Happy Constitution Day!

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Celebrate Constitution Day
The United States Constitution is an extraordinary document. It protects our rights and freedoms. It outlines the blueprint of our government. And it limits the government’s power through a marvelous system of checks and balances.

But even though its provisions affect our lives every day, most Americans have never read it.

Saturday, September 17 is Constitution Day. It’s a day to recognize our good fortune in living under the system that the Constitution provides. It’s also a day to remember that all of the powers and provisions of the Constitution originate with us ― “We the People.” But most importantly, it’s a day to take a few minutes and read the elegant document that is our Constitution.

Even a brief skim will remind you of the powers we have given our government, for the good of our nation. It will also remind you of the powers our government doesn’t have ― and shouldn’t have. And it will remind you of the document’s simple elegance, and the men who crafted it so long ago.

First and foremost, however, it will remind you of your crucial role in our constitutional system and the critical need for you to keep standing up for your rights and reminding the government of the limits of its power.

So take a moment, pick up or download a copy of the Constitution, and read it. It’s well worth the time.

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A living Constitution for a dying Republic

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Prior to the reign of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the courts were still largely populated with originalists, who properly rendered legal interpretation based on construction of the Constitution's "original intent." However, FDR grossly exceeded the Constitutional limits upon the authority of his office and that of the legislature in his folly to end The Great Depression (the latter falling victim to World War II -- not FDR's social and economic engineering). FDR's extra-constitutional exploits opened the door for the judiciary to follow the same path -- to read into the Constitution what was necessary to make it conform to the demands of the prevailing political will.

In the decades that followed, the notion of a "Living Constitution," one subject to all manner of judicial interpretation, took hold in the federal courts. Judicial activists, those who legislate from the bench by issuing rulings based on their personal interpretation of the Constitution, or at the behest of likeminded special-interest constituencies, were nominated for the federal bench and confirmed in droves.

This degradation of law was codified by the Warren Court in Trop v. Dulles (1958). In that ruling, the High Court noted that the Constitution should comport with "evolving standards...that mark the progress of a maturing society." In other words, it had now become a fully pliable document. Indeed, the Constitution has become "a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary which they may twist and shape into any form they please," as Thomas Jefferson warned, and the judiciary, in Jefferson's words, "the Despotic Branch."

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This is why FDR may indeed be the worst president ever.

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The Federalist Papers, as the definitive explication of our Constitution's original intent, clearly define original intent in regards to Constitutional interpretation. In Federalist No. 78 Alexander Hamilton writes, "[The Judicial Branch] may truly be said to have neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment...liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have everything to fear from its union with either of the other departments." In Federalist No. 81 Hamilton notes, "[T]here is not a syllable in the [Constitution] which directly empowers the national courts to construe the laws according to the spirit of the Constitution...."

George Washington advised, "The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their Constitutions of Government. But the Constitution which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People is sacredly obligatory upon all."

Today, 218 years hence, Justice Antonin Scalia says of judicial activism, "As long as judges tinker with the Constitution to 'do what the people want,' instead of what the document actually commands, politicians who pick and confirm new federal judges will naturally want only those who agree with them politically."

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Its time we returned to the basis of our nation. Strict interpretation of the consitution and stop this judicial activism.

On constitution day... by law schools have to teach about it!



It is working against us....In school they told us that....



it is a living document

the 2nd amendment means we can have malitias (nothing about private ownership)

and that a strong federal government is a good thing :dizzy2:



God help this nation if they taught that in every public school :help:

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the 2nd amendment means we can have malitias (nothing about private ownership)

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Yopur forgetting one little thing. They considered every able bodied man to be militia.

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and that a strong federal government is a good thing

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I think you should take the advice of the opening article then and read the document because that is certainly not what it says.

screw FDR

My professor told us that we could, within the mandates of the Constitution Day, burn our Constitution and it would O.K.; I think the only requirement was to have a forum about it... I guess burning it falls in there.
:fireman:

P.S. Any school that has been Federally funded has to celbrate, or have a forum/discussion. It isn't mandatory to show up obviously, but it is mandatory for the professors/teachers to throw something toghether.

We would have been better off under the articles of confederation(if they reformed it just a bit) imo

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Originally Posted by Gawain of Orkeny

Yopur forgetting one little thing. They considered every able bodied man to be militia.



I think you should take the advice of the opening article then and read the document because that is certainly not what it says.

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I have read it...


What I meant by my post was that at school they tried to brain wash every one to think that.

A it is a living document

b guns are bad

c a strong federal government is good

Sorry I thought you taking that position.

Remember, it's wrong to do things that are against the Constitution. The correct thing to do is to change it until it supports your views :yes:

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The correct thing to do is to change it until it supports your views

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Thats right and we do this through the amendment process not the courts.

Who thinks we should send all the activist judges to california and kick cali out of the Union! ~:cheers:


All extreme american liberals will go there.

all Cali conservitives and moderates will come here.

and we all get along

“We the People.” But most importantly, it’s a day to take a few minutes and read the elegant document that is our Constitution.

Would that be the elegant document that is the Constitution .
Or would that be the much amended bits of paper that are the Constitution , until someone decides to amend it again ?
Have a nice day ~:cheers:

It's only been ament 27 times over hundreds of years...so it is pretty near the way it was!

How is it Constitution Day any how ?
It wasn't even ratified by the first formative state until December 7th (that day that will live in infamy) , it then dragged on through to June 21st '88 , then on till March '89 , then you finally (for the moment) come to Jan 10 '91 .

Whats up ?
Too close to Christmas so they are all too skint to have a decent party ?
I know lets put it off till after the summer so we have a few bucks to spare ~;)

The Magna Carta predates the US constitution... :p

Try using the Magna Carta in court ~D ~D ~D

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Originally Posted by Taffy_is_a_Taff

screw FDR

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Agreed. FDR was a socalist dictator. He practically gave Eastern Europe to Stalin. He was the reason we got involved in WWII. Is a sickle and hammer really better then a swastika?

We should have just let the USSR and Nazi Germany kick the shit out of each other.

On a side note: Happy Constitution Day. Long live Freedom and democracy ~:cheers:

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Indeed. Or, wait, do you only take that stance when it suits you? I seem to recall you were rather jubilant about the anti-constitutional possibilities of the Atheism = Religion ruling in that other thread.

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You mean the one where the judge ruled in favor of them over the constitution? Again if they can get a constitutional amendment passed then you can do it. Not have some judge over rule the constitutuion and the people.

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I've always believed, personally, that it should be extremely difficult to amend the constitution, but I also believe that amendments can and should occur with the changing of the times.

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You will get no argument on that point.

Originalists crack me up.

Funny group of people.