Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Our Founders

I got an email today that has stuck in my brain enough write this post. 

In the text of the email the writer attempted to give me a lecture on the Constitution and the principle of representative government.  This writer went so far as to hint that my understanding of the Constitution was incorrect. In the text of the email they made mention that administrations in the passed have misused or negated the Constitution.  I have two points with this statement: 1) The Constitution was written in a way that it was left open for interpretations, the likes of which change with Presidents, Congress and Supreme Courts. 2) If were are perpetually looking backwards at the actions taken by previous administrations, we are going to lose focus on a) the current administration and b) the future administrations.  I will address each of these in as concise a way as possible

1) The Constitution was written in a way that it was left open for interpretations, the likes of which change with Presidents, Congress and Supreme Courts.  Many people fail to consider the magnitude of the Constitution (or any other document for that matter) when they critic the decisions of elected officials. The brilliant men that wrote the Constitution wrote in a way that left the document open for interpretations, and changes for that matter.  We have made 27 changes to the Constitution for that matter, and when it comes to interpretations there are many.  While the writer of this email passes judgment (using his understanding of the Constitution) on the actions taken by a President (whom I am sure knows the Constitution), they are forgetting that the President takes those actions based on his interpretation.  It is all a matter of interpretation, which I think is what the writer has forgotten and in doing so forgotten the original intent of the documen. When such assumptions are made by supposed experts it shows the lack of respect and basic understanding of the Constitution that people who make such judgments tend to pride themselves on..too snarky?

2) If were are perpetually looking backwards at the actions taken by previous administrations, we are going to lose focus on a) the current administration and b) the future administrations. I am not sure if I like the way this is worded but I am going to run with it.  The writer made a reference to what the framers of the Constitution intended, thus why I worded it as I did.  I can (for the sake of argument) take out the interpretation part, and focus on the founders for this second part. If we constantly look back to what the framers of the Constitution meant to say, then we are going to miss a freight train of problems that we in the modern world face.  Issues like domestic spying, tele-communications and dare I say slavery were not in the forefront of the framers minds when they were writing the document.  If we are going to tie ourselves to the framers then we are going to sink under the weight of that anchor. Issues never thought of are now common place in today's landscape, and those in power must make the most informed decision presently using a document that is over 200 years old. 

This is my response to the first sub point, and segways into my response to the second sub point which is the future.  Presidents, Legislatures and Supreme Court Justices have to consider the future when taking actions, not just the present.  Presidents have long taken action that went against the Constitution or as the very least the common understandings.  Lincoln suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus during the Civil War,  Andrew Johnson failed to fire Seward using the Constitution, Kennedy and LBJ violated Constitutional rights during the Vietnam conflict, Andrew Jackson violated untold numbers of Native American's Constitutional rights under the Indian Removal Acts. My understanding of each of the situations is that these Presidents did so under the notion that if they did not take those measures, there would be few pieces to pick up.  There are times, and I think those that sit in power understand this, when you have dirty your hands in order to keep your arms clean. Better put, you have to crack eggs to make omelets.

For the sake of length I am not going to go into the comments about representative government with this post, but I must say that telling someone how bad something is, really does not help fix the problem.  This was best summed up by a fellow teacher just today at lunch "What tea party person can rightfully run for office, when they have spent so much time putting that office down?"