The Constitution
Recent events have caused me to think about what I have studied about the constitution over the years. As I have said I have a degree in policy studies/economic policy. This includes our laws and international law, environmental law etc. . Policy studies is what used to be called Political science in days gone by.
Am I an expert in constitutional law?, no. But I think I have a working knowledge of how it works. The document is amazing really, the foundation of all things american. The document is quite small, including the amendments to it. The reason for it was to form a government like no other in the world after rejecting the english form of government. Then we would have a new country governed by the people for the people! I believe it was written so future generations could interpret it for their needs. The constitution has a system of checks and balances, or the government does, there for there is congress and senate, along with the presidential branch. All of this was designed to prevent the abuse of power, and the overseerers of the constitution is the Supreme Court, the judicial branch.
The supreme court doesn't make laws, it interprets the constitutionality of the laws we have, pretty much attempting to make sure our rights haven't been trampled on.
At first blush it all looks so simple and well defined. If you have never read the contitution go read it. You can get a pocket sized one easily. As I have said it is the bedrock of our country, so much so it is very hard to get amendments to it . As well it should be that way.
The framers of the constitution, knew they could not come up with a document to cover every possible situtation the country could face, nor define laws that that were fair forever, so these far seeing people allowed it to be open to interpretation.
The states are given power, and the federal government given power and we are given power so to speak.
Even at the time of the revolution there were those that wanted to stay controlled by england, and there were conservatives and liberals. Yet in the end, they were able to come up with a document that satisfied a majority.
I don't need to tell anyone the impacts of the legal system in the last 200 years. We often read about legal and constitutional issues. Sometimes we read about abuses of power and or attempts at abuse, whether in state government or federal government.
So now we know the states have laws somewhat governed by the federal government. And we are governed by both. The legal system is quite complicated as you can see daily.
I have heard perhaps thousands of times people talking or arguing the constitution and laws. I have seen people even bring a copy of the constitution and say, this is where it says this and that. Well, generally it may say what they say it said, so to speak.
How do you think the constitution is interpreted? Do the justices open their little copy of it and say" yup, it says it right here, case closed?". As Wilson on tool time says" no no no Tim". First of all, there are thousands of past decisions by this high court on constitutional issues they look at. There are also books written by some of the founding fathers who may also have become future presidents. Then there are papers written by the founding fathers and other thinkers and indeed just people. As there wasn't a postal sevice at the time, these "letters" were posted in most of the communities for people to read and debate about. The papers contained statements, ideas, wishes, arguments and even criticisms. and were posted in communal areas in the communities. I'm sure there are also letters that passed from each other.
So you see, the supreme court interprets also from the "intent" of the framers of the constitution.
Now given that there are conservatives and liberals, some past decisions may be overturned even by the court, such as an opinion be a conservative to a more liberal opinion by a current more liberal justice.
Hence, it takes time for the justices to study a case, and all the information available to them, and to reach a decision in a certain majority, to be upheld or rejected.
So now, we live in a time when the constitution is put to the test in no small measure. Complicated to be sure. My opinion is but one in millions I'm sure. I'm not even sure if it is an opinion, or questions. After 9/11 it seems that congress came up with an act to keep us more secure(national security). Giving the prez and other agencies power to do things. I can't help but ask if they had a right to do that. And now we have people in power willing to run like hell with that ball.
One of my professors in economics used to say "there is no such thing as a free lunch", in otherwords there is some kind of price paid for whatever. I think that is true!
I think we may have over reacted on the home front, after 9/11, the "hue and cry" across our country was security. We felt threatened, as well we should, rare is the occaision that we are attacked on our own soil. But there is a price to be paid! What are we willing to give up to feel secure, and when is enough, enough? In economics there is a thing called diminishing returns, in otherwords, to make one or more something, costs more to do than the benifit to make it. As an example, are we willing to give up much of our freedom for the next level of security, or appearance of security?
I consider myself a patriot, I uncover(take my hat off) when a US flag passes in a parade, I take my hat off in public buildings, I support our troops, I cried and was very angry on 9/11, to this day I wear hats from New York, FDNY, and NYPD, to honor those fallen. I was in the military and also in law enforcement. To me, even the symbals of our country are sacred, as well as those who serve us, and those that have died in serving us. To me we have the greatest country in the world, and still do.
Now we have Dubya and congress threatening the foundations of our country, for a security they say we want. Yes I want to stop attacks or prevent them, but at what price? I have seen many abuses of power, J. Edgar come to mind amassing information on thousands of americans deemed dissidents or some such things. Ol' slippery Dick is another example.
It seems to me we have and had a system of intelligence that has always worked, maybe it doesn't now, it seems they are not what they used to be. Just look at the billions we spend on intelligence, by the billion or so agencies gathering it.
Now we have the "great decider" telling us and doing what he "decides" we want and need. Hell he doesn't need a court that was designed to stop abuse, telling him what to do. Hell he has even decided that we don't need to talk with, or negotiate with countries we think are doing something wrong. After all he is the prez, and he is Dubya, they do what he says or else.
Maybe he should focus our money, and time on getting the intelligence system working again the way it should be. We can't even guarantee the security for the Iraqi people in their small country and can't stop the influx of insurgents into the country. We have satellites that can watch a sand flea scratch himself in the dead of night in a desert, but we can't find the little bearded turd Binladen living like a rat somewhere.
Well I'd better stop rambling for now and do what I do best, heckle Shutterwi!
Am I an expert in constitutional law?, no. But I think I have a working knowledge of how it works. The document is amazing really, the foundation of all things american. The document is quite small, including the amendments to it. The reason for it was to form a government like no other in the world after rejecting the english form of government. Then we would have a new country governed by the people for the people! I believe it was written so future generations could interpret it for their needs. The constitution has a system of checks and balances, or the government does, there for there is congress and senate, along with the presidential branch. All of this was designed to prevent the abuse of power, and the overseerers of the constitution is the Supreme Court, the judicial branch.
The supreme court doesn't make laws, it interprets the constitutionality of the laws we have, pretty much attempting to make sure our rights haven't been trampled on.
At first blush it all looks so simple and well defined. If you have never read the contitution go read it. You can get a pocket sized one easily. As I have said it is the bedrock of our country, so much so it is very hard to get amendments to it . As well it should be that way.
The framers of the constitution, knew they could not come up with a document to cover every possible situtation the country could face, nor define laws that that were fair forever, so these far seeing people allowed it to be open to interpretation.
The states are given power, and the federal government given power and we are given power so to speak.
Even at the time of the revolution there were those that wanted to stay controlled by england, and there were conservatives and liberals. Yet in the end, they were able to come up with a document that satisfied a majority.
I don't need to tell anyone the impacts of the legal system in the last 200 years. We often read about legal and constitutional issues. Sometimes we read about abuses of power and or attempts at abuse, whether in state government or federal government.
So now we know the states have laws somewhat governed by the federal government. And we are governed by both. The legal system is quite complicated as you can see daily.
I have heard perhaps thousands of times people talking or arguing the constitution and laws. I have seen people even bring a copy of the constitution and say, this is where it says this and that. Well, generally it may say what they say it said, so to speak.
How do you think the constitution is interpreted? Do the justices open their little copy of it and say" yup, it says it right here, case closed?". As Wilson on tool time says" no no no Tim". First of all, there are thousands of past decisions by this high court on constitutional issues they look at. There are also books written by some of the founding fathers who may also have become future presidents. Then there are papers written by the founding fathers and other thinkers and indeed just people. As there wasn't a postal sevice at the time, these "letters" were posted in most of the communities for people to read and debate about. The papers contained statements, ideas, wishes, arguments and even criticisms. and were posted in communal areas in the communities. I'm sure there are also letters that passed from each other.
So you see, the supreme court interprets also from the "intent" of the framers of the constitution.
Now given that there are conservatives and liberals, some past decisions may be overturned even by the court, such as an opinion be a conservative to a more liberal opinion by a current more liberal justice.
Hence, it takes time for the justices to study a case, and all the information available to them, and to reach a decision in a certain majority, to be upheld or rejected.
So now, we live in a time when the constitution is put to the test in no small measure. Complicated to be sure. My opinion is but one in millions I'm sure. I'm not even sure if it is an opinion, or questions. After 9/11 it seems that congress came up with an act to keep us more secure(national security). Giving the prez and other agencies power to do things. I can't help but ask if they had a right to do that. And now we have people in power willing to run like hell with that ball.
One of my professors in economics used to say "there is no such thing as a free lunch", in otherwords there is some kind of price paid for whatever. I think that is true!
I think we may have over reacted on the home front, after 9/11, the "hue and cry" across our country was security. We felt threatened, as well we should, rare is the occaision that we are attacked on our own soil. But there is a price to be paid! What are we willing to give up to feel secure, and when is enough, enough? In economics there is a thing called diminishing returns, in otherwords, to make one or more something, costs more to do than the benifit to make it. As an example, are we willing to give up much of our freedom for the next level of security, or appearance of security?
I consider myself a patriot, I uncover(take my hat off) when a US flag passes in a parade, I take my hat off in public buildings, I support our troops, I cried and was very angry on 9/11, to this day I wear hats from New York, FDNY, and NYPD, to honor those fallen. I was in the military and also in law enforcement. To me, even the symbals of our country are sacred, as well as those who serve us, and those that have died in serving us. To me we have the greatest country in the world, and still do.
Now we have Dubya and congress threatening the foundations of our country, for a security they say we want. Yes I want to stop attacks or prevent them, but at what price? I have seen many abuses of power, J. Edgar come to mind amassing information on thousands of americans deemed dissidents or some such things. Ol' slippery Dick is another example.
It seems to me we have and had a system of intelligence that has always worked, maybe it doesn't now, it seems they are not what they used to be. Just look at the billions we spend on intelligence, by the billion or so agencies gathering it.
Now we have the "great decider" telling us and doing what he "decides" we want and need. Hell he doesn't need a court that was designed to stop abuse, telling him what to do. Hell he has even decided that we don't need to talk with, or negotiate with countries we think are doing something wrong. After all he is the prez, and he is Dubya, they do what he says or else.
Maybe he should focus our money, and time on getting the intelligence system working again the way it should be. We can't even guarantee the security for the Iraqi people in their small country and can't stop the influx of insurgents into the country. We have satellites that can watch a sand flea scratch himself in the dead of night in a desert, but we can't find the little bearded turd Binladen living like a rat somewhere.
Well I'd better stop rambling for now and do what I do best, heckle Shutterwi!
posted by Reflections at 4:28 AM
1 Comments:
Great post.
My two cents worth is to let those who have not served in the military know that all service men and women take an oath
"to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic"
It's the Constitution folks that servicemen are defending.
Not Bush$Co. Not congress. Not the flag. Not any of thousands of other things they would have you believe.
The Constitution period!
Enough serious stuff back to RWi.
Interesting RWi so all this intellectual stuff was bouncing around in that head during all of the quite times we spent gazing into a fire. Cool!
Was it competing with keeping secrets about juggers?
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