Nickdfresh
01-02-2008, 07:49 PM
originally posted by Rising Sun*
The problem with old and rigid constitutions is that they can be, indeed have to be, interpreted centuries later to deal with circumstances which were never in the mind of the constitution's authors. We have that problem with our written constitution, barely 110 years old, based in part upon the American one with the individual liberty bits left out, which sought to deal with a range of contemporary but now largely non-existent states' rights and states' fear of the national government issues, among other things, that are totally irrelevant now, but which are still fertile sources for complex constitutional cases that make your brain hurt to read.
...
The above is actually quite an issue to those more astute over here, as the conservative elites in the executive branch want to install "radical libertarians" as judges under the guise of getting rid of "liberal activist" judges. These social Darwinist extreme (rightist) libertarians (BTW, I consider myself to be a progressive libertarian as being somewhat philosophically anti-gov't is certainly not the exclusive purview of the right and many people that claim to be libertarians are just seething hypocrites that are selectively libertarian when it suits their agenda) want almost an extremist interpretation in order to invalidate much of the US federal gov't and the New Deal legislation. Of course, the US Air Force and the CIA, which are also not expressly mentioned in the US constitution, get to stay. ;)
This is because radically conservative people tend to be two-faced self-serving hypocrites with an agenda that effectively wipes out a US welfare state and promotes a rigid class strata and polarization of wealth. :)
Granted, the previous sentence is a bit of a conspiracy theory promoted by various liberal/progressive intellectuals in the US, but it is one I am increasingly adhering too with the rise of the Wal-Mart*'s and the unquestioned outsourcing of middle class US jobs in production. Effectively, this would return the US to a more feudal like system as a plutocracy (if we aren't already) and lead to a perceived social stability making the plebeians all the easier to rule and prolong the USA's position as a superpower...
The problem with old and rigid constitutions is that they can be, indeed have to be, interpreted centuries later to deal with circumstances which were never in the mind of the constitution's authors. We have that problem with our written constitution, barely 110 years old, based in part upon the American one with the individual liberty bits left out, which sought to deal with a range of contemporary but now largely non-existent states' rights and states' fear of the national government issues, among other things, that are totally irrelevant now, but which are still fertile sources for complex constitutional cases that make your brain hurt to read.
...
The above is actually quite an issue to those more astute over here, as the conservative elites in the executive branch want to install "radical libertarians" as judges under the guise of getting rid of "liberal activist" judges. These social Darwinist extreme (rightist) libertarians (BTW, I consider myself to be a progressive libertarian as being somewhat philosophically anti-gov't is certainly not the exclusive purview of the right and many people that claim to be libertarians are just seething hypocrites that are selectively libertarian when it suits their agenda) want almost an extremist interpretation in order to invalidate much of the US federal gov't and the New Deal legislation. Of course, the US Air Force and the CIA, which are also not expressly mentioned in the US constitution, get to stay. ;)
This is because radically conservative people tend to be two-faced self-serving hypocrites with an agenda that effectively wipes out a US welfare state and promotes a rigid class strata and polarization of wealth. :)
Granted, the previous sentence is a bit of a conspiracy theory promoted by various liberal/progressive intellectuals in the US, but it is one I am increasingly adhering too with the rise of the Wal-Mart*'s and the unquestioned outsourcing of middle class US jobs in production. Effectively, this would return the US to a more feudal like system as a plutocracy (if we aren't already) and lead to a perceived social stability making the plebeians all the easier to rule and prolong the USA's position as a superpower...