Literal Constitution
July 5, 2010 in Opinions
The tea baggers have changed their strategy to using the Constitution as a legal challenge to justify their ideology. However, the ideology itself is contrary to all things human. It’s an ideology that seems to say we should rewrite biblical history to state that Adam never bit into the apple ’cause Eve never offered it to him – a utopia that never really existed yet one that many believe we can have.
But, I don’t want to get too far off track here because I am trying to understand how certain people see in the Constitution a strict set of rules and regulations…much the same as these people see a strict set of rules in the Bible. According to Literal Constitution believers, if it’s not mentioned in the document then it’s not allowed. It’s as if there is no ability to distinguish between an overarching goal and a tenet. The Constitution has both, you know. The Bill of Rights are tenets.
Some may remember the lessons learned from OSHA. OSHA is an agency whose job is to develop rules to make workplaces safer. In setting forth rules set in stone, OSHA overlooked future conditions altogether. An example of 1910 for ladder specifications can be seen at: http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9719
The problem of course is change. The maximum load for ladders in 1910 was 200 lbs. No ifs, ands, and buts. So what happens when ladders are built of much stronger materials than can hold more than 200 lbs.? If the Constitution had been written in the explicit language used by OSHA, there would never be room for change as needed by current events and situations.
The Constitution has to be a living, breathing work in progress, with every single change strictly honoring the overarching and magnificent original goals. There are some who says the Constitution doesn’t say we should fund education and the arts, but it doesn’t say we shouldn’t either. This is the point…what is the goal of the Constitution if not to nurture people to build a strong and worthy citizenry?
The tea baggers are wrong, and they are denigrating the Constitution and their own Bible by using them as weapons to fight for a robotic, unthinking, and uncaring society.
