{"id":7538,"date":"2014-09-17T13:24:41","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T17:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=7538"},"modified":"2016-09-29T11:59:50","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T15:59:50","slug":"celebrating-constitution-day-age-obama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/17\/celebrating-constitution-day-age-obama\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Constitution Day in the Age of Obama"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is Constitution Day; the official White House photo for the occasion is on the left. \u00a0Obama issued a proclamation<\/a> for the occasion that is knee-deep with his\u00a0usual Statist hokum. Obama\u00a0declared: \u201cOur Constitution…\u00a0 secures the privileges<\/strong><\/em> we enjoy as citizens, but also demands participation, responsibility, and service to our country and to one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Bill of Rights was not a \u201cBill of Privileges.\u201d The Bill of Rights recognized the pre-existing\u00a0rights of American citizens\u2014it did not bestow those rights on a conquered populace.<\/strong> Americans of the Revolutionary Era would only permit a national government to come into existence if the leaders of that government would solemnly pledge to limit their power in perpetuity. The Bill of Rights was not \u201cradical\u201d according to the beliefs of Americans of that era; instead, it codified rights both long recognized in English common law and purchased in blood during the Revolution. The Constitution was almost rejected because many people believed it vested too much power in the federal government.<\/p>\n

Insofar as government officials violate the rights recognized by the Founding Fathers and codified in the Constitution, then the government is illegitimate. Congressmen and the president take an oath of office to uphold the Constitution. When as they scorn that oath, they transform themselves into a predator class, and politics becomes little more than promising and pilfering.\u00a0 If rulers can ignore the Constitution,\u00a0citizens have the same type of freedom that slaves had on days when their masters chose not to beat them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As far as Obama’s record on obeying the Constitution – well, this blog is overstocked with\u00a0examples of his contempt for citizens’ rights.<\/p>\n

Eight years ago, for Constitution Day 2006, I had some fun on this blog on how Americans should celebrate the day in a proper George W. Bush spirit<\/a>.\u00a0 Here’s the highlights and some excellent suggestions from commenters:<\/p>\n

1) Wiretap your neighbor.\u00a0 If he discovers it and complains, ask him whose side he is on and what does he have to hide.\u00a0\u00a0 Send the tapes of all conversations to the local FBI.<\/p>\n

2) Capture and torture an illegal immigrant.\u00a0 If he confesses, turn him in.\u00a0 If he doesn\u2019t confess, try new methods to extract the truth.<\/p>\n

3) Notify your mortgage company that you appended a secret \u201csigning statement\u201d when you signed the mortgage.\u00a0 Thus, you are relieved of any duty to continue monthly payments.<\/p>\n

What are other appropriate Bush-style ways to celebrate the anniversary of the Constitution this week?++<\/p>\n

+MarkN<\/strong> September 17, 2006 at 11:57 am
\nWrite a letter-to-the-editor outing your neighbor as a secret CIA agent. Then, when the letter is published, write another letter in which you excoriate the newspaper for \u201caiding the terrorists\u201d and accuse the newspaper of treason.<\/p>\n

+al lorentz<\/strong> September 17, 2006 at 1:25 pm
\nAccuse your neighbor of being involved in drug use and confiscate his property claiming that his property is not entitled to due process of law. Tell him he can have it back if he can prove that he is innocent. Make the process of proving his innocence more expensive than the actual property is worth.<\/p>\n

+Tom Blanton<\/strong> September 17, 2006 at 9:36 pm
\nReal Americans should celebrate Constitution Day by doing their part to fight the war on terror in their own neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

First, identify that neighbor whom you suspect may pose a gathering threat. Things like facial hair, unusual schedules, and bringing in unknown materials in shopping bags are sure signs that something is up.<\/p>\n

Next, notify all the other neighbors that the suspect neighbor is a madman who is building bombs in his home to kill everyone in the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Then, go to the suspect neighbor\u2019s house and ask to look around. If he resists or if he refuses to let you rip up the floors in his house, it is obvious that he must be hiding something.<\/p>\n

Finally, wait until the suspect neighbors go to sleep, blow up their car, set their tool shed on fire, break out their windows, enter their home, tie them up, make them take off their clothes and put bags on their heads, play a Spinal Tap CD really loud, and interrogate the family until they admit to their evil plans.<\/p>\n

In the event these people don\u2019t talk, drive them over to your cousin\u2019s house and tie them up in his garage and have him interrogate them from time to time.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, be sure to report to your Neighborhood Association how you have made the neighborhood safe, but not completely safe.<\/p>\n

Repeat the process with a new suspicious neighbor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is Constitution Day; the official White House photo for the occasion is on the left. \u00a0Obama issued a proclamation for the occasion that is knee-deep with his\u00a0usual Statist hokum. Obama\u00a0declared: \u201cOur Constitution…\u00a0 secures the privileges we enjoy as citizens, but also demands participation, responsibility, and service to our country and to one another.\u201d But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[451,45,137,27,38,14],"class_list":["post-7538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-constitution","tag-freedom","tag-george-w-bush","tag-lying","tag-obama","tag-rule-of-law"],"yoast_head":"\nCelebrating Constitution Day in the Age of Obama - James Bovard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/17\/celebrating-constitution-day-age-obama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Celebrating Constitution Day in the Age of Obama - James Bovard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is Constitution Day; the official White House photo for the occasion is on the left. \u00a0Obama issued a proclamation for the occasion that is knee-deep with his\u00a0usual Statist hokum. 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