On this Memorial Day I happened to visit the Jefferson Memorial. One of the panels says:
"I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions, but laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."In other word: it's a Constitution, not a strait jacket.
Nino and Clarence, take note.
5 comments:
So amend the Constitution when it is needed - the founders provided for that.
Just don't make shit up and claim the Constitution doesn't matter.
There really is a big difference between those two approaches.
Alexander Hamilton understood what "new truths discovered" meant even at the start of our nation. There was no amendment to create a national bank and yet he and Washington did so anyway.
The national bank was a private business.
Did the US gov't need an amendment to create a private business?
Oh, and despite what you quoted from Jefferson - he was opposed to Hamilton's bank plan anyway.
There was no amendment to create a national bank and yet he and Washington did so anyway.
A hotly contested issue over the first 50 years of the country - that failed twice before being resurrected in the early 20th century as the Federal Reserve. I recall posting a link about the dishonest campaign to establish the Fed; I don't suppose you read it.
And it wasn't until the Progressives arrived on the scene that the "it means what we want it to mean at the moment" gained real traction.
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