Quote:
Originally Posted by dksuddeth
I actually think this line of thinking is absurd. It's the equivalent of saying 'that was the law last year, this is the law now'. It doesn't work.
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Except that that IS how it works. Check out the history of abortion law in this country. Current law stands because of a very famous Supreme Court case. Prior to that,
that wasn't the law. The gavel banged, the law changed. Ta daaa!
People who think that even such a fundamental document as the Constitution is somehow written in stone and unchangeable for all time are just not thinking from where the founding fathers were thinking from. The founders were clear that the times would change, and they designed our structure to be malleable to keep up with the times. It takes some work--amending the Constitution isn't a trivial task. But it's designed in there precisely because they KNEW they couldn't predict the future, and they weren't going to try and pretend they could.
There IS no "what the Constitution says". It's a brilliantly constructed thing that deliberately leaves room for interpretation. Despite its claims to the contrary, strict constructionism is
just one possible interpretation. It claims NOT to be an interpretation, and can therefore lay claim on being Right. But it's not--it's just one of many possible ways to read the document. This is the beauty of our nation; it's ours to invent, rather than being some dusty Truth to be pulled off a shelf and referred to. People think democracy was the big innovation of America, but I think it's the power to re-invent ourselves that makes us unique.