Do You Really Want Constitutional Government?

By Selwyn Duke

There is a simple reason why we don’t have constitutional government: By and large, most Americans don’t want it. In fact, most don’t even know what it would entail.

This is true even of most people who preach adherence to the Constitution.

Just recently I lunched with a fellow commentator, an extremely nice man (he really is) who is part of the conservative blogosphere. As you might imagine, politics, religion and philosophy were the stuff of our conversation, and we found ourselves largely in agreement until….

That is, until the issue of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) somehow arose and my amiable colleague started singing its praises.

This prompted me to aver that, good idea or not, the act is unconstitutional. My lunch mate didn’t deny this — but nor did he accept it. Instead, he provided a few reasons why he believed it was necessary, despite my pointing out that constitutionalism is not a pick-and-choose proposition.

Read the rest here.

Comments

[Robert Berger]

The problem with what you're saying,Selwyn, is that any one can use the Constitution as an excuse for making this or that legal or illegal, or saying that something which is an established government practice is unconstitutional.
You don't like something? Don't want others to do it,and think it should be illegal, you just conveniently use the Constitution as an excuse to advocate the government making it illegal. But that's NOT whaty the Constitution was designed for.
The Constitution doesn't even say whether we may hold a barbecue or not.Suppose there was a group of religious wackos who got it into their muddled heads that barbecues are an abomination, and the Lord will punish any one for holding one. So they go around the country protesting at barbecues,holding up signs saying "God hates barbecues,and those who go to them!", and if you go to a barbecue,you'll be barbecued in hell for eternity!"
Theoretically ,they could try to influence the U.S. government to make barbecues illegal, and arrest,imprison, and possibly execute any one who held or atended a barbecue. Sound far fetched? Maybe, but this just shows you how Americans are always using the Constitution as an excuse to justify their own prejudices.
Most of the founding fathers enjoyed imbibing alcoholic beverages in moderation.No doubt they would have been appalled at the ridiculousness and unfairness of Prohibition. What good did that do America? Zilch.
America needs to become more "moral". But what should we do to become that? Make anything you disapprove of illegal, Selwyn? And what's moral; anyway?Not every one agrees on this.

[red state blues]

We already have a group of people who think any barbecued flesh is evil; They're called vegans. As for the rest of your rant, I think part of Selwyn's focus on the constitution has to do with what our government can compel us to do on behalf of some other group, be they radical Muslims who'll brook no criticism of Islam, disabled who need expensive modifications in order to have the right to be employed by someone or homosexuals who want 5 year olds indoctrinated not to think of fundamental family unit as the married male and female who, through the miracle of heterosexual sex, create children.

I've often noted that my legal duties toward my fellow citizens are few: Call 911 if I observe an accident or a crime. And, let's be honest, if I fail in my few duties to actively do something for my fellow Americans, it's kinda hard to prove. That the government should be more concerned with arbitrating when people have trespassed on the rights of others rather than coercing us into serving whomever can come up with the most compelling narrative of victimhood is a cornerstone of the constitution.

I'm really surprised that a rebel such as yourself isn't somewhat a strict constructionist who believes "that government governs best which governs least".

Come on, who's to say other than you who should receive your sympathy or your charity? This is YOUR morality after all...

[Robert Berger]

There are many right-wing extremists who are always calling for "freedom in America,"
yet are rabid homophobes who want to see the government "recriminalize sodomy".
They claim to want "limited " government,but they want unlimited power for the government to pry into our bedrooms and private lives. Talk about hypocrisy!
They want "freedom",yet they claim that there is no right to privacy in the Constitution, and think that the government should arrest,posecute,imprison and possibly execute homosexuals. I'm not gay myself,just outraged and horrified by such hypocritical bigots.
Others claim that the Constitution mandates that all women who are pregnant must give birth or else, even if they are too poor to provide for a child or a pregnancy would kill them or ruin their health. But if any of the founding fathers had even mentioned abortion at a meeting let alone making it illegal, the others would have though he was out of his mind !