Having sworn to defend it with force of arms...
...and at the risk of my life, I'm inclined to take the Constitution pretty seriously. It's taking a lot of abuse these days from folks who lay claim to the oxymoronic title "Constitutional conservative." I'm not sure what they're trying to conserve, but it's certainly not the Constitution.
Jonathan Bernstein, with a nod to Andrew Sullivan's construction "Faux awe before the Constitution" points out that...
...if you're only a believer in your own, clearly false, version of American history, a version designed in order to make contemporary political points, then you don't really respect the Constitution. If you only believe in One True interpretation, you don't really respect the Constitution. And one should add: if you support half a dozen or more Constitutional amendments, odds are you don't really respect the Constitution.At first glance I'd add that if you believe that the United States is a Christian nation, you don't really respect the Constitution. In fact, if you believe that, you probably haven't ever read the Constitution.
What are we missing?
Labels: Conservatism, Constitution, Hypocrisy
posted by Shaun at
8:33 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks. I just finished rereading the Constitution, something I haven't done in six months. It is amazing how such a short, concise treatise can stir so much provincial angst. I think, as you point out, it is a derivative game. Most modern interpretations of the Constitution are modeled on a specific political tenet. Where are the Constitutional Preservationists?
Nice coinage! Consider it stolen...
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