On September 17, 1787 the Continental Congress put the finishing touches on the legal framework that binds these united sovereign states together. That charter creates and simultaneously limits the federal government in its powers toward the states and the American citizen. Drawing from the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the Constitution enshrines our rights as having come from beyond the auspices of government, and therefore inalienable.
Depending on your perspective, the US Constitution is either the most significant product of the Enlightenment and the most ingeniously designed body of laws in human history, or it is a “charter of negative liberties” that fails to enshrine “social justice” because it does not accomplish the redistribution of wealth.
That latter viewpoint is the one held by President Barack Obama. He said so publicly in 2001, and his recent actions make it plain that he still holds the US Constitution in low regard.
The Obama government insists that the attacks in Cairo and Benghazi, which have now spread across the Muslim world and to London, were not pre-planned, but are a reaction to a movie. The Obama government is wrong. The attacks in Cairo and Benghazi were clearly pre-planned, and warnings were public as much as 72 hours ahead of time. The Obama government has a history of dishonestly characterizing Islamist terrorist attacks after the fact, always insisting on a proximate cause and the isolation of the particular perpetrator rather than identifying the jihad or factoring attacks and those who carry them out into the broader war against the West. Nidal Hassan et al are always lone nuts rather than foot soldiers for an enemy that has a purpose. Obama and his lieutenants subscribe to a narrative that facts cannot penetrate: Barack Obama’s election would make Islamists like America because Obama grew up Muslim and spent much of his life abroad, and that killing Obama bin Laden would end the war…because.
The fact that these two narratives contradict each other never seems to have bothered Obama or anyone in his administration. If Obama’s inauguration made or enemies like us more, then why did Osama bin Laden keep fighting and why do Afghan soldiers and police keep turning on and murdering American troops?
The possibility of alternate interpretations of these narratives also never seems to have entered the picture. It’s possible, for instance, that Obama’s unusual upbringing including spending formative years in an Indonesian madrassah and at the knee of communist Frank Marshall Davis causes him to have less appreciation of the American story than someone who grew up in American towns, attending Fourth of July parades and reciting the American Pledge of Allegiance unironically. It’s also possible that killing Osama bin Laden and then making that killing a centerpiece of his re-election has given our enemies a bloody shirt to wave in front of its troops. The president who frequently takes advantage of the divided Congress to push his own agenda does not publicly allow that America’s enemies take advantage of a divided American political class and a biased media to push its agenda.
The fact that the Islamists even have an agenda never gets much attention from the Obama government.
The government Obama leads celebrated Constitution Day in an unusual way. Though the very first amendment to the Constitution guarantees Americans their rights to free speech and a free press, the Obama government scooped up a man in the middle of the night, and took him to a law enforcement office for questioning. The man’s crime was supposedly that he had violated the terms of his parole when he uploaded a video critical of Muhammad that the government insists has caused the latest mayhem in the Middle East. He was paraded before the media, his name identified publicly by Obama’s Department of Justice, and on the weekend leading up to today’s birthday of the Constitution, had his free speech rights trashed. The Obama government tried to get YouTube to “review” the man’s film, which is a way of asking the video uploading site to yank it off the Internet.
Which fits the enemy’s agenda of imposing sharia speech codes on the entire world very nicely.
The American people strongly back free speech rights over avoiding offending others. But Obama government, clearly, does not share that view.
Happy Constitution Day!
Update: Iran would also like to wish you a Happy Constitution Day.
Now that this administartion has painted a red target on his back, the islamic killers have just to finish the job and murder him.
President Shari’a (aka Mullah Obama) never makes a mistake, he is always helping America’s enemies.
Pendantic observation of the day: I think your meant “our” nor “or” in the 2nd sentance of the fifth paragraph.
P.S. Best damn thing I’ve read in a long time.
Second pedantic observation of the day: I think you meant “you”, not “your” and “sentence”, not “sentance” in your remark.
You missed “not” instead of “nor”.
What an embarrassment.
– notice and beware that the date of October 7 has significance to the terrorists.
“It’s possible, for instance, that Obama’s unusual upbringing including spending formative years in an Indonesian madrassah and at the knee of communist Frank Marshall Davis causes him to have less appreciation of the American story than someone who grew up in American towns, attending Fourth of July parades and reciting the American Pledge of Allegiance unironically.”
Yes. In fact, our president is far more “foreign” than many immigrants, who have far greater affinity for America and our ideals than he does. As one Middle Eastern immigrant told me, he brought his family to America, not because it was perfect, but because it was better than any other place on earth.
He is an American. Our president is not.
Yes! Exactly what I’ve been saying for yrs. Forget the birth certificate nonsense, Obama still isn’t “American”. He has absolutely NOTHING in common with the majority of Americans, from his privileged upbringing to private schools & $$$$ colleges. He’s always lived in a rarified atmosphere and the bubble of his giant ego (oh, sorry, “self-esteem) has never been pricked.
The Constitution has been under assault for over a century. Both Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt had written that they found the document “inconvenient” for many of the same reasons as does Obama. The term “Constitutionalist” is an epithet aimed at people who insist that this document should still be considered valid. Apparently governing by the Constitution is now considered as quaint as living by the Bible.
Also: The Declaration of Independence has gotten disconnected from the Constitution in the modern narrative. This is very dangerous. Note for instance that at least three of the SCOTUS members do not believe in Natural Law. If there should be any one amendment to the Constitution it should be this one: The Declaration should be enshrined within the body of the Constitution to make it as clear as possible that the aspirations enumerated in the Declaration are embodied and protected in the Constitution. Remember, the “unalienable rights” are NOT written in the Constitution at all, nor is the expression “consent of the governed.” The several Congressional declarations made over the the first century of our Republic reasserting the importance of the Declaration of Independence are totally inadequate for protecting that document’s importance in modern times. It must be embedded in the Constitution itself.
Correct on all points. This is why I believe we are doomed for absolute failure. We have drifted far away from what our founders designed.
We are hardly a united country. Half of the populace believe as we do, the other half do not. The country is polarized by what we believe.
I think those of us who live by our founding principles and our personal beliefs need to start thinking outside the box. It is quite obvious the progressives have hijacked every aspect of our country. They control the monetary system, all 3 branches of the government, SCOTUS, the educational system K-12, the universities and all the information coming from the msm. I believe we need to start having conversations about red states and blue states going our separate ways before it gets real ugly.
Let them have obama, the fed, the epa, the unions and the nanny idealogy. We will live by natural law and advance ourselves like we did in the beginning.
Have you ever read, “the 5000 year leap”?
Great article Mr. Preston. It inspired me to create Photoshop appropriate to your piece.
http://politicalclownparade.blogspot.com/2012/09/happy-constitution-day.html
Well done!