What is the current use of the constitution?

Answer 1

The U.S. Constitution and its Amendments outlined the basic principles of how the United States were to be governed. Although most people are familiar with the First Amendment (freedom of speech), the Second Amendment (The Right to Bear Arms), and the Fourth Amendment (restricting search and seizure), most of the Constitution deals with how the government is to be run.

The Constitution is relevant today because not only does it provide the foundation on which the U.S. government is built, it provides certain individual freedoms essential to a healthy democracy. These freedoms are intact because any new laws passed by Congress must fit into the framework provided by the Constitution. Laws that are passed by the U.S. Congress and Senate that do not fit into the Constitutional framework may be deemed "unconstitutional" by the Supreme Court and rejected. That is what the Constitution is being used for now. Toilet paper in the restrooms of the US Supreme Court, Congress, and even the White House. It is a crying shame what we, the people, have allowed our government to get away with doing to the Constitution. It was meant to protect our rights. Now it protects nothing but the tender backsides of our politicians. The First Amendment provides for freedom of speech, such that one can criticize the government openly, as seen above. It is funny that you would use the First Amendment as "proof" that the Constitution still means something. Campaign Finance Reform is a clear violation of the First Amendment. Congress passed it. The President signed it. The Supreme Court didn't overturn it. All three defecated on the Constitution. The First Amendment is now null and void. The "toilet paper" statement is protected only because the government hasn't (yet) decided that it should be illegal. When they decide that, the Constitution will not stop them, just like it didn't stop Campaign Finance Reform. The Second Amendment is also null and void, because our right to bear arms is routinely infringed. An infringement is not an outright denial of a right - it is any limit, restriction, or qualification, however minor, placed on that right. The requirement to register a firearm is an infringement. Limits on the types of arms that we can bear (i.e., automatic rifles) are an infringement. Restrictions on where (gun-free zones) and how (concealed weapons) we can carry guns are an infringement. And, of course, some state and local governments do more than just "infringe" the right to bear arms. In Washington, DC and other cities, it is, for all practical purposes, illegal to own or carry a gun. How about the federal income tax? A special amendment (16th) was ratified to make it legal. The 16th Amendment says that Congress has the power to collect income tax. But Congress isn't collecting it. The IRS is collecting it, and the IRS is part of the Executive Branch. There is nothing in the Constitution that gives the Executive Branch any authority to collect income taxes. And there is nothing in the Constitution that gives any branch the power to transfer its authority to another branch - in fact, that would directly contradict one of the central themes of the Constitution, separation of powers. How about Imminent Domain? Kelo v City of New London? Now a local government can take property away from a private individual and give it to another private individual. As the dissenting opinion in the case said, now there is no effective "public use" limit at all on the power of a local government to take property away from private citizens. Not only did the Supreme Court defecate on the Constitution - the Congress did so as well when they neglected their constitutional duty to impeach and remove all 5 of the black-robed SOBs that voted in the majority in the Kelo decision. How about every single government hand-out program ever perpetrated (yes, I'm using that word correctly) by the federal government. Up until around 1900, our statesmen realized that this was unconstitutional. There is nothing in the Constitution that gives the government any authority to redistribute income. Welfare, food stamps, farm subsidies, social security, medicare, medicaid -- it's all unconstitutional. Yes, toilet paper. That is the current use of the Constitution. Because all three branches of the federal government, as well as most state and local governments, are defecating all over it and flushing it down the toilet.