In Defense of Our Document

By Michael Hoag

Well, that's it. Constitution's irrelevant. Outdated. Finished. We've got Twitter, iPads, and Lady Gaga now. We're more advanced and enlightened than the Framers could have imagined in the dandiest of drunken stupors. Older still are the notions of individual rights and the advent of democracy -- the Greeks (we even call them ancient Greeks!) introduced a form of citizen rule centuries before their hands ever touched gunpowder. Surely these ideas, too, are irrelevant, and our greatest minds have more sophisticated solutions to our "unique" modern problems. Really? It's time to dispense with the "zings" and the "gotchas." Unscrupulous critics of the U.S. Constitution refuse to debate substance, using rhetoric to mask intellectual dishonesty. They believe their witticisms and sarcasm can win the day if opponents have the burden of defending the character of our Founders or the history of the document. Using an ideological bias towards American history, critics erect straw men in an effort to discredit the Constitution. Ignored in the assault are the reasons for forming societies, the.... (Read Full Article)