice down, again.
Excellent piece, CB. Thanks for your essays and for sharing them with us.
Excellent essay. The timing of your essay and mine couldn’t have been better.
Billybob wrote:
That Article says it applies to "Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States...." So it covers everyone in executive and judicial offices, but it does not cover legislative officials outside the state legislatures.
This would exclude the occasional state or federal constitutional convention, and also the roughly 250,000 local and county officials.
It is a matter of tradition, not constitutional requirement, that such elected officials use the same form of oath as all others.
Publius, we can see from the above opinion why our Republic is in such danger. -- 250,000 local and county officials do not need to honor our Constitution as the Law of the Land. -- Good grief.
To: tpaine
Your conclusion is absurd. First, I made it clear that state and local officials DO use the same oath, as a matter of tradition rather than requirement. And even if not, the idea that an oath, rather than education and respect, is what binds Americans to their Constitution is contrary to the understandings of all those who wrote and ratified the Constitution, and have sought to preserve it ever since.
Read my next column, “Raising the Edifice.” It is based on a just-discovered text by George Washington. You might learn something. John / Billybob
Well Billybob, -- I've read your new column, and I see nothing in it that refutes my contention that ~all~ citizens of the USA are obligated to support & defend our Constitution - or your contention that: "- 250,000 local and county officials" do not need to honor our Constitution as the Law of the Land, that, "- It is a matter of tradition, not constitutional requirement -".
“Inalienable” rights are, in my mind, beyond the authority of even “the people” to change, by amendment, or any other means. Of course, they can always just shoot me, if it comes to that, but my rights are only worth as much as the effort I’m willing to make to keep them, and I’m going to keep them.