U.S. Constitution
The TV show “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” hosted by comedian Jeff Foxworthy enjoys some popularity. It captures the TV template for success: quizzes/trivia, give away money and make presumably intelligent people look stupid.
When it comes to knowledge about how American government works, most do not have to be made to look stupid. Many are.
The prepositional phrase “in this economy” has become a part of the American vernacular. The economy has slowed down — unemployment jumped to nearly 10%, the financial industry took a huge hit as investors lost $11.2 trillion between October 2007 and March 2009, and the housing market is still in crisis.
Congress and the Obama administration have taken steps to remedy the situation. Along with implementing an $800 billion stimulus package, the government has orchestrated a bailout for automakers that could soon top $130 billion and has committed over $6 trillion for financial institutions.
Some amendments in the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution leap to mind much quicker than others.
First Amendment protections often get cited — speech, religion, the press, assembly and petitioning government. And most folks know the Second Amendment gives them the right to “bear arms.”
I read a lot and hear a lot about what “the Founding Fathers” meant when they cobbled together the Constitution. And I read and hear a lot about what people think “the Founding Fathers” would do regarding issues faced by Americans today.
Indeed, a constitutional interpretation called “originalism” hinges on coming to some conclusion about the intent of the constitutional framers when they put pen and ink to paper.
Excerpted from DemocracyConservator.org .
In the 1780s, Alexander Tyler, a University of Edinburgh professor, stated that democracy was a transitory form of government - “[[Democracy]] can only exist until voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship.” (bold and italics added)
