Constitution not to be updated, make forgotten part known
When studying the Constitution there are two ways to construe it. The first is constructionism, which uses a literal word for word interpretation. The second is called, among other things, the "living constitution," whose adherents claim the constitution needs to be "interpreted and adapted" to suit modern times.
There exists a very obscure part of the Constitution which handily refutes the "living constitution" interpretation.
As a college political science major, I can say with certainty we never studied it. So obscure is it, that when I picked up a copy of the Constitution from The John Birch Society, an organization that prides itself on its knowledge of the Constitution, it was absent from its copy. It was also absent from every copy of the Constitution I have ever received from a congressman, including Bill Foster. And it is also absent from the World Book Encyclopedia, circa 1990.
It's the Preamble. No. It's not the Preamble to the Constitution. It is found between the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in something entitled "Preamble to the Bill of Rights." And here it is:
"The conventions of a number of the States having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: (i.e.-The Bill of Rights) And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best insure the beneficent ends of its institution."
So, according to the Founding Fathers, the purpose of the Bill of Rights was, among other things, to prevent misconstruction of the Constitution. That has implications ... the most obvious of which is that we are to use a constructionist interpretation. After all, the opposite of misconstruction is construction. And a desire to prevent misconstruction means, of course, a desire to promote constructionism. So much for the "living constitution."
We need to make this forgotten part of the constitution known far and wide.
Jeff Lonigro
St. Charles