Who reads the Constitution?

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The Federalist Papers really are little help in understanding the Constitution, especially as many of the points argued for have been amended. They are mainly an explanatioin of why the Constitution was written in the way it was.

I can't believe people are saying the Constitution is boring. Of course it is. It's not meant to entertain you, or stir your patriotism. It's a document that came from a committee of a few dozen politicians.
 
Me (called to the principal's office for some infraction or other): "Why did you search my locker without my consent, while I was in class? Did you have reason to believe that I was hiding something?"
Click to expand...

Today the lockers are searched by the police with drug sniffing dogs.

I also read the Constitution about once a year. It is an amazing document. Especially, when you consider that it is a compromise designed to satisfy 13 different points of view.
 
I recently mentioned to a couple of people in their early 20’s that the federal government was delegated only a limited number of powers plus the “necessary and proper” clause to execute the specific powers - and that means all federal laws must be linked to one of the delegated powers. I was shocked when they looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language… they had no idea …. I got responses in the nature of “but federal law is superior to state law” and so on.

I HOPE my sample was not representative of the rest of that age group, but I worry it may be. Did I mention there were college students and graduates in this little group.
 
I've read the Constitution.

I've also read part of the Federalist Papers, and should probably finish reading them. Then I plan on starting the Anti-Federalist Papers.
 
Here's some constitution reading for your travelers
http://www.securityedition.com/

Look a metal bill of rights!
huge_bor.jpg


bet you'll have to give that up. :evil:
 
I use it every day at work . . . but the NM Constitution helps me more, since the NM SCt has interpreted it to give more rights than the US Const in a lot of areas. :)
 
After attending the NRA Basic Handgun course with my 12 year old son this year, he asked me what the Second Amendment was. I printed out a (crappy) copy of the Constitution off the 'net. I plan on getting him a quality book-printed version for Christmas, and one for myself as well. I also plan on making him read it and give me a book report on the Bill of Rights. I believe that we have a responsibility as parents to not "pass the buck" to the school system, whether said school is public or private. To be truly free, WE have to insure that our children have at least a basic grasp of the rights our Constitution guarantee us as American citizens.
 
The Cato Institute offers a very nice pocket edition of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution here. The price listed is $4.95 per copy, but I got a substantial volume discount (paid $2 each) when I ordered 25 copies. You can get them for $1 each in larger quantities. I give them out to the resident aliens, liberals, and statists I work with.
 
I Do

I read the Constitution.

Woody

"I pledge allegiance to the rights that made and keep me free. I will preserve and defend those rights for all who live in this Union; founded on the belief and principles that those rights are inalienable and essential to the pursuit and preservation of life, liberty, and happiness." B.E.Wood
 
My Dad made me read it, and discuss it with him, line by line when I was twelve. Three years later, I got an A in Civics class.

Before I took my oath of enlistment, I re-read it. Hafta make sure you know what you are getting into, you know?

Whenever I went somewhere for Uncle, I brought along copies. I'm sure there are translations in Albanian, German and Serbo-Croatian by now. :)

Last year, in Iraq, I convinced several colleagues to read it. Amazing how many LEOs and soldiers didn't have a clue. Tightened up on our affadavit writing. :)
 
Why would Joe average read the Constitution? He might as well be reading Beowulf in middle English. Reading is one matter, understanding is another. The Constitution's verbiage is absolutely meaningless without the accompanying body of interpretive case law.

Don't believe me? Bring your NFA-noncompliant firearm to the local PD's range for some 'shootin and see how that works out. I'm sure they'll take your word for it that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. That is, after all, what the 2nd Amendment says.

Or maybe you'd like to sing copyrighted songs, criticize minority groups, or defame a politician or two? Free speech, no? Good luck.

The caveats and exceptions that have been carved out by the courts are in some cases so great as to obviate the whole. And even if left unabridged, how would one define the metes and bounds of each right? The text of the Constitution provides little guidance.

Read the Constitution if you want, but don't expect to learn anything, and never--ever--rely on the plain meaning of the document's language. Your time would seriously be better spent with a primer on basic constitutional law. Disagree? Try explaining to yourself what the 9th Amendment means and what specific activities it protects.

:cuss:
 
rkh, you don't have a right to something, like a copyrighted song, that was created by someone else.

Oh, and wasn't Beowolf written in Olde English? Not that it couldn't be perused in a Middle English translation. At least that one's in the public domain. :)
 
We read it in U.S. history, and my Constitutional law professor in law school also made us read it. He then said, "Once you have read it, you will be in a very small minority of Americans."

Your Congressman can send you a free copy of a booklet with the Constitution and the Declaration. Just ask for it.
 
I have a copy of the Federalist Papers and it contains the Articles of Confederation, The Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Every time I pick that book up, I am amazed at the command of the language and the eruditeness expressed by those gentlemen in the 18th Century. I consider myself to have a fairly reasonable grasp of reading comprehension, but I find myself reading and re reading the FP to get a good understanding of what the meaning is. To somehow believe that our Founders were not inspired by a higher power, is to stretch credulity.

It is not that what they had to say, and how they said it is complicated. It is that what they said is such a simple truth. Sometimes the most simplest of things becomes complicated because there are those who would read alternatives into those simple meanings. The 2A is a glaring exampe of this.

The 2A is a statement that defines how a free state remains secure. At the time there were Federalists and Anti Federalists. The 2A mitigated the worries that the Anti Federalist had regarding a bully federal government. A well regulated militia (look for the definition of a militia and what regulated means in the writings of the Founders) is necessary. The right to keep and bear arms is necessary to empower said militia as they were the "man on the street" so to speak, not a standing army furnished arms by an Authority. The Founders had a great mistrust of standing armies, thus the militia had to be guaranteed by the BoR. Simple truth? Tell that to the literati. Ain't nothing simple to those folks. (Tell me what the definition of is, is.)
 
Yup, I have a copy in my back pocket at all times (even right now) that includes the BoR, DoI, Constitution, and a bunch of other interesting pertinent info like landmark court cases. Got it for free from the BAR website about a year ago.
 
I don't know about other States, or the current teachings, but here in the State of Missouri, as a 7th grader we had to learn the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Missouri State Constitution, and pass a test on the three, before we could graduate to Jr, High School (8TH) grade. I personally think that if this practice has been dropped it might explain why there is no Patriotism in the U.S. anymore, as everyone in the United States should at least have a general working knowledge of the Two Most Important Documents in our History, and maybe, just maybe, the Country will be the better for it.
 
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