CBS Sunday Morning show segment guest calls for trashing the US Constitution.Do you agree or disagree?
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Link to video: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57566014/pro...
Text of video clip:
(CBS News) Is the U.S. Constitution truly worthy of the reverence in which most Americans hold it? A view on that from Louis Michael Seidman, Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University:
I've got a simple idea: Let's give up on the Constitution.
I know, it sounds radical, but it's really not. Constitutional disobedience is as American as apple pie.
For example, most of our greatest Presidents -- Jefferson, Lincoln, Wilson, and both Roosevelts -- had doubts about the Constitution, and many of them disobeyed it when it got in their way.
To be clear, I don't think we should give up on everything in the Constitution. The Constitution has many important and inspiring provisions, but we should obey these because they are important and inspiring, not because a bunch of people who are now long-dead favored them two centuries ago.
Unfortunately, the Constitution also contains some provisions that are not so inspiring. For example, one allows a presidential candidate who is rejected by a majority of the American people to assume office. Suppose that Barack Obama really wasn't a natural-born citizen. So what?
Constitutional obedience has a pernicious impact on our political culture. Take the recent debate about gun control. None of my friends can believe it, but I happen to be skeptical of most forms of gun control.
I understand, though, that's not everyone's view, and I'm eager to talk with people who disagree.
But what happens when the issue gets Constitutional-ized? Then we turn the question over to lawyers, and lawyers do with it what lawyers do. So instead of talking about whether gun control makes sense in our country, we talk about what people thought of it two centuries ago.
Worse yet, talking about gun control in terms of constitutional obligation needlessly raises the temperature of political discussion. Instead of a question on policy, about which reasonable people can disagree, it becomes a test of one's commitment to our foundational document and, so, to America itself.
This is our country. We live in it, and we have a right to the kind of country we want. We would not allow the French or the United Nations to rule us, and neither should we allow people who died over two centuries ago and knew nothing of our country as it exists today.
If we are to take back our own country, we have to start making decisions for ourselves, and stop deferring to an ancient and outdated document.
Read More: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57566014/prof...
Top Opinion
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millermedia 2013/01/28 23:52:54I disagree with this professor because....+21Georgetown should lose their government funding until this man and others like him are fired.





















This chitbag makes me want to puke down his throat after I put hot poker as far up his arse as I can...to me he is a traitor...
IF you "google" that quote now days, they will attribute it to Malcolm X! Strange how Liberals try to "re-write" history, yes?
But then AGAIN... "Never expect a perfect work from an imperfect man.” Want to guess who said that! :)
Hamilton...you forgfot " I "
He is the dumbest Harvard educated idiot on this planet and the biggest disgrace..10 year old children know how many states are in the USA
I agree that the document is not some sort of sacred text. Furthermore, it is very tempting to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. For example, starting fresh would allow us to remove those embarrassing racist elements from the section on the census.
However, if we were to start fresh, the current majority would certainly seek to introduce new injustices into the proposed new constitution. For example, the majority, being comprised of theist, might seek to destroy the wall of separation between church and state.
The current U.S. Constitution, warts and all, works. Until it doesn't, I say we continue to use it.
the people, by the people, for the people. And it's only by crooked politicians,
and apethetic citizens that things have gotten out of hand, and in dire need
of a comprehensive cleaning up, to begin with.
So, traitor Seidman, allow me to educate you about the Constitution (something you are supposedly a "professor" of: The Constitution was written to protect us from the whim and fancy of whatever idiot happens to be "in charge" at any particular point in history. The Constitution is very inconvenient to them - just as it was designed to be. There are procedures to change the Constitution if and when needed to reflect changes in our society. As a homework assignment, I suggest that you research the Amendment process. Have no delusions that you are in any way intellectually superior to the Founders. You have already proven that you are the village idiot when compared to them, as you obviously do not understand that basic truths and human nature are timeless...something the Founders knew so very well.
Georgetown University should be deeply ashamed to have you on their staff. Obviously an education from Georgetown is a bad joke at best, and more properly the intentional dumbing-down and misdirecting of young minds.
We have got to get between the uber rich lobbyists and our legislators and remind them that they are working for US!!
Snatching up, destroying and changing what ever they want along the way..