No Constitutionby Russ Stein Lately there’s been a lot of nattering about the supposed threat to the Constitution of Ashcroft, Bush, military tribunals, and the USA Patriot Act. Well don’t worry. The USA doesn’t have a written constitution and hasn’t had one for a long time. That’s not to say that Bush-Ashcroft et. al. aren’t a threat to life & liberty. They are. But when you meet your end in front of a tribunal ordered firing squad, you can depart secure in the knowledge that the Constitution had already vanished long before Ashcroft and the War on Terrorism. Rather than a constitution, what we have is a ruling class of judicial bureaucrats and lawyers who both make and apply the laws for the entire county, in open defiance of the written constitution that once was in effect, long ago. A vast propaganda operation props up our legal aristocracy, using constitution-talk to equate its absolute rule with true constitutional government. Set your propaganda alarm to go off at any of the following boilerplate terms: “our constitutional framework” – “our constitutional liberties” – “our cherished freedoms” – “civil liberties” – “civil rights” – “right to counsel” – “illegal search & seizure.” – and especially “Judicial Independence.” Assume that any statement containing one of these terms is an outright lie when issued by any of the following: NPR, lawyers, ACLU, ABA, Larry Tribe, journalists, federal judiciary, or Nin(y) Totenburg. Extra-special warning: Lock up the silverware whenever you hear the phrase “Due Process.” No two words in history have cost taxpayers more cash. When these propagandists say “constitution” what they’re really talking about is the series of 20th century federal court decisions striking down state laws, hijacking local schools and police, marginalizing religion, and centralizing power in the federal government. This tyranny, whereby the U.S. Supreme Court, lawyers, and bureacrats overthrew the constitutional system of decentralized, representative authority, was exactly what the original constitution was supposed to prevent. The Supreme Court’s jihad against the actual constitution and federalism was legitimized by the judiciary’s supposed power of “judicial review,” about which Thomas Jefferson (one of the constitution’s authors) had this to say: “I have long wished for a proper occasion to have the gratuitous opinion in Marbury vs. Madison brought before the public and denounced as not law.” Marbury v. Madison, by the way, was the case in which the Supreme Court announced that it had the power to review and strike down laws that, in its opinion, conflict with the Constitution. In the 19th century the powerless court, without prestige or allies, barely dared to exercize its claimed power. But in the 20th century the Court became a tyrant, ordering race busing in the schools, striking down popular initiatives (like Colorado’s Prop. 8 in which voters attempted to prevent affirmative action for gays), intervening on behalf of the losing side in the political struggle over abortion, setting criminal procedure for every court in the country (which Con Law professor Akil Amar of Yale has called “an embarassment”), declaring unconstitutional an all-male military academy, VMI, and generally undermining the power of democratically elected leaders and representative institutions. Jefferson was right. This is “not law,” and it certainly ain’t The Constitution. Recent polls show overwhelming popular support for restricting “constitutional rights” in favor of the Bush Administration’s War on Terrorism. This reflects the deep resentment and unpopularity of the ruling lawyer aristocracy. It also shows that Americans aren’t decieved by constitutional rhetoric. They know “the constitution” and the courts destroyed self-government. At this point polls would probably show overwhelming popular support for repealing the Constitution altogether. So for everyone out there fretting about the loss of The Constitution, not to worry. If the lawless regime of Blackmun, Brennan, Marshall, Souter, Ginsburg, and Rehnquist, &c. is undermined by popular support for the War on Terrorism, all to the good. It’s about time we had government policies that Americans actually support. For myself, I would much prefer mobocracy, anarchy, or even islamic-fundamentalism to rule by the ignorant, prejudiced, and self-important legal establishment.
Russ Stein [send him mail] wants to be a defense attorney and libertarian writer. He is currently in California but is threatening to move to Utah or Colorado. Copyright © 2001 LewRockwell.com LRC
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December
11, 2001