Constitution Day Links

I don't know if a "Happy Constitution Day" is appropriate because it only reminds me that modern constitutional law has nothing to do with the Constitution and everything to do with blindly deferring to majorities, but I thought I'd share a few links:

First, the enormous irony of the federal government, by law, training employees about the Constitution can be found in an old blog post over at A Stitch in Haste. There is nothing I can say that wasn't already said in that post.

Second, I came across an old Reason article that was written by Julian Sanchez from around the time when conservatives were enraged by the refusal of the federal courts to hear the Terri Schiavo case despite congressional chest thumping that resulted in that abomination commonly known as Terri's Law. Sanchez presents great arguments akin to those that I have made in the past, linking conservative disdain for the judiciary not to the Framers or to maintaining the fidelity of the document, but to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Last, for my contribution to Constitution Day, here is my take on the empty meaning of "judicial activism"(here). It was one of my last posts at my old blog and one of my favorites.

I'll try to make the best of the day.

As a light-hearted although mildly sarcastic reminder...

I am seeing all sorts of know-nothing types spouting off about greed, I thought it would be a good opportunity to put things in perspective by using one of my favorite YouTube clips:

Here is Milton Friedman giving Phil Donahue a lesson on greed:



I decided to put this up after reading a Bloomberg article that has John McCain pulling a John Edwards:

McCain struck a strongly populist tone, blaming greed and corruption for putting American workers and the economy at risk.

``Too many people on Wall Street have been recklessly wagering instead of making the sound investments we expected of them,'' McCain told a crowd today in Tampa, Florida. ``If I am president, we are not going to tolerate that anymore.''

I hope I am not the only one who sees the arrogance and insolence in these statements. I wasn't aware we were voting for Financial Planner-in Chief.