by Daniel Gardner

Republican Leaders in the 112th Congress have pledged to stipulate Constitutional authority for every bill passed. What a refreshing change from Progressives who for the past four years have bluntly claimed anything they passed was Constitutional because they passed it!

Has the U.S. Constitution, our nation's founding document become irrelevant? Elite Progressives in academia, media, and government claim the document is at least inadequate.

In answering an interviewer's question about the Constitution, then presidential candidate Barack Obama replied, "I think it's a remarkable document…but I think it's an imperfect document and I think it is a document that reflects some deep flaws in American culture the colonial culture at that time…. I don't think the two views are contradictory to say that it was a remarkable political document that paved the way for where we are now and to say that it also reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day."

The "fundamental flaw" refers to failure to deal with moral issues of the day such as slavery when the Constitution was written.

On the first edition of "CBS Sunday Morning" in 2011, correspondent Jeff Greenfield posed the question: "Is our 200 year old political system capable of dealing with today's dilemmas?"

In answering this question, noted Yale historian Paul Kennedy said, "I think we have a very poor constitutional political system for the 21st century. We have a system which was marvelous for 13 independent loosely tied states in 1783 - 1786."

In this CBS feature story, as well as in his 1987 book, "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers," Kennedy posited the USA is in a sharp decline, and he at least partially blamed our decline on the inadequacy of our Constitution.

Noted journalist James Fallows, also interviewed for the story, endorsed the same premise that America is in decline due to the inadequacy of the Constitution.

Why are elite Progressives in the media, academia, and government chipping away at the integrity of the Constitution? Because Progressives cannot "fundamentally transform America" into something completely different from the nation established by our Founding Fathers without changing the Constitution, or at least ignoring the authority and limits of power enumerated in the Constitution.

With all of our problems, America is still the greatest nation on earth. We are not in decline because our Constitution is inadequate, fundamentally flawed, or out-of-date. We are suffering most of our political and economic problems because Progressives in Washington have ignored limits in the Constitution in order to pass ideological agendas.

For example, the Constitution nowhere "entitles" citizens or aliens to monetary benefits due to hardships. Yet, since the days of FDR Progressives have created monstrous, unsustainable entitlement bureaucracies virtually enslaving lower income voters.

"We the People" need to hold our representatives accountable to defend and protect the Constitution. Our nation's political leaders are not American royalty, and we as citizens are not their serfs. Republican Leaders in Congress are responding to voters' demands that Washington return to Constitutional governance.


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