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The Constitution is Dead

by Claude Bohn

          To all of you libertarians and “constitutionalists” out there, here’s a newsflash: The Constitution is DEAD! Get over it. PLEASE!!!! For heaven's sake! Please stop talking about “the constitution”!  - as IF there WERE a constitution. I assure you, there is NOT! Oh! Admittedly, there IS a document whose title reads: "The Constitution for the United States of America," but it hasn't been observed for quite some time now and has long since died from lack of use. And, if not entirely dead, it is at least severely moribund. Presently, and strictly speaking, we are simply playing a game without a rulebook!

          Think of any common sporting event, and try to imagine the clamor that would ensue among the "fans" should the competing "teams" or the "officials" ignore the clear and unambiguous directions for play contained in the rulebook for that particular sport.

          Yet the "rulebook" for government - the Constitution - is ignored and violated on a daily basis with barely a peep, by the “fans” and officials of both “teams” – Democrat AND Republican; and the few “purists” or oddballs (i.e. – libertarians and/or “constitutionalists”) who dare to point out the clear violations of THIS rule book are denigrated and dismissed (by “fan” and officials alike) as "extremists;" they become social outcast and anomalies. As historian Charles A. Beard once said: “It is sobering to reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.” And in no instance is one considered more dangerous than when speaking of "the Constitution."

          As in the case of the Fugitive Slave laws, the Constitution has been effectively “nullified” through disregard, disuse, and abuse. So, let’s have no more talk of the constitution - eh? After all, it was, and IS, only words on paper. Like any “rulebook,” it is only “alive” and effective IF the people involved in “the game” know the rules and insist that they be adhered to; and, CLEARLY, such is not the case regarding the Constitution, where only a very small minority, whether mere “fan” or “official,” have ever even read that document to begin with, let alone understand it.

So, let us no longer speak of our “Constitution;” today we are all part of a great “democracy” where “the Law” - the rulebook - is rewritten daily by the manipulation of the opinions of the “democratic majority”! Let us speak no more of property rights, or individual rights.  There are none. We have as a nation long ago accepted a philosophy which is antithetical to both and to continue to delude ourselves that such is not the case while we daily lend sanction to the seizure of private property and the violation of individual rights in the name of the “general welfare” or the “common good” seems the height of foolishness and hypocrisy!

Constitution? In the words of ABC correspondent, John Stossel: “Give me a break!”