Subject: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.2128/pub_detai...
December 29, 2008
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
John Armor
The end of the year is traditionally a time of appraising the last year, and
Estimating what the next will bring. I'll skip my personal history
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and my estimates for my family. Instead, the subject is what I have done for
almost 40 years.
I've spent those years primarily in researching, writing, teaching
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.2128/pub_detai...
and practicing constitutional law. At this time, I conclude that the
Constitution is in serious trouble.
The idea of creating a democratic republic was extremely rare in 1776, when
the intent was stated in the Declaration - as in 1787, when the Constitution
was written. The irony is that our nation under that document has prospered
mightily, and has survived longer than any other government under any other
written constitution in the history of the world.
This success is understood even by barely literate peasants in Third World
nations, who risk their lives to enter the U.S. illegally. It is the
opposite of most of the world's nations, where beleaguered peasants risk
their lives to escape theirown nations.
And yet, and yet....
In the teeth of this success, an operative majority of Americans are now
engaged in the death of the Constitution, some intending its murder, many
more just acquiescing in its suicide.
The far left, some of whom have nested at places like MoveOn.org and the
Daily Kos - not to mention the old standbys, the Communist Party, the
Socialist Workers, the "Progressives" - want the American government to
fall, It should be replaced by a "better" government.
Of course, the better government these political fools prefer has been tried
repeatedly. It has failed repeatedly, at the cost of more than a hundred
million lives. These hard-core enemies are few, and would have no chance of
success without the willing help of those participating in the suicide of
the Constitution.
Read the website of the National Education
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(?) Association and you will see that the Constitution as a law to be
understood and respected is dead as a matter of knowledge in the next
Generation of public school
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Students. Read the catalogs of most universities
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And sadly, of most law schools
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You will see that the Constitution is dying there, too,
Most law schools
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are breeding lawyers, some of whom ultimately become judges, who think the
Constitution is whatever the judges say it is, no more, no less. When you
have judges who believe such perfidy, and citizens who don't know any
better, the Constitution's days are numbered.
Thomas Jefferson, among other Founders, understood that America could only
survive if her citizens were educated. Included in that was an understanding
of what it meant to have limited government, and federalism which scattered
both decisions and responsibility among all the states and local
governments, now 50 states and about 250,000 local governments.
But the natural tendency of all governments is to accumulate power at the
center. When the Constitution fails of its most basic purpose, to define and
limit the power of the national government, then the United States will
become no better than the majority of the governments in the United Nations,
which are dictatorships of one description or another.
Will the Constitution be thrown away entirely? I don't think so. The
five-page parchment document will remain preserved in the National Archives.
Four pages will be on daily display for citizens who still think it matters.
The fifth page is displayed just on September 17th.
The Constitution will still be referred to as a talisman, like the Blarney
Stone. But it will be an empty husk, with its vital purposes removed.
It is not too late for education concerning the Constitution to be turned
around. The history and purposes for which it was written are easily stated,
and easily understood between any competent teacher and competent student.
Still at this year-end assessment, I am pessimistic. I don't think the
Constitution will survive as anything other than a failed symbol beyond the
end of my life. At least I'm doing what I can to avoid that. My latest book
is not about Tom Paine, as intended. It's about the fate of the
Constitution.
The title is America's Owner's Manual. Details are here
http://www.americasownersmanual.com/ .
I am, in the words of John the Baptist, "a voice crying out in the
wilderness." Whether it is, or isn't, enough, it is a task which must be
done.
FamilySecurityMatters.org
http://familysecuritymatters.org/ Contributing
Editor John Armor practiced in the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years. He is
counsel to the American Civil Rights Union
http://www.theacru.org/ .
* * * * * * *
"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be
properly armed."
-- Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist Papers at 184-188