Here on Irregular Times, there are a great number of articles we’ve written that have to do with constitutional rights, and even when we haven’t started out writing about the Constitution, resulting conversation often leads us there. I find myself often going to read the Constitution, to copy and paste its text word for word, or just check that I’ve remembered something about it correctly. It’s great to have the Constitution online, though its founders never conceived of such a thing, being able to do a quick word search to bring a bit more clarity to a discussion.
In order to make the process of checking a bit more quick, for us writers and Irregular Times readers, I’ve put up a simple, no-frills copy of the Constitution here on Irregular Times. I’ve also placed a permanent link to the text, and to a few other good resources, here on the front page. It’s under the section “Essential Documents”, at the very bottom of the most righthand sidebar.
If you still haven’t read the Constitution, now is a good time. It’s a great read – if not for the language, then for the ideas that they represent.
i have a copy and started re-reading it at your suggestion. the book is five inches wide by seven inches high. it totals sixty-seven pages that include publisher notes, table of contents, the declaration of independence, the constitution of the united states of america(the preamble, seven articles and twenty-three amendments) and a four page index.[am i missing some amendments? something about women's rights, maybe?] i have to confess i borrowed this book from the county library in 1989 and never returned it. i did pay my fines and my library card is once again in good standing. i still refer back to this old copy every once in a while. large print and double spacing make it an easy read. amazing how every page holds unique history.
such as:
article 1, section 9, “limitations upon powers of congress”
‘no title of nobility shall be granted by the united states.’
so much for the “king of pop”
but, seriously, i agree, it’s a great read. what really is amazing is how some politicians either completely ignore it or subvert it to accomodate their own agenda.
most of the atricles and amendments are succinct and stated in one sentence. a few paragraphs are required in the more complex articles. how such a straight forward text can be so misconstrued is hard to fathom. i guess it’s not what is stated that is diputed, it’s what is not stated that is constantly debated.
“God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty. … What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
Thomas Jefferson, 1787
Take a few moments and ponder on these historical words of Patrick Henry: “They tell us, Sir, that we are weak – unable to cope with such a formidable ADVERSARY. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be next week, or next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed ….Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying spinelessly on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? . . .Sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just GOD who presides over the destinies of nations . . . The battle, Sir, it’s not to the strong alone. It is to the vigilant, the active, the brave . . . There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! . . .Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace! – But there is no peace. The war is actually begun! . . . Why stand we here Idle? What is it that Gentleman wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, ALMIGHTY GOD! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!”
Bishop R.A. Brown said, “Freedom can only be won . . . the warfare is continuous and each generation comes to the front to fight for it as though the battle had just been joined.”
Thomas Jefferson declared, “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects something it cannot be . . . This country with its Constitution belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they grow weary of the existing form of government they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it . . . The tree of liberty must be from time to time watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants . .
The men who fought the Revolutionary War for our freedom and independence were considered by the King of England to be violent revolutionaries. These revolutionaries took up arms solely on the authority of their own consciences. There was not one of them that would not have been hung or shot if they had been captured by the British Army. They pledged their life, fortunes and sacred honor for the freedom that they cherished. Many of them lost their families, homes, wealth and their lives in the fight for freedom that declared their independence from the tyranny of British Crown.
Trotsky proclaimed: “Governments need armies to protect them against their enslaved and oppressed subjects.”
President Teddy Roosevelt said, “Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any public official, save exactly to the degree he himself stands by the country.”
Ronald Reagan said, “I like jelly beans.”
Lyndon Johnson said, “Do you think this cowboy hat makes my butt look big?”
Frank Lloyd Wright said, “I think I’ll go back to sleep.”
Kermit the Frog said, “Piggyyyy!”
What’s YOUR point, GP? Are you unable to speak for yourself – or to read the Constitution for yourself?
If you lack reading comprehension it means that your lib teachers failed and so did you as well, comprende?
No, I don’t think you understand. Listing a bunch of things that other people said is not equivalent to making an argument itself. You’re not speaking for yourself. Why? Can’t quite find the train of logic?
“your lib teachers failed and so did you as well, comprende?”
so, sorry. no comprende. please to say same again.
really, gp, laudible quotes, but, where is the point?
that we have a continual fight to uphold the constitution?
that we need additional amendments to make the constitution more palatable to your conventions?
that lib teachers have misrepresented the meaning of the constitution?
that re-reading the constitution is a waste of time?
that we need a violent revolution and a new constitution?
platitudes and vague innuendos are not effective dialogue. although i practice them often myself (as witnessed by IT on several occasions),they usually fall on deaf ears or are rolled over by logic and facts).
Truer words were never spoken.
Subject: Confederacy of Fools
“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”
Who can tax you? Who can ? The Government can!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO2eh6f5Go0
Ray Stevens and Obamacare:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc_-L4fyLUo
Breaking News! Just in:
The United States Constitution has just been found in a dumpster behind the White House:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=UZkvkLmkYVg