Ok, I'll stick my neck out "yet" again and hope you guys think about whether what I'm saying makes any sense, instead of getting just getting angry!
To only enforce what is spelled out in concrete language in the Constitution is not what the Founding Fathers ever intended. It misses the beauty of the document.
The Founding Fathers were wise enough to create the Constitution as "living document" intended to put forth both specific limitations and powers as well as broad concepts to be interpreted based on a changing history. They intended concrete limitation on power plus general concepts to be interpreted based on the changing times. A “Living Document” does
not mean you invent new language to educated liberals. It means the Founding Fathers knew everything could not be spelled out concretely because of a changing future they could not imagine. If every word was simplistic and concrete there would be little need for a Supreme Court to exist to interpret the Constitution in the first place! Privacy in 1781 didn’t mention laptop computers and cell phones so we have to “interpret” what the Founding Fathers meant by "
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects". Many far right conservatives try to narrowly interpret only the concrete words the like rather than the intent of the Constitution to support their ideology! That's every bit as much trying to erase the Constitution from the Supreme Court Bench as as is the over the extending of original intent by the Supreme Court.
Based on that concrete, simplistic thinking, movies and TV programs could be censored if they contain ideas that offend the current government. A Hollywood movie, TV program, piece of art, or a cartoon without a caption were not clearly identified by the Founding Fathers as "speech" or the "press", but the Supreme Court has wisely interpreted the terms speech and press as being that period's methods of expressing dissent! It does not define "Free Speech" as sending truckloads of cash to our politicians and receiving Government favors and access as we all see it today.
So if we interpret the Constitution like it's a dumb, dead, rigidly written block of concrete then it won't interfere with those in power either Liberal or Conservative! Then all the important issues can be left to the magic of the free market to sort out as the Robber Barons did until government stepped in! Does the Free Market lovingly take care of the little man without interpeting the Constitution? Not hardly! We sure don't want big government interference in slavery, the vote for women, air quality, water pollution, strip mining, oil companies record profits during record gas prices, Haliburton, Enron, drug and medical insurance company public rip offs, or the building of permanent bases in Iraq and Afghanistan when we are "supposedly" not occupying it permanently. None of those were spelled out in concrete language by the Constitution. The power of government to affect these things was interpreted as part of a "living Constitution". If it was part of the concrete language it would have been part of our law in 1781. The 14th Amendment only makes the point "nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." The Supreme Court had to interpret what that language meant in thousands of different cases! When state laws said that Black men had to have qualifications that were not applied to White men those words had to be interpreted to provide equal rights.
It's interesting how many conservatives want limited government and concrete Constitutional language until they want to use the government to enforce their own personal opinions, beliefs, religions, or to inpose U.S. corporate interests on U.S. citizens and 3rd world peoples all over the world! Then using that big, bad old U.S. Government to enforce their personal desires on others becomes constitutional. Ask the 3rd world countries and Terry Schiavo's husband about that! Big government is just fine when it furthers conservative opinions and business corporate agendas and terribly wrong when it supports liberal ideas.
Now don't yell! Think about what I've said first!
