Who enforces adherence to the Constitution?

[bronzeage]

In yoiur frantic pursuit for a small 'one-upsmanship' over dear old Ami, you miss the point entirely.

Morse Code as sent over the radio, is received and amplified through a variable oscillator that creates an audible tone.

Telegraphy, on the other hand is merely a series of clicks, which are to me unintelligible.

There may not be my claimed 'world of difference' between the theories of the two, but knowing how to send and receive one does not instruct you on the other, which to me, was quite a difference.

I suspect that those responding to my original dididah didahdahdit, message, merely looked up the Morse Code and made the dit dah or .- , but there may be some old time Morse operators around or Ham Radio geeks as I was both Navy and Ham radio. I could send and receive at about 35 wpm with a speed key; you?

Better luck next time, ole chum.

ami

Spin it any way you want Amy. The Morse and telegraph connection is something you should have learned in 5th grade, no matter how proficient you later became in his technology and its descendants.

It's the sort of thing that makes the rest of you conjectures suspect. Next, you might deny any connection between Eli Whitney and your T-shirt.

 

[Stella_Omega]

Spin it any way you want Amy. The Morse and telegraph connection is something you should have learned in 5th grade, no matter how proficient you later became in his technology and its descendants.

It's the sort of thing that makes the rest of you conjectures suspect. Next, you might deny any connection between Eli Whitney and your T-shirt.

Or Abigail Adams and constitutional protests.

Dear constitutional fundamentalists, please remember -- the constitution was written only for the benefit of upper-class white men in the first place.

Abigail made a protest during the process. John called her a "saucy thing" for pointing out that women had no rights as his words stood. She said that there would be problems in times to come because of it.

She was right about that.

 

[bronzeage]

Or Abigail Adams and constitutional protests.

Dear constitutional fundamentalists, please remember -- the constitution was written only for the benefit of upper-class white men in the first place.

Abigail made a protest during the process. John called her a "saucy thing" for pointing out that women had no rights as his words stood. She said that there would be problems in times to come because of it.

She was right about that.

John and Abigail were a cute couple. Abigail's diary records she would wait for John to return from the Constitutional Convention meetings in their bedroom, her eyes toward the floor. John raised her chin (not very high, he was not a tall man) and said, "Have you been a saucy thing, while I was gone?"

Abigail would lie face down on the bed and raise her skirt to reveal her bare buttocks, and reply, "Very saucy, Sir. Very saucy, indeed."

 

[3113]

Dear constitutional fundamentalists, please remember -- the constitution was written only for the benefit of upper-class white men in the first place.

Well, I think more to the point is that they and everyone else should remember that they put the process of making Amendments into place. Why would they bother with that if they wanted (and expected) it to stay exactly the way they wrote it, unchanged and unchangable? They could have made it that way, they didn't.

They made it so that it could adapt and change as needed--because they knew fully well that, as said, the world had changed and monarchies were no longer working, so why assume that what they'd set in place (like all voters being white males) would also stay in place forever and ever?

The constitution is not the ten commandments, carved in stone allegedly by god, not open to questions or changes or a vote. It was created by men who believed that men have the right to vote and democratically change things...including what past men created if it's not working for them any longer. To do so was considered, in fact, the most American and patriotic thing of all. Because it's exactly what patriotic Americans did. They voted and democratically changed their government.

 

[sr71plt]

Well, I think more to the point is that they and everyone else should remember that they put the process of making Amendments into place. Why would they bother with that if they wanted (and expected) it to stay exactly the way they wrote it, unchanged and unchangable? They could have made it that way, they didn't.

They put the possibility of amendments into place because they couldn't get enough votes in Constitutional Convention itself without doing it. (What was originally offered didn't have provisions for amendments.) The same delegates who forced the capability of amendments already knew that their states wouldn't ratify unless/until amended. And enough states didn't agree to ratifying until the Constitution was turned back to a more democratic document than the authors of the Constitution wanted it to be (who claimed that the whole problem with the Articles of Confedertation was that they were so democratic that the country couldn't get anything done that countries had to do to exist).

The "founding fathers" at the Constitutional Convention weren't anything like in accord on what they were doing.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Democracy is rule by mob. Majority vote can place you in chains, confiscate your property, take your life, and plunder the treasury. Constitutions resist mobs and resist arbitrary action by public officials.

Many on this thread think the Constitution is a Christmas tree thats all things to all people.

 

[sr71plt]

Many on this thread think the Constitution is a Christmas tree thats all things to all people.

And some think it was meant to keep everyone in the eighteenth century--which it quite definitely was not meant to do. And, thank God, most folks down through the ages have been smarter than to think it was meant to be that restrictive.

 

[amicus]

Clever critters above, aren't they, folks? Using the efficacy of the Consitution and the Amendment process to destroy the Constitution and change a Republic into a mob society.

What the Left purposely omits is that by the Constitution, Americans cannot vote away their fundamental rights, even with a 99.99% majority.

The conflict concerning the Constitution, even before it was signed, remains the same, small government or large, individual rights or collective rights.

Emancipation of slaves, Indians and women is a bogus issue, out of context and beyond the abilities of the Colonies to change in a democratic manner, one might recall that the Representatives from each Colony had to approve all the contents of all the documents by majority vote.

No one claims perfection, nor should they expect it, but we still owe a debt of gratitude for those who crafted our small central government and acted to protect individual and property rights.

One can almost have sympathy for the current administration and they demonstrate the impossiblity of managing a society as large as ours, by running around in all directions trying to solve every problem from the top down in the fashion of a dictatorial command government.

This administration and the political philosophy is categorically doomed to fail as all others have because they abridge the rights of the individual and transfer more and more power to the collective large governement in the Nation's Capitol.

Another indication of the failure, is the conflict between Federal and State authority. The Obama government will brook no resistance from individuals or States in their headlong rush into bigger and bigger government.

Don't think for even a fleeting second that the Left doesn't get it; they do. They are just too cowardly to admit, up front, that they want a controlled society, managed from the top at the expense of individual liberty and choice.

Amicus

 

[ishtat]

The constitution is not the ten commandments, carved in stone allegedly by god, not open to questions or changes or a vote. It was created by men who believed that men have the right to vote and democratically change things...including what past men created if it's not working for them any longer. To do so was considered, in fact, the most American and patriotic thing of all. Because it's exactly what patriotic Americans did. They voted and democratically changed their government.

Can I suggest you go through your precise words and see how they stack up against the facts of what actually happened.

You are confusing myth with history.

 

[3113]

Can I suggest you go through your precise words and see how they stack up against the facts of what actually happened.

You are confusing myth with history.

I'm not confusing myth with history. But people are confusing what I'm saying to mean ALL the founding fathers thought this way rather than some thought this way. I assure you that just because they argued, bickered, wanted things their way, had their agenda, were selfish and all the rest...that it doesn't mean that no one held higher ideals or ethics. I believe, and I think facts and writings of many can prove, that there were those who did their best to direct what they were doing toward those ideals and ethics.

If you'd like to accuse me of optimism as to the intent of most of these men, I'd agree, but I don't agree that I've moved into myth. I know too many FACTS to do that. Like the fact that without Amendments women, blacks, non-Christians and others would be stuck in a very UN-happy U.S.A. --and that thanks to these very same Founding Fathers.

Which, if you've read the entire thread, you'll find I pointed out earlier.

 

[bronzeage]

The constitution is not the ten commandments, carved in stone allegedly by god, not open to questions or changes or a vote. It was created by men who believed that men have the right to vote and democratically change things...including what past men created if it's not working for them any longer. To do so was considered, in fact, the most American and patriotic thing of all. Because it's exactly what patriotic Americans did. They voted and democratically changed their government.

The Ten Commandments may have been carved in stone, but they have been questioned and changed since the first chips flew.

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'
Does this mean we can have other Gods behind you. I thought you said there was only one God. Who are these other Gods? Can we talk to one of them?


TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'
Does this count for statues of you nailed to a cross. I know that won't come up for another couple thousand years, but I can see it becoming a problem.

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'
What exactly does that mean?

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'
Is it okay to kiss my mother on the Sabbath, or if I am doing it as an obligation, is that too much like work?

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'
If I have a picture of them, or a statue that says "World's Greatest Dad", does that violate #2 commandment.

SIX: 'You shall not murder.'
Okay, I get this one, but there are about 20,000 Midianites over the hill and you just told me to go slay every man, woman and child. Do we get a pass on this job?

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'
How does this apply when I have 4 wives.

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'
I have to ask about the Midianites again. They have a lot of cool stuff and they aren't going to need it anymore. If I wait until they are all dead, can I take it as an inheritance?

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'
I asked about this one time and you told me some story about a Samaritan. What has that got to do with witnesses?

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'
Can you give me a little slack on this one? His female servant runs around in these tight shorts when she washes the camels. I just have to have some of that.

 

[Boxlicker101]

The Ten Commandments may have been carved in stone, but they have been questioned and changed since the first chips flew.

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'
Does this mean we can have other Gods behind you. I thought you said there was only one God. Who are these other Gods? Can we talk to one of them?


TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.'
Does this count for statues of you nailed to a cross. I know that won't come up for another couple thousand years, but I can see it becoming a problem.

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.'
What exactly does that mean?

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.'
Is it okay to kiss my mother on the Sabbath, or if I am doing it as an obligation, is that too much like work?

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.'
If I have a picture of them, or a statue that says "World's Greatest Dad", does that violate #2 commandment.

SIX: 'You shall not murder.'
Okay, I get this one, but there are about 20,000 Midianites over the hill and you just told me to go slay every man, woman and child. Do we get a pass on this job?

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.'
How does this apply when I have 4 wives.

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.'
I have to ask about the Midianites again. They have a lot of cool stuff and they aren't going to need it anymore. If I wait until they are all dead, can I take it as an inheritance?

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.'
I asked about this one time and you told me some story about a Samaritan. What has that got to do with witnesses?

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'
Can you give me a little slack on this one? His female servant runs around in these tight shorts when she washes the camels. I just have to have some of that.

Does that mean you are coveting your neighbor's female servant's ass?

 

[bronzeage]

Does that mean you are coveting your neighbor's female servant's ass?

Yeah. I think that's a double sin, or something like that.