As any student of Christianity knows, far more
important than obeying the letter of the Bible is obeying its spirit. The
people who obeyed the letter and not the spirit were known as Pharisees. These
people followed the Biblical law, but they did it for wrong reasons. They did
it for social climbing and holier-than-thou one-upmanship and not for the love
of God.
There are people in America who take the same
pharisaic approach with the American Constitution.
What is the spirit of Constitution? It is to give
people rights and liberties. The original constitution only applied this to
white men; but now, thanks to a lot of political work by the American Left,
these rights and liberties also apply to women and to the people of other
races. Extending these protections for rights and liberties to women and non-white
people is a truthful manifestation of the spirit of the Constitution, even if
this was not included originally in its text.
The people who see these protections as not being in
line with the constitutional law are political pharisees. They follow the
letter but not the spirit. If Franklin or Jefferson were alive today, they
would have almost certainly been in favor of women's rights and civil rights.
Their message was liberty; and although this liberty was extended originally to
a fraction of the population, it would have overjoyed these people to see it
extended to everyone else.
The concept of following the spirit rather than the
letter is central to true Christianity; and it is appropriate that the same
understanding be extended to politics. The political pharisees are in violation
of the intent of American Founders and cannot be regarded as true American
patriots. Much greater patriotism is found in those who have worked to extend
the protections afforded by Constitution to parts of the population that it did
not originally protect. These people follow the spirit of the Constitution and
as such are its true followers.
Another argument frequently made is that the contemporary
taxation system and "big government" are not Constitutional. If that
is the case, why did it happen in the first place? For that matter, the
founders did not support a standing military either, yet nobody is saying that
America should go without a standing military. Both Democrats and Republicans
have supported the 20th century system; even Reagan did not dismantle it. One
possible reason is that his own family had been saved by the New Deal,
otherwise they would have starved to death during the Great Depression. And
much good has come from this "big government." America's scientists
dominate the world's Nobel Prizes and produce work that's at the root of
technology - meaning, at the root of just about everything that business sells.
Government projects such as the Interstate and the Internet provide an
infrastructure for the business world to do its work. The public education
system makes people employable. Social Security means that old people don't
starve to death. And workplace-related laws, championed by the unions, are the
reason that most Americans aren't working 16-hour days in horrendous conditions
and getting put out on the street in case of a workplace injury.
What do these "strict constitutionalists"
want? Probably the same thing desired by pharisees in Christianity. They are
people of a fundamentalist persuasion who want to turn back the clock on
everything that happened since 1776. And what they do not understand is that
for every change - good or bad - there is a reason; and until they understand
the reasons for the changes that have taken place during 20th century they are doomed
to re-creating conditions that caused these changes to take place.
The more the workers are mistreated, the more people
want stronger unions. The more women are mistreated, the more people believe in
a need for feminism and women's rights. The more capricious the job market, and
the more jobs go abroad, the more people want job security and trade protections.
The more nature is plundered, the more people recognize the need for
environmentalism.
It is in fact true that those who do not learn from
history are doomed to repeat it; and we see this with Constitutional pharisees.
If they re-create the conditions of the 19th century, they will get slammed
with what they dislike about the 20th century - yet again. Far more important
than following the letter is following the spirit. And that is not found in
today's Republicans. It is found a lot more in the people who are upholding
women's rights, civil liberties, and people's right to defend themselves from
predatory conduct.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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