A constitution is a wonderful thing. One carefully crafted so that it lasts, preserving liberty from the authoritarian form of arbitrary government it ended for this country, is a treasure. Having a constitution that protects individual rights cannot be appreciated too much.
To protect our constitutional rights, the founders put in a lot of body checks, known as ‘checks and balances’ and left a great deal of power to the states, knowing that a diverse population would guard itself against takeovers from any faction that became too powerful, through the many ways provided.
The founders had a great deal of faith in the value of liberty, and when they looked at themselves, intelligent and dedicated to self-government, they saw a great hope for the advancement of mankind. They weren’t as great as they could have been, and one of their greatest failings was overlooking the institution of slavery that they were unable to abolish without shredding the emerging nation. Later generations took care of that wrinkle, as civilization advanced. The constitution was crafted further, the Bill of Rights added to make up for concepts that it hadn’t originally incorporated.
Sad to say, now the country faces a political farce that calls itself constitutional, and that claims it wants to return the country to constitutional government – by eliminating the very representative government set up by those forefathers who freed us from domination by authoritarians. The power of the vote having been exercised, and a party put in power legitimately, have become the objects of a vocal and totally ignorant uprising from the right wing. Call it hate politics, call it teabagging, call it corporate warfare against social support programs: it is a rejection of democracy.
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/62893
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