How is it respect for the US Constitution to ignore most of it?

”If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.”
James Madison

We have been warned so many times in the past by the greatest minds. Still we cannot see what is on our doorstep.

Please people, call or write your Senator and try to stop this madness before it’s too late. I don’t want my child, or my grandchildren, to hate me because I pissed away their freedom, trading it for another episode of Family Guy.

This is America. We don’t do common sense anymore.

I think that Richard Linklater put it in to perspective for me. Whenever I get weepy and nostalgic about our country’s founding fathers and collection of 237 year old paper pages I just think . . .

Okay guys, one more thing, this summer when you’re being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don’t forget what you’re celebrating, and that’s the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn’t want to pay their taxes.

What chance does a 237 year old collection of paper pages stand when such formidable modern-day forces are arrayed against it?

Not much. If the electorate doesn’t really care about it (see @Blondesjon above) how can you expect the people they elect to care about it.
Next time you are at a party, ask people what the 10th Amendment is. I do it when I am tired of being in a good mood.

But it is for sure that both parties are inclined to ignore it if it gives them a chance to attract a few more votes, or accumulate a little more power. Shame on “us” for electing them, but double shame on them-they take an oath to preserve and protect it.

So given that, not much.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies I like that you answered without declaring all is lost, or that there is no problem. I salute and share in your belief that it’s not to late to right this wrong.

@Kairi If we keep dumbing down the educational system, it will only get worse. Look to who’s supporting that effort.

@Blondesjon So the answer is to abandon constitutional law? What’s your point?

@josie As always, I am not willing to accept the easy answer that nothing can be done about it.

I actually thought this was a good question until the last two paragraphs. We either need to uphold the constitution or change or ignore it, when it’s convenient. Separation of powers is almost nonexistant. Limitation of federal power is all but gone. Supreme Court decisions have become arbutrary and capricious. We view everything through the lens of our ideology. When the Framers wrote the fourth amendment, they didn’t do it to protect criminals, it is a wall to protect against a police state. It seems the fourth amendment has become not a wall but a speedbump.

One of the big issues surrounding any presidential election is the ability to appoint Supreme court judges. If you control the court, you control the constitution and our future. Justices are appointed for life which gives them longevity well past any president or even congress. And through the pratice of ‘precedent’ their rulings live on in perpetuity.

You can make all this a left or right issue but in doing so, you only change the flavor of tyranny, not the fact.

@Jaxk Well yeah, you would think this was a good question as long as only Obama was at fault. But you and I both seem to think that actually upholding the Constitution would be the best solution. If the two of us, as far apart as we are on the political spectrum, both agree on that, why can’t we get it done?

It’s pretty simple, we can’t fix it because we spend all our time fighting each other instead of the problem. It’s not a matter of what is wrong but rather who’s to blame. You want to blame Bush for the patriot act, fine I have no problem with that. I will blame Obama for reauthorizing and expanding it, fine. Now we have both parties to blame and no fix. We allow small incremental abuses to the constitution and justify them with good intentions. The problem is, a dictatorship can do some really good things and do them quickly. Unfortunaly, it never works that way.

Republicans and Democrats may hate each other but they need to work together to get anything done. That won’t happen as long as we are calling each other names at every opportunity.And to make that worse, the disagreement is not on how much power the government should have but rather how that power should be used. While congress is haggling over that, the president is transferring everything under the excutive branch. All in the name of good intentions.

@ETpro . . . My point kind of follows @Jaxk ‘s logic. All I ever see or hear is vehement, bi-partisan bickering that only tries to paint one side or the other as “the bad guy”. Democrats/Republicans then shove a fat load of fear in our faces as to what the horrible outcome in our lives is going to be no matter what ideological side we fall on.

This sacred 237 year old document was meant to change as the country did and it hasn’t. Since I am not a wealthy man, my voice will never be heard and I will never be able to do anything about it. This seems disheartening at first until you realize that nothing is really changing. It’s the same old bullshit that people in power have been spewing since we all climbed down from the trees.

You can scream and holler about the Patriot Act all you want but do any of you personally know someone who has been fucked over by this? Has anyone here themselves been personally fucked over by this? I haven’t and my life has not changed one bit. This seems to be the case with a lot of laws that cause an uproar. I hear the arguing and the doom bells ringing but I still get up every morning, go to work, and come back home unscathed.

Now if they started talking about bringing back prohibition I might change my tune.

@Blondesjon I see your point. I did no name calling. I excoriated the Obama administration before I even mentioned the Republicans, yet @Jaxk claims I want to blame Bush. He can’t even read past his ideology. Goodbye, America. You were a great nation for a while.