Maybe I could just begin a petition to declare "unconstitutional" a vulgar and inappropriate word. Then I could act as exasperated as I actually am every time someone uses it. I could say "Really, news anchor, you are going to stoop to using THAT word. On national television?!" and everyone around me would shake their heads sadly and think just what I am thinking "The world is deteriorating." Of course, they would be thinking it was because of all the cussin' kids do now-a-days and I would be thinking something else. Here is what I think:
Just using this word in conversation implies a few horrible things are going on in your brain:
- You are thinking that the rights and privileges that we call "human rights" are given to us by a birthplace, by a piece of paper or even worse by some very human men who came from a society with its very own flaws over 2 hundred years ago. You think that people who are born in Mexico do not share these rights, or you think that if we found out that the wording had been changed by some no-name secretary (from the original wording of the god-like founding fathers), that our whole society would collapse.
- You think that there is something pure about the morals put down on paper by these fully human and vulnerable dead men. You think that before we look to our hearts, we should look to theirs.
- You think that the correct reading of these words will show us the true and right way to live. You think that there is some "correct" way of governing which applied in 1800 and will apply just as well in 2000. This is similar to how many people feel about the bible, but it makes less sense. No one is claiming that these guys are gods.
The rules which are specific are suspect in their very own ways. There are more than 20 mistakes which have had to be corrected so far (that's what amendments are). It is therefore silly to tell someone that they are wrong because the constitution says so, unless you think that we should have slavery, only let a dozen or so people vote, and simultaneously ban and not ban alcohol.
For those of you who are into this word, and there are a lot of you (and you are loud) I may be willing accept the following compromise:
"Hence forth, the word 'constitutional' will refer to something which is currently allowable by the constitution as it stands. The word will not constitute an argument for or against something other than in a 'well, slavery has worked just fine for us for 80 years' sort of way. It will have at its very basis a temporary debatable feel and an understanding that the rules were made to be rewritten and that changing the laws to fit the times was intended by our founding fathers, who were imperfect men who happened to accomplish some pretty good stuff in their times."
Take it or leave it.
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