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Old 12-23-2003, 01:19 PM   #2
Radar
Constitutional Scholar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 4,006
First, knock off the FARD bullshit. There is no "free according to Radar's definition". There is only free. You're fre or your not. The definition I use of "free" is the same commonly held definition used for centuries.

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Like this mystical "perfectly Constitutional" US which may have existed. As you point out, the language of the Constitution is pretty clear and obvious. And yet, over time, it did not support itself, because imperfect people implemented it.

The Constitution is a piece of paper. In my opinion it's the most perfect piece of writing ever made by mankind, but that's another topic. The Constitution doesn't jump out of its case and shout at the people in Congress, The Supreme Court, or the Oval office when they try to circumvent it. Only people can do that. We only have as much freedom as we're willing to work for.

As Thomas Jefferson put it, "The Price Of Freedom Is Eternal Vigilance".

We have a moral obligation to keep a watchful eye on government and never to allow them to step beyond their authority for any reason no matter how good that reason sounds, like "the children".

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You say that you could construct a Constitution rev. II which makes it more clear and obvious how things are supposed to work. In practice, I believe that approach would probably fail faster than rev. I simply because of human nature.
Human nature for some is to get something for nothing which is impossible. By making the Constitution harder to circumvent, people would be more apt to stop trying.

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You HAVE to give the people the power to choose and implement their governance. Otherwise is the short road to tryanny.
Agreed, but you're making the mistake of thinking that the people chose our current governance which is not the case. Most of the unconstitutional parts of government were surreptitiously added without any poll from the people. Government decided for itself that it had more power. This is when the people failed to do their duty and force government to abide by the Constitution because they might have thought it's a good idea. But they didn't realize that when you give government the power to do good things, the next guy will use that power to do bad things. And most of the power that government is currently wielding is usurped power without the consent of the people.

Libertarianism doesn't require a utopia or a perfect society with perfect people. It works just fine in the real world with real human nature.
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"I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death."
- George Carlin
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