Under the Radar
Election year 2008 is coming to a close and a major issue not being talked about is the future of our judicial system. The appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and other federal courts is a topic that seems to get very little media coverage but it could be the most important issue in national politics to date.
Each candidate has very different points of view when it comes to what they would consider in making an appointment to the high court. Barak Obama has said he would want to have judges that understand poverty, or can relate to the struggles of gay people, or minorities. He would want these issues considered when judges make decisions regarding cases involving the same. He believes the law should be “living” and tweaked to accommodate various life issues. John McCain on the other hand considers himself a “strict constructionist.” In other words he believes the constitution is the law and life issues need to be judged within the bounds of the law. The laws don’t change according to situations. We as a people need to live and be judged according to what the founding fathers wrote when they instituted the law. There should be no ambiguity. The law is what it says it is. It does not change unless we the people decide to change it by amendment, not judicial activism.
An example of the danger of seeing our constitution as a “living and breathing document” is like having an original copy of a document as opposed to a faxed copy, that is faxed and that copy faxed again and so on. Each new fax is harder and harder to read. After a while you cannot read it at all. We must continue to go to the “original” in order to clearly read and understand what is written.
Our founding fathers set down a clear document for us to live by here in the United States of America. If we need to change it we have provisions to do so, through amendments ratified by a super majority of the states. The founders never intended for non elected, appointed judges to make the rules. They are to make sure the rules line up with the original.
While the present economy is in turmoil it will recover. While national security is important we can defend ourselves. The changing of the way we live our lives could very well be at stake for decades to come if judges are appointed who do not abide by what our founders intended. This issue is flying under the radar in most homes in America now and it may just be our Achilles heel.
Each candidate has very different points of view when it comes to what they would consider in making an appointment to the high court. Barak Obama has said he would want to have judges that understand poverty, or can relate to the struggles of gay people, or minorities. He would want these issues considered when judges make decisions regarding cases involving the same. He believes the law should be “living” and tweaked to accommodate various life issues. John McCain on the other hand considers himself a “strict constructionist.” In other words he believes the constitution is the law and life issues need to be judged within the bounds of the law. The laws don’t change according to situations. We as a people need to live and be judged according to what the founding fathers wrote when they instituted the law. There should be no ambiguity. The law is what it says it is. It does not change unless we the people decide to change it by amendment, not judicial activism.
An example of the danger of seeing our constitution as a “living and breathing document” is like having an original copy of a document as opposed to a faxed copy, that is faxed and that copy faxed again and so on. Each new fax is harder and harder to read. After a while you cannot read it at all. We must continue to go to the “original” in order to clearly read and understand what is written.
Our founding fathers set down a clear document for us to live by here in the United States of America. If we need to change it we have provisions to do so, through amendments ratified by a super majority of the states. The founders never intended for non elected, appointed judges to make the rules. They are to make sure the rules line up with the original.
While the present economy is in turmoil it will recover. While national security is important we can defend ourselves. The changing of the way we live our lives could very well be at stake for decades to come if judges are appointed who do not abide by what our founders intended. This issue is flying under the radar in most homes in America now and it may just be our Achilles heel.
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