Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Constitutional Consternation

Over 200 years ago, a group of insurgents took control of a fledgling nation. These terrorists sought to block commerce, and by doing so, cripple the rulers in power. These thugs had the audacity to invade a harbor, and throw the contents of a merchant ship into the water. Who were these unlawful, unruly reprobates? Well, they were our forefathers! Yes, the very activities we find disturbing today, brought forth a new nation in their time.

The "Boston Tea Party" put the British on notice that the Patriots were "Mad as hell, and they weren't gonna take it any more"! A far cry from today's whining losers who offer the nation nothing but sour grapes over losing the last election. What could be more patriotic than what our ancestors did? They drew a line in the sand, and said "if you cross this line, your ass is grass", whereas today's "Tea-Baggers" just toss around the word "Socialist" and question the President's birth certificate. I guess a lot has changed in 200 years.

Times were different back then, the Declaration of Independence was put forth, and from that point, there was no going back. We had declared ourselves a new nation, and had Constitutional convention to form the foundation of our nation. Of course looking online at the liquor order for the event, you would have thought is was to be a bachelor party for about 500 people! We don't know how many strippers they hired, but methinks they were too drunk to have noticed them anyhow.

At any rate, the convention ended, after the constitution was signed (judging by the size of his signature, I believe John Hancock supplied the booze, and possibly the strippers), and a "Bill of Rights" was introduced.
While the Constitution itself covered the formation of government, the Amendments (bill of rights) covered stuff concerning the population at large. The Amendments to the Constitution (the bill) were written plainly and simply with no need for interpretation.

And here's where this post is going; the framers of the Constitution saw things 200+ years ago, and wrote the laws to reflect them. They were not able to see into the future, and would be scared to death if they were! The Amendments were clear cut, and precise.
Take for example the Second Amendment: " A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed". This means that the people of the nation had the right to keep arms that existed at the time the bill was written, mostly flintlocks and muskets. It certainly didn't mention AK-47's, Uzis and the like.

Thanks to many people's misreading of the bill, we now have people with more powerful weapons than law enforcement. I don't think that the signers would have appreciated their bill being taken out of context like that! The entire thing was written to be understood, and obeyed by the people of the day. There was no "wiggle room" written in, so it should be followed to the letter, in the spirit it was written.

The current Tea Party mantra misconstrues what was written years ago, twists the meanings, and uses it to strike fear in the hearts of their followers. "The government wants to take your guns away" they shriek, or "We're a Christian nation according to the First amendment"! Gradually, these untruths, and others become accepted "facts" and the whole meaning of the law is changed.

For them to call themselves "Patriots" is just crap. These people could care less about the people they purport to represent, and just want attention, and of course money. The poster child for the movement is one who craves the most attention: Sarah Palin. Given the choice between listening to, and looking at Palin, and Alfred E Neuman, Alf gets my vote every time.

So let's all follow the Constitution to the letter, and stop trying to second guess our forefathers. Ignore the pleadings of the Tea-Baggers to move the country backwards to the Bush Era, and most of all, ignore Sarah Palin! Every time I see her on television, I hear the late Dean Martin crooning one of his best songs: "That's Amore", only with different words:

Sing along, won't you?

"When the Party of Tea tells me Palin's for me, that's a moron,
Husband works for BP, they live comfortably, she's a moron"

I imagine that or forefathers agree.

1 comment:

  1. The last line should read: "I imagine that OUR forefathers would agree" Blame my keyboard on that one.....seriously!

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