The question is this. Is the Constitution of the United States, as written, still relevant at all times and in all situations, or is it a tool of convenience to be used only in those cases in which it meets our individual agendas and needs?
I would assume that most rational and informed Americans would reply that it is the former; for the corollary to this question then is, if the Constitution is not relevant at all times and in all situations, then why have it at all? For all the differences and disagreements that are inherent in a democracy, what instead would form the basis of our laws and a refuge from tyranny? And if the Constitution is open to interpretation by government, have we not then become a nation under men instead of a nation under law, subservient to the whims of men who we may or may not agree with? How else can we retain our right to dissent, or freedom to speak, or our freedom to worship as we choose?
No doubt there are some in our country who would willingly do away with the Constitution entirely, as if it were some outmoded relic of eighteenth century thought and culture. However, they have not offered their alternative, either out of negligence or out of malice. Fortunately, the number of people who think this way are relatively few, and do not at this time present a clear and present danger.
Even more dangerous today, however, is the apparent willingness of most Americans at all levels and of every stripe and color to ignore the Constitution, as if there were safety in numbers in doing so, because not to ignore it would be uncomfortable and inconvenient. Such is the case with the current question, now before the U.S. Supreme Court, regarding Barack Obama’s legal eligibility under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution to serve as President of the United States. It says:
No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.
This is ironic in light of the fact that the Left for decades has been citing the Constitution as a reason to strike down man-made laws, pretty much every bloody day, and succeeding in court.
Now it appears that the Left doesn't want to even contenance the Constitution now that there are serious, totally-legitimate, crucial questions as to their Dear Leader Barack Hussein Obama's Constitutional eligibility to be President.
Fascinating, isn't it? All of a sudden, the Left, and even a shocking proportion of the Right and the Independents, not to mention pretty much all of the mainstream media, refuse to even think about the Constitution right now in the context of Mr. Obama's legitimacy in being elected President, whether his election must, due to the Constitution, be nullified and voided or certified.
There is, however, a significant number of Americans and folks in other countries, including Yours Truly, who are disturbed and concerned as to the ramifications of ignorance of the Constitution of the United States and the dangerous precedent such ignorance will set should Mr. Obama be permitted to rule over America without concerned Americans having been satisfied that his election is Constitutional.
Ok, let's consider the ramifications of the precedent such a situation will set in motion.
They will be, to say the least, potentially extremely dangerous, and to make an ironclad prediction, they will see all sorts of abuses by the State and the People being commited, aided by the argument that the Constitution is irrelevant because most folks no longer care about it, seeing as they didn't care that President Obama's election's Constitutionality wasn't verified.
What sorts of abuses? Easy. We can take away all kinds of rights, violate all kinds of rights, the State can do anything it wants, in violation of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We can conduct racial profiling, can conduct wiretaps at will, make arrests without warrants and without the reading of Miranda Rights to arrestees. We can ignore rules of evidence in court cases. We can persecute people for speaking out of turn and "offending" someone or for simply saying something politically incorrect.
The list of abuses by the State against the People will be infinite. Judges will no longer be bound by the Constitution in their decisions. Politicians can legislate and make executive orders without considering the Constitution/Bill of Rights and these laws will be invulnerable to Constitutional challenge. The police can do whatever they want, can arrest, beat, taser, invade the homes of, anyone at all, at will, without consequence. The military can summarily execute illegal combatants and prisoners of war and can carry out "torture" to extract valuable information from enemies.
You name it; it's all possible, oh, yes... if Barack Hussein Obama is permitted to be President without proving his Constitutional eligibility to be President. He claims he has, but we KNOW he has NOT. And the demands are not "garbage" (What an asshole to so arrogantly deem that he doesn't need to prove he's Constitutionally eligible to be President! Imagine what the Left would say about John McCain if he failed to prove his own eligibility when demanded and called the demands "garbage"! Imagine the deadly riots all over America by radical Leftists, riots that would make the post-Rodney King verdict riots look like a regular afternoon in Teletubbyland!).
Imagine a future in which a Leftist President (Obama is Leftist) acts like Hitler or a similar monster and commits a holocaust against Jews, Christians, Falun Gong, Mormons, conservatives, straights, political opponents, dissidents, etc.
Imagine a future in which a George Bush can do whatever he wants, including banning "gay" marriage for once and for all and guaranteeing religious rights to discriminate, according to their faith's requirements, against "gays". Imagine a future in which illegal immigrants and suspected spies and terrorists are simply incarcerated at will and deported at whim. Imagine a future in which all Muslims and Arabs will be forbidden to fly.
Shouldn't this scare the hell out of "progressives" who, all of a sudden, no longer think the Constitution matters at all anymore? Aren't they concerned that they just might be granting a future right-wing President unlimited power notwithstanding the probably-soon-to-become-inconvenient, irrelevant Constitution? Or is scrapping the Constitution, in their warped, mentally-disordered, delusional view, "progressive"?
Worst of all... imagine, in the near future, Obama declaring that there are to be no more elections, that he will be President for Life and forever dictate howsoever he deems...
Is it all that ludicrous?
No. Just look at what's already going on as we speak. Judges don't care about the Constitution all of a sudden and are making up any excuse for dismissing lawsuits by American citizens to have that man, Obama, prove he is Constitutionally allowed to be President.
