Jeff Kaley
Waurika News Democrat
WAURIKA —
Jargon and slogans are popular features at tea parties these days, and one of the more frequently heard and seen mottos is: Taking back the Constitution.
Now, some of us didn’t realize the Constitution had been stolen or lost or borrowed, but apparently other Americans are concerned that’s happened, and they want the world’s oldest written framework of government returned.
Which begs the questions: What is it these folks want to take back? And how many tea partyists, libertarians, conservatives and liberals — heck, Americans in general — know much about this important document?
A variety of surveys and studies spanning several years indicate they (we) don’t know that much.
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” In a national survey conducted by Columbia Law School a few years ago, two-thirds of Americans believed that was written by the Founding Fathers and was included somewhere in the Constitution.
Well, unless one of the Founding Fathers was actually the “Father of Modern Communism,” lots of folks are mistaken. See, that maxim is straight from the Karl Marx handbook.
There’s been heated debate about abortion all my adult life. Many anti-abortion supporters, who are genuine in their passion and concern, believe as soon as Roe v. Wade is overturned, abortion will become universally illegal throughout the USofA.
But the seven out of 10 Americans who indicated such a belief on the Columbia survey are wrong. There is a distinction between what is constitutionally permitted and what is constitutionally required, and if Roe v. Wade was overturned today, legal abortion would still exist.
There are other surveys that indicate many Americans simply don’t understand what is or is not written in the Constitution; what is or is not Constitutionally protected.
I’ve mentioned before the results of surveys that indicate only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment, which is a lower percentage than that of people who can name all five members of Homer Simpson’s family.
In another poll that circulated two years ago, over half of those surveyed mistakenly believed:
- The president, acting alone, can appoint a justice to the Supreme Court.
- The Constitution established English as the national language.
- The Constitution guarantees the right to a free public education.
Some other findings of various surveys conducted in the past decade indicate:
- Almost half of Americans mistakenly think a Supreme Court decision can never be overturned, and that a president can suspend constitutional liberties in a time of national emergency.
- Eighty-five percent believe any important case may be appealed from state courts to the Supreme Court.
- Over 46 percent of adult Americans don’t know that the purpose of the Constitution was to create a federal government and define its powers.
- Twenty-six percent believe the Constitution’s purpose was to declare independence from England.
Some in the tea parties are also incensed about taxes, with some sharing a belief that taxation is not constitutionally guaranteed. However, it is. The 16th Amendment authorized an income tax.
And there’s a long, long list of misunderstandings, misinterpretations and just flat out misinformation on what is and isn’t in our Constitution.
That’s understandable, to a point. I’ve read the Constitution and it can be a laborious document; there’s wording and language only a scholar grasp. Some of our constitutional laws are as simple as black and white, others are nuanced and vague, like the Second Amendment.
If the right to bear arms were clear-cut, would we still be having a centuries-old argument on whether the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to possess firearms or whether it only guarantees that states have the right to maintain their own militias?
It’s ridiculous to expect that we’d all understand and remember every part of the Constitution. After all, Albert Einstein couldn’t remember his home phone number.
But the clarion call to “Take back the Constitution” might not ring quite so hollow if more Americans understood what it was they’re taking back.
