Sunday, January 29, 2006

[1737 - Thomas Paine, political philosopher, patriot, born in England]

[1861 - Kansas enters the Union as a free state]

[1880 - W. C. Fields (Dukenfield), actor/comedian, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]

[1885 - Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter), blues singer/songwriter, born in Mooringsport, Louisiana]

[1956 - H[enry] L. Mencken, essayist/critic/satirist, dies in Baltimore at 75]

[1963 - Robert Lee Frost, poet (4 Pulitzers), dies at 88]

A Modest Proposal

There is talk about amending our Constitution every time the judiciary makes an unpopular ruling on a hot button social issue. Fortunately, the Founding Fathers made it difficult for us to tamper with their crowning achievement, so these misguided efforts usually die a well-deserved death. Those same Fathers were acutely aware of the evil that arises from a Tyranny of the Majority, and would roundly condemn the current efforts to weave a particular religious and cultural definition of marriage that is favored by the President and his friends into the most basic law of the land. Indeed, one expects they would counsel us to leave such matters in the hands of individual citizens, or of the States, as they are now.

If you are going to mess with our Constitution at all, here is a proposal worthy of more serious attention than others currently under consideration. It would add the following to Article I :

Section 11. Whenever the Congress shall consider any Declaration of War, or any Act or Resolution that authorizes the commitment of the Armed Forces to combat, or the funding of such activity, only the votes of those Members who have previously served in combat, and those who have children or grandchildren currently on active duty with the Armed Forces of the United States of America shall be counted.

A two thirds majority of such votes shall be necessary for the passage of any such measure.

The maximum term of any such Declaration of War, Act, or Resolution that puts the Armed Forces into active combat shall be one year, although such actions of the Congress may be renewed and continued indefinitely after full and careful consideration.

William's Whimsical Words:

A rational society makes it easy for individuals to establish long-term caring relationships, and hard for governments to wage war.

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