Time to Say Goodbye

 

"Avoid Becoming an Act of Force and Not of Right . . ." 

A Time to Say Goodbye

This is not what I wanted to post today but it is what I thought I had to. We have so many issues to deal with in our country but I think this is one we will really need to face in the near future.

I take no pleasure in this post. I spent 28 years in the military ostensibly defending the Constitution and being proud of that, I gotta say this is really uncomfortable.

We, the Supreme Court, beg to differ

That being said, I’m sorry old friend, but it’s finally time to say goodbye. You’ve been around for centuries yet it seems like just yesterday that our best and brightest sat down in a hot, stuffy building in Philadelphia and glued you together from a bunch of mismatched pieces. You have been through wars, depressions, good times and bad. You helped as we went from a small backwater country to the most powerful nation in the world. Your genius was in being almost a gymnast in your flexibility as we’ve molded you over the years to allow our country to move forward into a modern world.

Look, it's not all your fault. Some of your flaws, like not seeing that politicians would stay in office for forty years; the “unique” phraseology of the 2^nd amendment; that the elector’s system would become a political poison pill, were unpredictable over two hundred years ago. The Founding Fathers were not clairvoyant and we have made it work - until now.

Yes, we made it work but finally your stubborn vernacular and vague descriptions have met their match with something called “textualism.” I don’t really understand it either but apparently there are people who claim to know exactly what you meant when you were written 236 years ago. And yes, it’s just their opinion but there you have it. I’m sorry, but now you have to go. 

Ever since John Marshall cleverly used your own words to give the Supreme Court the power to interpret you, boy, have you been interpreted! Political parties have run the country since you were born and have taken turns appointing judges that are supposed to be the smartest, least biased in the land. Of course, humans being humans, some have been better than others. Not every decision has been perfect or even desirable but I think they got the most important things right; we’ve been able to make you work so that you could keep up with our society and we could keep up in today's world. 

Admittedly many of the great advances we made in the last hundred years, advances that were generally good for most of the people, took some liberties with original concepts of the 18^th century. That’s only natural, however, since the country doesn’t remotely resemble that original little nest of colonies, not in size, diversity, complexity or culture. 

Until now that is. Those same parties are now responsible for your looming retirement. Well, just one of the parties in this case but you get it; we’ve finally run out of luck. Six black robed jurists, a super majority, have chosen to interpret you in a way that nakedly reverses progress made by earlier courts with judgements that are certain to damage American lives now and in the future. 

As you know, one can make words say whatever they want - and these justices are making you sing a very sad song.

Civil, human and voting rights? Gutted. Women’s healthcare rights? Gutted. Homelessness? A crime. Effective regulation of environment, food and drugs? Gone. Chance for minorities to catch up in education and jobs? Gone. Separation of church and state? On its way out. And this is just a partial list.

Ah, but presidential power? Suddenly king-like. (And for a most unworthy role model.) Wouldn’t the founding fathers be pleased to see that their war to cast off kings was all for nothing, ironically because of an interpretation of their constitution?

Perhaps they would be happy after all. The whole point of their constitution was to keep government small and intentionally cumbersome. And, of course, they didn’t even want the common man to vote for the president thus the electoral college. You, my friend, were created by the elite of the times and you are now returning to your roots.

There is no way (I hope) that 330 million people are going to stand by and watch their modern country turned into a backward hellhole. We must at least try try to remove so much opportunity for "interpretive abuse.” It's time to think the unthinkable; we must either update or replace you.  In today's America there is no painless way to do this but we need to start the conversation. If not, the consequences are unthinkable. 

Perhaps things would be different if we had paid attention to that "radical leftist" Thomas Jefferson who said in a letter to James Madison, a main author of the Constitution, "The earth belongs ... to the living, and the dead have neither power nor rights over it." Meaning that you should change or evolve over time to reflect new generations. In a later letter again to Madison, Jefferson believed “. . . that constitutions expire after 19 years and must be renewed to avoid becoming "an act of force and not of right."

"Avoid becoming an act of force and not of right . . ."

Ah, dear friend, what could have been if Madison – and we – had listened to old Tom.

 (114 Days until the election)