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The Constitution Has Become Irrelevant
Sierra Times ^ | Colonel Dan

Posted on 06/27/2003 11:14:04 AM PDT by Sir Gawain

I once wrote a column asking if the Bill of Rights was irrelevant. I will now change that question into a declarative statement and say that the Constitution, although remaining the political ideal of American freedom, has become realistically irrelevant—made so by unprincipled politicians and apathetic Americans.

"No way colonel!" Read on, then you tell me.

Would it be fair to say that any code of law which is incrementally ignored over the years, eventually becomes irrelevant? If not "irrelevant", what do you call it when the foundation of our country— its fundamental principles of freedom —is increasingly ignored with arrogant impunity by the governing body it was designed to rein in and a growing number of citizens don't realize it or care?

Can you ignore parts of the concept upon which our country was founded and still regard that concept as whole? No, because to ignore part shows a political mind-set of disrespect for constitutional law and inevitably leads to a disregard of the whole document, eventually rendering the entire Constitution irrelevant. If there is no respect for or strict enforcement of all its principles, nor a price to be paid for its violation, the entire concept will ultimately become meaningless. Simply put, removing a brick here and there soon causes the structure to fall.

I'm no Constitutional authority and many lawyers will stringently disagree, but so what. Below is just the simple view of a simple soldier exemplifying what I consider to be a growing and arrogant disregard for our basic principles of freedom.

I "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or the prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,…"

Where is the so-called separation of church and state that our government has forcefully imposed on us, barring God from public life? Who is the restricted party here if not the government? It says, "Congress shall make no law…" thus it's government that is the restricted element not the citizens. Yet government actions have severely restricted the citizenry where the free exercise thereof is concerned. More recently, Congress and Bush blatantly abridged freedom of speech when they jointly passed and signed the Campaign Finance Reform Bill. Politics over sacred oath, honor and principle is the norm these days and for this, I will never forgive Bush or Congress. The First has been ignored.

II "…the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

This amendment has been violated over 20,000 times. Laws prohibiting selected weapons, magazine capacities, rates of fire, barrel lengths, permits and regulations that restrict or prohibit our ability to buy, keep and bear arms are infringements—plain and simple. The Second has been ignored.

IV "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures..."

Was Elian secure in his house or the Branch Davidians in theirs? How about the so-called "Patriot Act" that gives the Federal government unprecedented power and license to violate your privacy? The Fourth has been ignored.

V "…nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

Consider the power of the Environmental Protection Agency or the Endangered Species Act. Have a section of your property declared a wetland or find some animal on it that is listed as an "Endangered Species" and see how private your property really is. Then ask the Klamath Falls farmers about just compensation. The Fifth has been ignored.

X "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

What about the Departments of Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, and the billions given away in foreign aid? Where in the Constitution does it empower or authorize the government to do any of this? Nowhere, yet government has tremendous control over your life in areas never envisioned by the founders or delegated by the Constitution. The Tenth has been ignored.

XIV "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Legalized discrimination, a.k.a. affirmative action, violates the 14th Amendment's "equal protection under the law" clause. The Supreme Court's decision regarding the University of Michigan case stating that race can indeed be used as admission criteria is only a recent example in a long line of government's blatant disregard for our plain speaking Constitution. The Fourteenth has been ignored.

The day we apathetically allowed government to expand its power beyond clearly specified constitutional limits and rationalized it with some feel good excuse for the sake of convenience or perceived security was the day we started down this slippery slope— a slope from which we will never recover until the slope itself is gone.

Today government regularly violates the principles of freedom guaranteed by our Constitution with virtual impunity and arrogance. Those examples cited above are but a very few of the very many.

Politicians are driven by a "whatever you can get away with" philosophy. The only time you will hear them reference the Constitution as a restrictive document is when they need to hide behind its principles to protect themselves or as an excuse for inaction or twisting its meaning to convey that which it strictly and obviously forbids—freedom "from" religion in place of freedom "of" religion for example.

In fact, modern day Americans routinely expect such stepping over the constitutional line or they accuse Congress of being a "do nothing" body. Considering the aftermath of the alternative, I much prefer "do nothing" political representation.

Historically, this slide is the natural progression of government as I've written about before and as Jefferson himself described when he said, "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground."

How does this natural progression begin? With "common sense" regulation of this or that and then, once having gained a toehold, it incrementally eats away at our freedom with the passage of each bit of new "common sense" legislation. Jefferson was a savvy man who warned us of this long ago.

Our founders knew what they were talking about because they lived through oppression and were divinely inspired to create a Constitution based on the pre-eminence of individual freedom served by small, limited, subordinated government, not dominated by a controlling behemoth.

We've slid a long way into the pit of freedoms lost since our original Constitution was ratified. I'd venture to say that America is so far down the hill that we could no longer recognize the top if we saw it.

Sadly, most Americans these days don't care about the top of the hill, how far down we've come or even the hill itself. If Americans truly cared, they would be up in arms over just the few violations cited above.

The hard fact is, the majority of Americans today don't care who has the power and authority, just so they don't have the responsibility real freedom requires. The personal responsibility that comes with traditional liberty would likely scare the daylights out of most modern Americans.

So now you tell me. Can a credible argument be made that the Constitution has become irrelevant when the government it was designed to rein in routinely ignores its principles with arrogant impunity, pays lip service to following its precepts while an increasing preponderance of the governed, whose rights it was designed to protect, don't realize it or care?

That'd certainly be the view from my saddle…

The Colonel


DON'T TREAD ON ME



TOPICS: Editorial; Government
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1 posted on 06/27/2003 11:14:04 AM PDT by Sir Gawain
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To: AAABEST; Uncle Bill; Victoria Delsoul; Fiddlstix; fporretto; Free Vulcan; Liberty Teeth; Loopy; ...
-
2 posted on 06/27/2003 11:14:28 AM PDT by Sir Gawain (Straight outta Compton. Ok, not really.)
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To: Sir Gawain
bump
3 posted on 06/27/2003 11:15:01 AM PDT by Sam Cree (Democrats are herd animals)
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To: Sir Gawain
Bump

God save the dimpublic.
4 posted on 06/27/2003 11:19:57 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Vote Dimpublican in 2004. Socialism by any other name is better!)
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To: Sir Gawain
The Constitution Has Become Irrelevant

No it's not you libertine. I can still sit in front of the TV eating pies and I can go to Walmart any time I like, therefor I am free.

5 posted on 06/27/2003 11:22:07 AM PDT by AAABEST
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To: AAABEST
Only if you don't work and are on public assistance.
6 posted on 06/27/2003 11:30:22 AM PDT by RAT Patrol (Congress can give one American a dollar only by first taking it away from another American. -W.W.)
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To: RAT Patrol
Or, if you were a member of the United States Senate who failed in your Constitutional duty to remove an unfit and impeached President.
7 posted on 06/27/2003 11:38:25 AM PDT by jamaksin
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: lilDuce
Knowing American history ...the Bible --- might help !

Revelations 13


11] And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb (( republic )), and he spake as a dragon (( taliban // political fascism // moral anarchy )).

[12] And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast (( religious tyranny // lies )) before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship (( inquisition )) the first beast, whose deadly wound (( reformation )) was healed (( 180 o ' s // post freedom - constitution )).

Liberals aren't very liberal about their ' liberalism ' ...

the opposite --- nazis // murderers // genocide !

9 posted on 06/27/2003 11:58:37 AM PDT by f.Christian (( Shock -- revelations (( designed universe )) ... AWE --- you haven't seen anything - yet ))
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To: Sir Gawain
The Constitution is still a good document for any nation. Where the problem is with the ego of humanity--those people who instead of interpreting what the intent of the document find the need to add, subtract or change the document's meaning and intent.
10 posted on 06/27/2003 12:02:03 PM PDT by lilylangtree
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To: All
Col, I agree, and let's not forget the freedom to be a father, and be part of of the child lives are also included. They arrested over 100,000++ Fathers without any constatutional rights, none...,yes there are bad ones, but there are many who are good souls, who got *((*& by the system,and want into shock,depression or where unable to pay all those deductions(6), and/or layed-off, or became sick, and in the hospital,or serving there country over-seas,etc..on & on it goes...
YES, it's almost midnight...
for more news/forum/ information on the fathers fight..see


http://www.mensnewsdaily.com
11 posted on 06/27/2003 12:05:46 PM PDT by Orlando
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To: Orlando
Not to worry - panic !

Daniel 3 : 43 - 45

[43] And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
[44] And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
[45] Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

"Now in vision he is informed that this state of affairs is to continue on a much greater scale throughout most of the earth's history. It seemed that indeed the truth would be 'forever on the scaffold, and wrong forever on the throne'. With great eagerness he listened to the query, 'How long shall be the vision?'(Daniel 8:13)."

"Now in the revelation of 9:24-27 the mourning seer is told that there is a greater Prince of the house of Judah, a greater atonement, a greater sanctuary, and a greater redemption than any ever before experienced by Israel. The long-awaited Messiah, the Prince, a Priest-King, will take away the sin of the world and end earth's dark night. Thus 9:24 and 8:14 point to the same reality---the kingdom of God ignaugurated at the first advent and consummated at the second."

from ... Daniel and The Coming King by Dr. Desmond Ford !



12 posted on 06/27/2003 12:16:19 PM PDT by f.Christian (( Shock -- revelations (( designed universe )) ... AWE --- you haven't seen anything - yet ))
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To: Sir Gawain
Hey he missed the 3rd amendment. Is not law enforcement now "quartering troops" in housing projects in big HUD developments like in Chicago, New York and LA? Hmmm...
13 posted on 06/27/2003 12:18:53 PM PDT by Rightwing Conspiratr1
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To: Sir Gawain
And who is to blame?? Us, for electing our representives based on what they can do for ME!! Give ME more money, I want the govt to do this, there oughtta be a law.. the govt should...
I want my mommy!!!
Question is how in the heck do we go back??
Jack
14 posted on 06/27/2003 12:25:06 PM PDT by btcusn
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To: f.Christian
I know in my soul, that these are the end-times.
This is why, I try to shine the light on the attacks on the family. Didn't Satan say (endtimes) "I will destroy mankind and keep there women", hmmm?. What does that mean?..
Save and protect the constitution was the oath I took long ago, and the ones doing the destroying is coming from within..vet/out
15 posted on 06/27/2003 12:29:43 PM PDT by Orlando
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To: lilDuce
It is all about money and power plus ego and they could care less about being a good statesman.
16 posted on 06/27/2003 12:34:00 PM PDT by Vaduz
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To: btcusn; Orlando; gore3000; Dataman; AndrewC; Alamo-Girl; ALS
When you see the light coming -- the darkness doesn't bother you !

... unprecedented (( preliminaries )) ---

Syllables: un-prec-e-dent-ed

Part of Speech adjective

Pronunciation uhn preh sih dehn tihd

Definition 1. having no precedent; never before observed or experienced.

Related Words prodigious , original , phenomenal , novel , miraculous

17 posted on 06/27/2003 12:44:39 PM PDT by f.Christian (( Shock -- revelations (( designed universe )) ... AWE --- you haven't seen anything - yet ))
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To: Sir Gawain
So tell me this:

What are the penalties for violation of Constitutional Rights and Restraints?

While many grandiose statements are made concerning what government or the individual may or may not do, there is no statement made concerning the penalties for violation of the Supreme Law of the Land.
The Executive branch, constitutionally responsible for enforcement of the federal law, has allowed that authority to be so widely dispersed among various departments under various authority and jurisdiction, that the administration of law enforcement is ineffective.
The executive branch routinely signs bills (that become law) that contain clear violations of constitutional rights, prohibitions and privileges.
No One is held accountable, No One pays a price.

The Legislative Branch passes laws indescriminately, without concern (or, apparently, knowledge) of their constitutionality.
There is NO FEAR OF PENALTY for introducing, voting for, passing, unconstitutional laws and regulations, often clear violations of the rights of citizens.
No One is held accountable, No One pays a price.

The Judiciary rarely concerns itself with constitutionality, unless directly confronted with that as the issue, and then generally demurs to rule on the case, allowing instead a mishmash of conflicting rulings to confuse the issue in lower courts.
When a constitutional issue does make it to the higher court(s) it is generally not treated as a broad interpretation re-enforcing the constitution, but a narrow reading of a specific sub-section of a paragraph within a law that falls under the constitutional umbrella.
The actual question of the clearly stated constitutional right, prohibition or privilege is not addressed, and continues, in a state of limbo, allowing further violations to be made in wrongful enforcement, legislation, or interpretation.
No One is held accountable, No One pays a price.

Who enforces those penalties (if they exist)?
Seems to me, our only recourse is to vote out the legislators, or revolt. ( Violent? Non-Violent? End justifies the means? )

What is the authority for said enforcement?
Aside from the actions described above, is there any government agency that can actually DO SOMETHING?

If those responsible for enforcement are also those responsible for the Violations, and they refuse to police themselves, where does this leave the average american citizen?

If those responsible for enforcement fail to enforce or selectively enforce the laws, again, where does this leave us?
It is impossible to lay the blame strictly on the Bush administration, this is a history of constitutional violations that transcends one or even a few administrations.
There is (and has been ) a long standing attitude of privilege within the government, both federal and state.
Indiscretions are often overlooked if committed by fellow legislators, administrators, judiciary, etc., while the common citizen is prosecuted to the "fullest extent of the law".

There need to be full public discourse concerning the constitution, it's rights, privileges, and prohibitions.
And, there need to be full public discourse concerning the penalties for violation of those principles that are the basis of american law.

There need to be some penalties, there needs to be a price.

18 posted on 06/27/2003 12:46:40 PM PDT by Drammach
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To: Sir Gawain
SPOTREP
19 posted on 06/27/2003 12:49:53 PM PDT by LiteKeeper
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To: Sir Gawain
If racial discrimination is formally OK'd by the highest court in the land, and treason/perjury doesn't warrant removal from office, damn right the Constitution is dead.

And I mourn.

20 posted on 06/27/2003 1:10:38 PM PDT by NativeNewYorker (Freepin' Jew Boy)
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