The worst part of this clip isn’t that the liberal fellow says the Constitution is confusing because “it’s more than 100 years old.” It’s not as if it was written in Middle English, of the sort that schoolkids are or were once required to study in order to grapple with the Canterbury Tales.
Whan that Auerylle with his shoures soote
The droghte of March / hath perced to the roote
Etc and so forth. The Constitution is terse and straightforward, in relatively modern English. But no, though saying it’s confusing because it’s old is bad, that’s not the worst part.
The worst part isn’t when Klein says that reading it aloud in the next congress is a “gimmick.” Is it also a “gimmick” when the new congresscritters swear to uphold that same Constitution, as did the president a couple of years ago? It’s actually a shame the Constitution hasn’t been read aloud before every single congress. Read it, hear it, swear to live by it. Not seeing the gimmick.
The worst part isn’t when Nora O’Donnell calls Ezra Klein, late of the JournoList, the show’s “favorite wonk.” It’ll make you cringe a little bit, but it’s not the worst part.
The worst part is when he says that reading the Constitution aloud “has no binding effect on anything.” This is wonkery? This is what they teach at UCLA poli-sci?
It’s just foolery. For asserting the rather obvious fact that reading something aloud isn’t binding as if it’s brilliant wonkery, Klein needs to be slapped with a wet fish with “DUH” tattooed in large letters on its side.
The point isn’t that reading it aloud is binding, it’s that reading it aloud is a reminder that congress members are not demigods and that government isn’t empowered by its founding document to be the be-all-end-all for all our wants and needs. Our elected masters need to be reminded of that, daily. (hat tip Hot Air)
Well, of course the Constitution is confusing to kids like Klein.
There’s no pictures, just text.
Of course it is. It’s confusing to his teachers too, thus the problem. Picture won’t help them much though.
Interesting, that those of us out here in the heartland have no trouble understanding the Constitution and the Founders meaning. Only the over educated, and the elitists, in government, academia, and media, seem to be prone to overthinking and over interpreting, to the point that they cannot see the obvious.
Or, could it be that they have no allegiance to that document, because it prevents them from establishing the socialist utopia, with them as the ruling class, that they so desire.
Little Ezra must be thrilled.
He was chosen to fire the opening slavo in the last battlefront of the left…this time a direct assault on the importance of the Constitution.
The 100 year remark is deliberate. He knows better than that. The reason he said 100 is that it’s a nice round number that will appeal to the audience, ignorant leftists. 200? 230? Too complicated for them. 100 sounds old and it’s a better attention grabber than other numbers. The leftist shock troops aren’t good with numbers anyway, so they have to keep it simple. 100 was tested in focus groups. It works best.
This won’t be the last we hear of this by a long shot. Wing-nuts whining about the Constitution? Whazzat anyway? who cares what a bunch of old dead white guys thought or said. We’re into change man. And hope. And getting what the new white guys got.
Excellent!
Yup very good
With Leftists, the problem isn’t that they want what the new whites guys have, but that they insist on getting it by taking it away from the NWGs directly. I suspect that the thrill of stealing people’s property is better than any satisfaction form obtaining the wealth. The Left is all about destruction, humiliation, and, ultimately, death. Lenin, Mao, Pol Pot, Fidel, they all started with the idea of destroying existing society and re-making human beings. Unfortunately, Human Nature is what it is, and remains so even under the strongest pressure.
Do you think that little Ezra only used the 100 year mark as the start of the leftest, progressive movement. Remember nothing before W. Wilson counts! Remember Wilson was a Klan’s man and reestablished segregation among black and white in government workers. The democrats were simply smarter than our Constitution!
Maybe reading the Constitution aloud, and on TV, during the half hour before the arrival of POTUS for the annual ‘SotU’ convention each year would give TV journolistas an opportunity to explain the parts they don’t understand. And after the CIC’s speech they can explain how those things the President said are supported by that same Constitution.
Ezra Klein represents the typical left-wing elite. Those over 40 within that crowd normally approach the Constitution in a postmodernist manner. We must supposedly reinterpret this ancient document to get rid of its sexist, racist, and other reactionary attitudes. The much younger Klein and his fellow travelers go one step further. They don’t even believe the Constitution deserves this much respect. What’s the big deal? Aren’t we smarter than the founding fathers? Hasn’t the new Progressive age given birth to new human beings not afflicted with the at least metaphorical reality of Original Sin?
Pig + ignorant = Pignorant
That pompous, self important little twit dares to question the value or durability of the Constitution? He can’t understand it? He is an embarassment to wonks everywhere. It makes you wonder if there are any grownups left at the Washington Post, other than custodial staff and the night security guards. Or the cafeteria ladies. What value can he possibly add, other than being yet another liberal, useful idiot. I think the WaPo must be overstaffed with the likes of little Ezra these days.
Iwoahawk has the inside scoop on this story
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2010/12/the-constitution-is-very-important.html
I had never read anything of “Iowahawk” before but his satire (it was a satire, right?) was great of Ezra Klein. I had never really heard of this “Ezra Klein” person before either, but he is a satire too right?
The Iowahawk article was hilarious and his other works appear to be well worth reading and this “Ezra Klein” person seems to be a major reason not to send your kid to UCLA.
I just happen to have a high school senior who was about to make that mistake. So thanks.
Ezra’s “essay” at Iowahawk reminds me of Michelle (Robinson) Obama’s Senior Thesis at Princeton in which she rambles on and ON, near incoherently, juxtaposing Black and White (they’re capitalized) in America.
During her husband’s campaign, she characterized Americans as lazy and incompetent. She said her wunnerful husband would take us outta our “comfort zone”. (she got that right, but not as she intended)
Michelle’s now focused on telling us what to eat, spending $4 billion* on upgrading children’s choices in school cafeterias. In her own recent words…”We can’t leave it up to the parents.”
(meanwhile, Barack sneaks ice cream and hamburgers and loves his pie)
*why does everything government does cost in the billions ?
Um,… aren’t The Communist Manifesto, Das Kapital, and other works by Marx and/or Engels over 100 yrs old? If so, why are journalists, politicians, the POTUS, and other Leftists so enamored of them. The primary differences seem to be these:
1. about 60 years.
2. One was written by “Rich White Slaveowners”tm; while the others were written by a poor, white, lazy, shiftless, bum who lived off the wealth of his friend’s father, but who, nonetheless, was an effete snob.
3. One was written by, and debated among the greatest minds of an entire generation; while the other was written by an obvious lunatic.
4. One was based on the accumulated wisdom of great philosophers from the beginning of civilization and influenced by a thousand years of historical developments moving toward a free society; while the other was a nearly pure fantastical fabrication of a madman loosely tied to the writings of a lackluster “philosopher” (Hegel) whose only claim to fame is that he was relied upon by Marx.
And, of course,
5. One embraces the ideas of individual liberty and the radical suggestion that a man is entitled to the fruits of his life and labor; while the other requires totalitarian tyranny, enslavement to the State, and has resulted in the greatest horrors in the history of humankind.
Still, they’re both over 100 yrs old!, so, items 2 through 5 above can really be the only reasons why Klein and the American Left love the one and mock the other.
Marx is a diety because he provided the displaced aristocrats and wannabe aristocrats a rational to con the rubes into supporting their power grabs.
Same thing for Al Gore.
Same thing for “health care”.
I just read a book on the 1848 revolutions. From Paris, Berlin, Rome, Budapest and Vienna people were killed in the streets demanding that governments adopt constitutions.
The modern left wants arbitrary rule. Constitutions and laws get in the way of what spoiled brat-frat boy left want.
My grandmother died nearly twenty years ago, at 95 and clear of mind. She was born in 1896, when Queen Victoria was still on her throne. The Constitution went into effect in 1789. The difference is 107 years (if my late-night attempt at advanced trigonometry is correct).
There could well have been several Americans who were 107 years old or older. Even with a low life expectancy across the board, there are always the exceptions.
If that seems implausible to you, then I’ll offer the fact that there certainly were people living when my grandmother started to toddle whose parents were once subjects of King George III.
The point being that it just wasn’t that long ago. Two consecutive or three overlapping lifetimes, four at the most if you count yours truly (at 54).
One wonders what our curly-haired tot would think of Lincoln’s exhortations on studying the Constitution? Does he make light of what Lincoln had to say at the Young Men’s Lyceum in 1838 just because it’s been over a hundred years?
“As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and laws let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor — let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children’s liberty.”
I am SO glad we home-schooled our children.
This is the first salvo by the statists against the new Republican House of Representatives. Look for this approach of attempting to belittle and disparage everything the Republicans attempt to do to counter the workings of Obama and the 111th Congress. It will only get worse until either the statists are routed or they win control again. TEA Party activists prepare to battle all the way to Nov 2012, starting now!
JournoListers like Ezra Klein cannot relate, at all, to the kind of expansive knowledge that informed the statesmen who conceived this Republic and, after extensive debate and argumentation, meticulously crafted its Constitution.
While the main guy who swore to uphold this document (twice, actually), January 2009, finds the provisions of that hoary old Constitution inhibiting to his dreams of an unfettered Executive and all inclusive Jabba the Hutt governance.
Men like the Founders, and the workings of their minds, are completely beyond the ken of this current plethora of arrogant, brash pontificators to be found in America.
(appropriately enough, klein means “little” in German)
constitution is confusing for libs because it is so straightforward and concise
there is no way for them to wiggle and squirm around the edges to implement their vernacular confusion
What does Little Ezra understand at his ripe age, having been indoctrinated, not taught, and lacking any wisdom. He, and his ilk, have no understanding of the continuity of government based on the Constitution. They believe that when their party comes into power, they do what they want, since they are of the instant gratification generation.
They give no credence to the past and the guidance of the Constitution.
Please excuse me, I did not know Ezra before. So I looked up mentally challenged to read and their was his picture. If you can not understand our Constitution you must have a reading disability. Which unfortunately most of our politicians and president have trouble understanding the simply written document. Or maybe they do not want to follow the Constitution and think they are smarter than the men who wrote our Constitution! Please remind professor obama that the Constitution is for a Republic government not a socialist or communistic government that he desires!
The Constitution isnt confusing for Mr Klein. He simply hates it. I think it was his Blog which featured a series of Posts introducing his readers to the wonderful political systems of other Western countries, with emphasis on “parliamentary democracies” as a source for ideas to reform the American system. The end of the division of powers, judicial authoritarianism and the rule of political parties through politicians elected from lists are actually things that Mr Klein is enthused aboout. This is basicly all you need to know about him.
Another point about these idiots.
I happen to like the Constitution. Actually, more than like, I think it is the most brilliant political document ever written.
But the brilliance is really beside the point.
For a society to function successfully, SOMETHING must provide the framework for government, and it can’t be “living” and it can’t be “whatever you feel like today”, because that is a recipe for chaos.
The Constitution, fortunately, is a great framework, but even if it wasn’t, we would still need it, and need to follow it. Note also, that it provides methods to change it, and I’m not talking about judicial whim.
Little Ezra, and every other leftist, HATES the Constitution, because it limits HIM, and he doesn’t want any limits on what HE can do…..just like every other tin-pot dictator or dictator sychophant who has ever lived.
The problem isn’t the Constitution, the problem is greedy arrogant fools like little Ezra.
Query: How much of what Little Ezra spouts reminds you of what Little Barack or Massive Michelle might have spouted years back? All three of them are cut from the same bolt of cloth. They want to be in power without any hobbles on their actions, or their dictates. Hence, dispense with any restrictions imposed by the U.S. Constitution.
Query No. 2: How long before Little Ezra finds his way into the administration?
Reading the Constitution at the start of the next Congress is fine. What is more important, is that the new Congress govern by that document.
He’s a liberal,that is, a Stalinist thug in disguise;of course he holds the constitution in contempt.