The Surging Constitution
Written by CHQ Staff on November 16, 2009, 12:11 PM
Wall Street Journal Contributing Editor Seth Lipsky is quoted over the weekend that America is in the midst of a “constitutional moment.” Americans are relying on the Constitution out of necessity. Many are now beginning to see the Constitution as the only means to check the gross excesses and abuses of politicians and government in general.
 
Mark Fitzgibbons, writing at American Thinker, notes that the loss of limited, constitutional government was fostered decades ago by the Supreme Court’s decision in Carolene Products, in which the court said federal legislation is “presumed” constitutional. Decades later, we see that this lack of holding Congress accountable has led to politicians either lacking constitutional acumen, or simply not caring.
 
In other words, the court’s failure to hold politicians to a higher standard has led to lower constitutional standards in legislation.
 
The current debate about Obamacare, with its mandate that all individuals must carry health insurance, provides some good examples of how Congress has lost any interest in understanding or articulating sound constitutional bases for their actions.
 
Should the standard of assessing the constitutionality of legislation be more rigid, since we must now conclude members of Congress are “Presumed Ignorant” when it comes to the Constitution? That seems to be at least part of what the Tea Parties and other surges of interest in the Constitution are about.

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Eric
We need some tool for enforcing the Constitution, but the courts are so unreliable, I don't know the solution.
Fred Larsen
There is a very good "tool" for enforcing the Constitution: DO NOT VOTE FOR ANY INCUMBENT: city, county, state, federal! Think about it. An incumbents only objective is to get reelected Fred
Patriot1
NOW you are finally talking about the solution for nearly all of America's problems. If you were to hold to this position unilaterally, then your readers would know that unless they get involved on a state level, forcing the states to allow Article V to come to our defense, they are lost. Your readers ARE the leaders they seek. Meanwhile, it does no good for conservatives to continue to obfusacate and bring up symptoms that are offered as diseases. Our problems are not rooted in abortion or gay rights or gun rights. OUr problems are rooted in a governemnt that is conspired, on every level, against your readers. Remove the fed from your lives and the rest of conservatives' concerns become workable. They simply are not workable with a corrupt federal government in power. If the 10th Amendment were re-ratified, there would be no money for abortions; there would be no "public option" to socialized health services, there would be no federal funding of corrupt Wall Street business, or government's brainwashing of your children n the name of education. The list goes on and on. With a working 10th Amendment, and state laws requring the impeachment of any representative or president or supreme court justice who violated his/her oath of office to defend the Constitution from all enemeies foreign AND DOMESTIC, you will no longer see your representatives taking bribes while trying to convince you (and themselves) that they are nothing more than campaign contributions. You will also not see the court legislating from the bench. You will also not see vastly escalated presidential powers that were suported when Bush was in power but are feared when Obama is in power. Unless people are willing to work on a state level, they are publicly asceding to the status quo and the corruption will continue to escalate. I am in Washington DC this week, and I saw that there was a protest outside of DC's Goldman Sachs offices. How much more effective it would be if ten thousand gathered in front of state offices with a unified cry for their guaranteed Constitutional protections, than if hundreds gather at Goldman Sachs because they are against a tiny portion of the corruption . Vote the bums out won't work unless your readers are willing to do the footwork that will bring new leaders to the floor - leaders who are held tight to the Constitutional limits placed on government.
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