"In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." -- Thomas Jefferson
Burning the Constitution Burning the Constitution would indeed restore clarity to our public life. Better an honest empire than a bogus democracy (or, in the quaint language of our ancestors, republic). It would relieve us of intolerable and confusing double-talk, and might even help Bush himself understand what he is doing. Empire, he might say, is what our country is all about. - Joseph Sobran, September 19, 2002 [Sobran's]
The Optional Constitution How odd that Americans, and not just their presidents, have come to think of their Constitution as something separable from the government it’s supposed to constitute. - Joseph Sobran, June 13, 2002 [Sobran's]
The Neo-Con Assault on the Constitution This transformation of American government from one in which federalism, states rights, and the rights of nullification and secession allowed the citizens of the states to retain sovereignty over the federal government to a consolidated, monolithic Leviathan, means that Americans now live under what historian Clinton Rossiter called a “constitutional dictatorship.” - Thomas J. DiLorenzo, April 25, 2002 [LewRockwell.com]
Unconstitutional Government By the time you read this, the Senate will no doubt have passed "fast track" legislation, forfeiting its right under the Constitution to set trade policy to the executive branch. - Charley Reese, May 29, 2002 [Charley Reese]
Words and Power The Constitution is long gone, and we are living in the advanced stages of the revolution that destroyed it. - Joseph Sobran, February 13, 2002 [LewRockwell.com]
Constitutional ignorance "During last week's Senate confirmation hearings, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., laid into President Bush's attorney general nominee, John Ashcroft, about his strong support for the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment. Kennedy demanded that Ashcroft apologize to the American people.
For what did Kennedy think Ashcroft should apologize?" - Walter E. Williams, January 24, 2001 [WorldNetDaily]
The Silent Revolution - "We don’t celebrate the day the United States Constitution was destroyed; it didn’t happen on a specific date, and most Americans still don’t realize it happened at all. We don’t say the Constitution has ceased to exist; we merely say that it’s a 'living document.' But it amounts to the same thing." - December 5, 2000 [LewRockwell.com]
The Living Constitution One of the most nefarious influences in the minds of Americans is the notion that the federal constitution of 1787 (the "U.S. Constitution") is a "living" document. - David Dieteman, December 7, 2000 [LewRockwell.com]
Does the Constitution “Grow”? "But at least Bush recognizes that the Constitution doesn’t 'grow' by itself; that there are real human agents – 'activist liberal judges' – forcing false meanings on it. To hear Gore talk, you would think the Constitution was a form of climbing ivy." - Joseph Sobran, October 5, 2000 [Sobran's]
Freud and the Constitution Like psychoanalysis, constitutional jurisprudence has become a game without rules. By defying the plain meaning of words, ignoring context and history, and using a little ingenuity, you can make the Constitution mean anything you like. - Joseph Sobran, September 28, 2000 [Sobran's]
Altering the Constitution I constantly reread The Federalist Papers, and every time I do my heart cracks a little. If only the Constitution worked the way Alexander Hamilton and James Madison promised it would! - Joseph Sobran, October 19, 1999 [Sobran's]
Constitutional Amnesia A conservative legal scholar, who shall be nameless here, has illustrated the trouble with conservatism today: its profound ignorance of the Constitution it should be conserving. - Joseph Sobran, July 20, 1999 [Sobran's]
Taking the Constitution Seriously "...the mark of a good Congress is governing constitutionally. That is not simply a matter of honor. It is a matter of the oath of office. At this moment in the nation’s history, that is no small matter." - Roger Pilon, January/February 1999 [CATO]
Congress and the Constitution - If most members of Congress were to stand by their oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic" and to "bear true faith and allegiance to the same," big government would disappear. - Gary Benoit, April 27, 1998 [The New American]
Even if Courts Won't Follow the Constitution, Congress Should Restoring long lost freedoms will not be easy, but Congress should take the lead in promoting Americans' economic liberty. Indeed, for many people economic freedom is more important than the 'fundamental' liberties that the courts today favor. - Doug Bandow, March 14, 1997 [CATO]
President's Message: The Era of Big Government Ain't Over Bill Clinton's cynical disdain for the intelligence of the American people perhaps reached its apex with his 1995 State of the Union Address in which he solemnly proclaimed, 'The era of big government is over.' - Edward H. Crane, November/December 1997 [CATO]
What Happened that Day in 1937? THE CONSTITUTION is the instrument by which the federal government was created. The intent was that the government be severely limited in its authority. Grants of power were few and specific. Yet virtually nothing is now ruled unconstitutional in the courts! -unless it is "politically incorrect." And so it has been since 1937.
The Constitution A Living Instrument???? "Beware of those who claim that the Constitution is a living instrument because they are seeking justification for its violation. They claim that it evolves or changes as the peoples' wants or needs change. They will call it outmoded, old-fashioned, antiquated, archaic, etc., trying to convince you that the Founders could not have foreseen the peoples' needs so long ago. These people will support Constitutional changes resulting from Amendments, Supreme Court decisions, Presidential Proclamations or Voter Referendums." - Gary McLeod [Citizens For Constitutional Government]