David Harsanyi: The Constitution is dead. Long live the Constitution
[David Harsanyi is a columnist at The Denver Post.]
Every patriotic fiber of my body tells me that reading the Constitution aloud at the commencement of congressional sessions is a good idea. Heck, a pop quiz might even be in order. It is vital that members of Congress fully immerse themselves in the document if they're going to circumvent it effectively.
These same instincts demand that I embrace the new Republican rule requiring that every House bill contain a statement from the author specifically citing the constitutional authority on which they are basing legislation. If not for anything else, watching politicians squaring a new law calling for "breastfeeding rights" with the founding document promises an entertainment value that is urgently missing in Washington.
Yet, despite all my superhuman patriotism, I also find the whole effort a bit gimmicky and unnecessary. As you know, the Constitution is malleable and we all believe deeply in our own version — that's if we're imbued with enough wisdom to understand it...
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Every patriotic fiber of my body tells me that reading the Constitution aloud at the commencement of congressional sessions is a good idea. Heck, a pop quiz might even be in order. It is vital that members of Congress fully immerse themselves in the document if they're going to circumvent it effectively.
These same instincts demand that I embrace the new Republican rule requiring that every House bill contain a statement from the author specifically citing the constitutional authority on which they are basing legislation. If not for anything else, watching politicians squaring a new law calling for "breastfeeding rights" with the founding document promises an entertainment value that is urgently missing in Washington.
Yet, despite all my superhuman patriotism, I also find the whole effort a bit gimmicky and unnecessary. As you know, the Constitution is malleable and we all believe deeply in our own version — that's if we're imbued with enough wisdom to understand it...