Restoring the Lost Constitution

The words of the Constitution … are so unrestricted by their intrinsic meaning or by their history or by tradition or by prior decisions that they leave the individual Justice free, if indeed they do not compel him, to gather meaning not from reading the Constitution but from reading life. —Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court Justice Originally Posted by TexTushHog

Horseshit. That's just an excuse for Supreme Court judges to do whatever they want. The problem is not that the Constitution is too vague. SCOTUS makes rulings that are clearly contrary to original intent. Ruling according to original intent is the only legitimate way to rule. Everything else is just writing law from the bench.

I will use this as my signature. I hope people will read it everytime I post and keep it in their memory... Originally Posted by IIFFOFRDB

I used it as my signature for a while. I think it sums up our current situation perfectly. It was supposedly written by Scottish historian Alexander Tytler.

The founders knew that a pure democracy could not work. That's why they created a constitutional republic that would limit the size and scope of the federal government.

Our current bankrupt condition is due to corrupt politicians violating their oaths of office to support and defend the Constitution; instead, they've looted the treasury to buy votes.

I don't believe its over yet. There may be a collapse (and that is looking more and more certain) but I think the country will rise again and with the same Constitution. If the left got absolute power they would trip all over each other trying to advance each individual agenda. The patriot right has the framework of the Constitution, a goal, an ideal to strive for which the left does not have. Originally Posted by JD Barleycorn

I hope you're right. Maybe we will rise from the ashes. Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. If America does have a Renaissance I doubt many of us will live to see it.

Joe, original intent is irrelevant. That's the point.

Joe, original intent is irrelevant. That's the point. Originally Posted by TexTushHog

What good is having a Constitution if the original intent of the words doesn't matter? Original intent is the only thing that is relevant.

Anyone else think that the title of this thread reminds them of an Indiana Jones movie or something that Nicolas Cage would be in?

Joe, original intent is irrelevant. That's the point. Originally Posted by TexTushHog

Then the Constitution is meaningless. It means nothing, and protects nothing.

But that's what you liberals want, isn't it?

Then the Constitution is meaningless. It means nothing, and protects nothing.

But that's what you liberals want, isn't it? Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

To say that original intent is irrelevant is astonishing. It's through the looking glass. I would say it's surreal except that dreams aren't that weird. I think Kafkaesque is the best word to describe a liberal's view of the Constitution and their whole mentality.

We're all living in a version of "The Metamorphosis" where we wake up one morning to discover that we have a cockroach for president.

People like TTH don't understand that the Constitution is a foundation. They want to treat it like a tablecloth, or coaster. How's this for an oath?

I promise to preserve, protect and defend whatever the majority party or prevailing winds of opinion think the Constitution of the United States means at any given moment.

Loses a little something, doesn't it?

Anyone else think that the title of this thread reminds them of an Indiana Jones movie or something that Nicolas Cage would be in? Originally Posted by jbravo_123

definitely a Nicolas Cage movie.... the guy will do anything

Joe, original intent is irrelevant. That's the point. Originally Posted by TexTushHog

"The constitution is not to be subject to such fluctuations. It is to have a fixed, uniform, permanent construction. It should be, so far at least as human infirmity will allow, not dependent upon the passions or parties of particular times, but the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Justice Joseph Story

Even carpenters who don't have your highfalutin legal degree know to use a rule that doesn't stretch or shrink, TTH. Without a rule that remains constant, there is no way to instill trust that the next measure will be right and true.

Then the Constitution is meaningless. It means nothing, and protects nothing.

But that's what you liberals want, isn't it? Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Exactly - and they have it. Hence, we have to give up the fight for what Thurgood Marshall called "a flawed document" because it is dead for any conservative purposes.

"The constitution is not to be subject to such fluctuations. It is to have a fixed, uniform, permanent construction. It should be, so far at least as human infirmity will allow, not dependent upon the passions or parties of particular times, but the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." Justice Joseph Story

Even carpenters who don't have your highfalutin legal degree know to use a rule that doesn't stretch or shrink, TTH. Without a rule that remains constant, there is no way to instill trust that the next measure will be right and true. Originally Posted by I B Hankering

+1

Brilliant analogy, IB!

"Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. When the people give way, their deceivers, betrayers, and destroyers press upon them so fast, that there is no resisting afterwards. The nature of the encroachment upon the American constitution is such, as to grow every day more and more encroaching. Like a cancer, it eats faster and faster every hour. The revenue creates pensioners, and the pensioners urge for more revenue. The people grow less steady, spirited, and virtuous, the seekers more numerous and more corrupt, and every day increases the circles of their dependents and expectants, until virtue, integrity, public spirit, simplicity, and frugality, become the objects of ridicule and scorn, and vanity, luxury, foppery, selfishness, meanness, and downright venality swallow up the whole society. "


-- John Adams, Novanglus Letters, 1774

"Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people. When the people give way, their deceivers, betrayers, and destroyers press upon them so fast, that there is no resisting afterwards. The nature of the encroachment upon the American constitution is such, as to grow every day more and more encroaching. Like a cancer, it eats faster and faster every hour. The revenue creates pensioners, and the pensioners urge for more revenue. The people grow less steady, spirited, and virtuous, the seekers more numerous and more corrupt, and every day increases the circles of their dependents and expectants, until virtue, integrity, public spirit, simplicity, and frugality, become the objects of ridicule and scorn, and vanity, luxury, foppery, selfishness, meanness, and downright venality swallow up the whole society. "


-- John Adams, Novanglus Letters, 1774 Originally Posted by CuteOldGuy

Yes, he was right - the liberals won - for now.
What is amazing about liberals is that many of them are good hearted, hard working, and believe they are helping the percentage of the takers who are perfectly capable of working but are lazy ass swine who sit on their asses getting free shit from the government,