Friday, December 31, 2010

The Constitution Confuses Him Because "It Was Written Over a Hundred Years Ago."

This isn't a high school student. It's Washington Post staffer and blogger Ezra Klein. He said that the Constiution should have no binding power and that it is confusing because it was written over a hundred years ago.



Other things that might confuse Mr. Klein are:

A Christmas Carol, published in December 1843

A certain document that starts "When in the course of human events . . ." written in the summer of 1776

Any European based fairy tales, like "Jack and the Beanstalk." They had their origins in the Middle Ages, so they must be, like, waaaayy confusing.

Proverbs 22

This one might be well over Mr. Klein's head, being a liberal and all. Also, Cicero said it over 2,000 years ago. "Cannot people realize how large an income is thrift?"

"A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference." Thomas Jefferson said this over two hundred years ago, so it must be twice as confusing to Mr. Klein. Does he know that Mr. Jefferson founded the Democratic Party? The background of that is probably too much for Klein to comprehend, it happened in the 1790s.

“You can educate a fool, but you cannot make him think” This comes from the Talmud, a collection of Jewish legal thinking from over 1500 years ago. That makes it fifteen times more confusing than the Constitution. It also sums up left wingers to a T.

And most confusing of all, a link to that mysterious and unknowable document, the Constitution. It's filled with such confusing phrases as "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives." That is the one that the almighty Obama himself seems to have a lot of trouble comprehending. I think the word "herein" is where Klein is having trouble.

In any event, the Constitution lives so long as we uneducated heathen know it, live it, and defend it when necessary. I think it is amazing that a Keyser High School political science class is poised to win a state title based on their knowledge of not only the Constitution, but also important influences like John Locke and the Magna Carta. Maybe Ezra Klein should take AP Government at Keyser High and learn a little something.

2 comments:

  1. And yes, I know that the Constitution was ratified by the states beginning in 1788. I was just going along with the bizarreness of Klein's statement for comic effect.

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  2. One thing for sure, the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights is an EXTREMELY complex document that is being manipulated, interpreted and expounded on a daily basis, no, every second by someone -- and I am sure that it is interjected with personal interpretations all the time -- every day, every second -- in order to adapt and accommodate one's personal needs.

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