Dismantling America

[katty]

Dismantling America

more: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26179.htm

By Thomas Sowell

August 18, 2010 "NRO" --The Constitution has been a continuing challenge to those who think ordinary people should be ruled by their betters.

We the people” are the familiar opening words of the Constitution of the United States — the framework for a self-governing people, free from the arbitrary edicts of rulers. It was the blueprint for America, and the success of America made that blueprint something that other nations sought to follow.

At the time when it was written, however, the Constitution was a radical departure from the autocratic governments of the 18th century. Since it was something so new and different, the reasons for the Constitution’s provisions were spelled out in the Federalist, a collection of essays written by three of the writers of the Constitution, as a sort of instruction guide to a new product.

The Constitution was not only a challenge to the despotic governments of its time, but has been a continuing challenge — to this day — to all those who think that ordinary people should be ruled by their betters, whether an elite of blood, or of books, or of whatever else gives people a puffed-up sense of importance.

[Newsjock]

1. This is from the Hoover Institution

Also from the article:

"Now there is leaked news of plans to change the country’s immigration laws by administrative fiat rather than congressional legislation, presumably because Congress might be unduly influenced by those pesky voters — with their constitutional rights — who have shown clearly that they do not want amnesty and open borders, despite however much our betters do. If the Obama administration gets away with this, and can add a few million illegals to the voting rolls in time for the 2012 elections, that can mean reelection, and with it a continuing and accelerating dismantling of America."

Meh.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Snicker...this reader's comments about Sowell...

"If Thomas Sowell were to meet some of the founding fathers there's a decent chance they'd kidnap him, beat him, and make him pick cotton. And he sings so sweet about the Constitution, I wonder if he dances too."

.

[bhikkhu]

3. Not much of an article, if you want the "purpose of the constitution"

After the revolutionary war a constitution was put in place that offered a great deal of liberty and freedom, simply by not creating a powerful central authority. Several symptoms of an "excess of democracy" were the immediate reasons for its replacement.

Madison's transcript of the debates at the constitutional convention is the standard reference; perhaps Sowell hasn't read them, or has dreamed up his own version of history to suit the purpose of the moment (not like that hasn't happened before).