Forward Biased (Less-than-current Events)

Do words actually have meanings?

Yesterday I received the following email (obviously it was mass-mailed to others as well):

Dear Obi-Wan,

Conservatives who opposed Harriet Miers are hoping the president's next judicial nomination will not (again) duck an open fight with Senate Democrats over judicial activism.  But there’s another way — a better way — to engage liberals in that debate.  It’s described at www.fairamendment.us. 

[Note:  the Fair Construction Amendment link above was broken—fixed now.]

A Fair Construction Amendment is an idea whose time hasn't just come -- it's long overdue.  It first occurred to me as I was reading Raoul Berger’s Government By Judiciary, more than 20 years ago.  I thought: Instead of arguing with liberals about Berger’s thesis, why not establish it as law, whether liberals like it or not?  We could devise a constitutional amendment, using the framers' very own words, that instructs the Supreme Court to treat its task as the framers themselves said it should and expected it would: as interpretation of an historical document, not husbandry of a "growing, evolving" one.

A friend whose opinions I respect doubts the amendment would work, since activist justices would set out to subvert it, just as they’ve done with the rest of the Constitution.  But if so, they’d have to do it in full sight of a people who had been alerted to the issue by the very process of  the amendment’s adoption and ratification.  And in that fight, the Left’s favorite weapon — “borking” judicial nominees — would be of no use.  I for one would love to watch our liberal senators, activists and law professors explain to the public how Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Marshall, Story, Teddy Roosevelt and  Cardozo are all “out of the mainstream.”

My Web site mentions a forthcoming book in which I argue the case for the amendment.  That argument concludes: “This little brainstorm may or may not be the way to cut the Gordian knot into which liberals have tied our country’s constitutional law.  One thing, however, is certain: Conservatives have been picking away at that knot for a generation now, with hardly any effect.  It’s time to try something new.”

Will next month’s Federalist Society convention on Originalism offer something new, or will it be just more picking away at the Gordian knot?  I wish them all the best, but even if the society’s work prospered to the extent that all future justices came from its Dream Team, our government, even then,would remain one not of laws but of men.  The meaning of the Constitution would still depend on the composition of the court --- a court whose members would be scorned by half the nation as the creatures of partisan politics, rather than respected by all as the oracles of the law.

The Fair Construction Amendment is designed to change that.  If you like the idea and want to help it along, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Karl Spence
Author/Publisher
Fielding Press
P.O. Box 685
Converse, TX 78109
karl.spence@grandecom.net

The first thing that happened was that my cynicism kicked in, telling me that this would never get passed and ratified, not in a million years.

But I still think it's a good idea, and just maybe, even if it failed, the process of trying for ratification might make more people aware of the problem it was designed to solve.

Think about it—if the Constitution is a "living, breathing document" then it means nothing at all, much like the very phrase just used to describe it.  It means that anyone can interpret any words to mean anything they like, and words will have no meaning at all.  Shoot, we're just about to that point already.  No wonder the left is so anxious to embrace this view—they wouldn't have to get new laws passed at all, just get some judge to agree that the "living" Constitution already "says" what they want.  Presto, new federal law. 

See?  We're almost there as it is, what with the Ninth Circuit Court and all.  Perhaps going through the attempt to ratify this amendment would be good for the country.

Of course, Bill Quick's idea to have a full-blown Constitutional Convention would be even better.

UPDATE:  Eric over at Eric's Grumbles has more on this issue, including a list of proposals for checks and balances on the SCOTUS.

FURTHER UPDATE:  Mark at Cutting Edge of Ecstasy has more yet.

Remember these words

At ¡No Pasarán! (I think that means "they did not happen!") we find the words of Samuel Adams (1722-1803), one of our founding fathers, whose birthday was yesterday.

How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.

Mankind are governed more by their feelings than by reason.

Remember these words.

Remember them the next time you hear someone you deride as a "moonbat" getting all the press she needs to spread filth you hardly listen to, much less formulate an argument against.

Remember them the next time you see major stories, such as Air America's finances or Sen. Chuck Schumer's two former staffers (who abused the personal data, including the S.S. number, of Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele) completely buried in the NYTimes and other major newspapers.

These words are both true and powerful.  They control the fates of entire countries, even entire worlds.  They succeed when the truth fails.  They prevail over the best efforts of good people whose major fault was a steadfast belief that "the truth will out."  It may, but not always in time.  Not always before the election that entrenches the mandate of the next powers-that-be.

Remember these words the next time the Supreme Court rules against the plain meaning of the Constitution, and this ruling is praised far and wide.

Remember these words every time you hear a vapid reporter ask a victim-on-the-street how he or she "feels" about what happened, and what he "feels" should be done about it.  Remember them when members of Congress say they "feel they must do something about this terrible situation."  Remember them when poll results show that a majority of Americans "feel" that the Congress did the right thing.  For now.

Remember these words every day, for not only are they true and wise, but they will govern your future--unless you are both able and willing to marshall the forces of the truth to twice or three times the strength of those who merely "feel."  Only then do we have a chance to prevail.

Remember.

UPDATE:  Thanks to Dan at Searchlight Crusade for the link.  And thanks to Phoenix (in the comments) for the Lord Byron.