It's the Fouth of July. Do you know what your Constitution Stands For?

As we prepare for our Fourth Of July celebration I am focused on the Elena Kagan confirmation hearings. It is ironic that the Republicans trashed Thurgood Marshall for being an activist judge after the recent rulings that have come out of the Robert's Court. Rulings from the Robert's court were made on ideology and not on precedence. (Contrary to their promise made during their hearings.) The shameful ruling giving corporations the status of a person and on the recent gun law ruling were the result of ideology. The rulings were handed down by conservative ideologues. The meaning of an activist judge was never more evident.

In the hearing on Elena Kagan the Republicans could not find a valid reason to oppose her so they had to stress the fact that she clerked for Thurgood Marshall, one of the most outstanding Justices in my lifetime. It was obviously a concerted effort to discredit Marshall and, by association, Kagan. It was a disgusting display of one after another Republican bringing it up.

Thurgood Marshall won more cases argued before the Supreme Court than any other lawyer. I love this quote from him on the Constitution:

"I do not believe the meaning of the Constitution was forever fixed at the Philadelphia convention. To the contrary, the government they devised was defective from the start, requiring several amendments, a civil war, a momentous social transformation to attain the system of constitutional government and its respect for the individual freedoms and human rights we hold as fundamental today."

I will not rant on the strict constructionists like Robert Bork and his ilk, but I strongly believe that our sacred document was meant to be flexible. How could it not be with the many extreme changes in society that have occurred? Our Constitution has withstood the test of time and has seen this country survive so many serious trials. It is truly a remarkable document.

The Founders were wise men who knew that times would change, but even they could not envision such dramatic changes that the industrial age brought, or things like nuclear bombs or machine guns. (Don't get me started on the Second amendment.) The document has had to be flexible to adjust to these changes. We are no longer the agrarian society that our Forefathers lived in. Life is much more complicated now and the constitution has had to be a living document to adjust to these changes.

I can offer nothing better for a 4th of July celebration than the link below. It is a web site with a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and the entire Constitution of the United States, a background of the Framers, and the history of the writing of these documents.

How long has it been since you read the entire Constitution? I can't remember when I read it last. Odd that we so often quote it without referring back to it. Even if you don't have time to read the information found on this web site, it is a good one to bookmark for reference at a later date. I confess that I have only scanned the material on this site, but I have bookmarked it for the next time I want to quote the Constitution.

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html

While the 4th is a time for bar-b-cues, picnics, and fireworks it should also include a thought about our Forefathers and how serious they took the challenge of trying to form a more perfect union.

Happy Fourth of July