Squaring the Circle

I just returned from a wonderful trip to Wales. On the way, I arranged to visit Temple Church in London, a place I have been trying to get to for many years. It was well worth it.

Put aside all the silliness you have heard about the Templar Knights, even Monty Python. They were deadly serious. And for all the blood and error, they were searching for and attempting to establish a concept. It was in the round church quartered by the Cross. Temple Church is in a circle based on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The site of the Resurrection of Jesus was considered to be the center of the earth to the medieval Christian mind. Everything radiated from there.

In 1215, powerful Barons in England threatened King John with the loss of his life and kingdom with some very good reasons. And with no candidate at the time to replace him as king, the Baron's came up with concepts instead. The most important being: No. One. Is. Above. The. Law. And they made John sign a Charter to that effect with 25 of them as guarantors to remove the king if he failed to live up to the Charter. Well, fail he did as did many kings that followed. But the principles were enshrined as the faults of the Charter slowly worked themselves out over the centuries. This is an ongoing process. 

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The Constitution Is NOT A "Negative" Document!

I know what they mean. It's the whole conservative line that the U.S. Constitution's purpose was to establish a limited government. Even though it came after the failed Articles of Confederation to give the national government more, not less power. Don't believe the propaganda. Read the document itself.

Today someone posted a clip from the Senate hearings to confirm (or not) Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. Senator Sasse of Nebraska set him up for this "negative" document thing.



So I had to respond:

President Obama's Farewell Address

Yes, I liked the speech. It reaffirmed that the President's views of politics and the Constitution are very much like mine. I don't agree with him 100%, but it's in the nineties.

This is a great speech. This is the best President of my lifetime.

I provide here the full text of the speech as found on CNN. I provide no further commentary at this time, but I have highlighted the parts I like the best.

The Smaller the Government, the Muddier It Gets

Newly and Disgracefully Plowed Road at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Harney County, Oregon

There is a general belief that the smaller the government, the better. That is, unless you've ever been to an actual city council meeting or . . . let a bunch of dopey cowboys run a national wildlife refuge just for the heck of it.

Somebody thought it a good idea at Malheur to take a government bulldozer on their own authority and plow a new road through a formerly protected cultural resources site that had not been fully examined but is known to have significance to the local Malheur Paiutes who have, until armed yokels took over, had a pretty good working relationship with the federal government at the Refuge.

I'm no fan of the cumbersome bureaucracy of the federal government, believe you me. But it is a living as we try to sort out the laws and rules designed to give every participant a say and a fair shake in determining how the slow wheels of government grind ever so slowly forward, hopefully for the best. And there are many adequate opportunities for course correction through public participation in advisory councils, public rule-making, and Congressional action reflecting and balancing the interests of numerous constituents and their various group interests. Also, the President can act attempting to implement (or not) the Congressional mandates, with the Courts always available to hear challenges to the processes and decisions.

The Bigger the Tea Party, the Smaller the Munchkin

Soon to be former House Majority Leader

¡Hasta la vista, Eric Cantor!

Tea Party Member

A very small percentage of Virginia voters has just thrown out the Republican House Majority Leader, Eric Cantor. He lost his primary to a tea-party challenger.

Yes, the tea party is not dead yet, it's just killin' the party formerly known as the Republicans. Democrats aren't doing so great with terrible approval ratings for the President and a likely 2016 front-runner that a good portion of the country just loves to hate - again.

This all does help establish the ultimate point that if government is the problem, then it must be disrespected and destroyed by any means.

Bumper Sticker Time!

Sitting at home with my thoughts percolating into little blips for tweeting, I am able to express what I've long been believin':

You Can't Govern with those Who Think Government Is the Problem.

You Can't Compromise with those Who Believe Compromise Is the Problem. 

Compromise Is Not a Dirty Word 

Federal Employees are People Too!

Federal Employees Have Families

We the People Are Not a Machine

It didn't go well at Costco today. I was scouting out the free samples while my wife was getting some photos printed. There was a guy selling his book on the Constitution. As I listened in for a minute, he was telling a woman that it was just the basic documents and not any interpretation. I picked it up and thumbed through it. [Rough transcription from memory follows]:

 "You mean it's just the Constitution itself and not your interpretation?"

"No. Just statements from the founders about what the Constitution means."

I put the book back on the table. "Then it has interpretation!"

The Constitution Is Not Dead

Do you realize the implication of those like Justices Scalia and Thomas, along with Beck and the late Skousen who argue against a "living Constitution?" I hope they are not saying the Constitution is dead. I much prefer a living Constitution to a dead one.

As far as I can tell, I don't believe those who promote a living Constitution believe it is a "free-for-all" to interpret however we want. To draw a little scriptural analogy, which many on the right are so fond of anyway in spite of the First Amendment and the "no religious test" of Article VI, why can't we "liken the Constitution unto us" and consider its principles as applied to our current situation?

Our Constitution Survives Even Unnecessary, Drummed-up Crises!!! (Or maybe not?)

I still say ANY compromise is good for the President, and our Constitutional Union (that's ALL of us), because the opposition ends up "compromising" with a President they have been trying to make fail. Oh, and did they forget he's some kind of Communist/Nazi/Foreign/Muslim/Elitist/etc., or maybe, just maybe,they are beginning to acknowledge he's a real American like all the rest of us and actually our legitimate President????? That's good enough for me. Feel free to disagree within our Constitutional processes.

That's all I'm asking. Please feel free to disagree through our inspired Constitutional processes including all of the Amendments, our Court decisions, and 200+ years of Constitutional History (not to mention our heritage of the common law.) Our Constitution did not die with the Founding.

The D-News Gets It - Will Senator Mike "Tea Party" Lee?

I was very pleased to see this front page article in the Deseret News this morning. The headline and the graphic on the side of the print edition referenced the "Living Constitution." That struck a chord with me. I hadn't really thought of this idea before and I am fully aware how many strict-constructionists or original-intenters don't like the idea of a living Constitution because they think that makes it too malleable and subject to political whim. But on the other hand, the obvious opposite of "living" is "dead." And I certainly don't want a dead Constitution.

I just can't believe our inspired Founders wanted us forever to interpret our self-governance as they would have. Sure, they provided for Amendment for the big things, but just how to make the process work has to work for our time as well as theirs. To go a little "Mormon" on this idea, we certainly pay a lot more attention to living prophets than we do to dead ones. In fact, that was the problem when the Savior Himself walked the earth. The people didn't recognize Him standing right in front of their eyes because they were so dogmatically stuck on the way they thought the dead prophets had set up the rules.

Bottom line, there is not just one right way to interpret the Constitution. The process is everything.