The Constitution and the Ten Commandments

Why Elena Kagan Must Go...

No, this isn’t about where the Ten Commandments should or should not be allowed to be displayed (though our view on that is “as many places as possible”). This is about the endlessly recycled nonsense that is spouted from the left regarding the need to ‘move beyond’ the U.S. Constitution. It’s relevant today because Elena Kagan is a firm believer in this nonsense, as is Barack Obama, as is every left-wing godless intellectual who ever lived. The American people know this nonsense has no place on the US Supreme Court, and would rally around the Republicans and any Democrats in Washington who would step up and stop her nomination.

The nonsense is dressed up with all kinds of sophistry, but the argument always boils down to some variant of (1) we ‘modern’ thinkers know a better way; (2) conditions are so different now that 18th century thinking just won’t do; or (3) all those Constitutional limits and restraints on government power needlessly ‘hobble’ a brilliant leader like Obama from helping us in the way that only he can.

As a brief aside, lest you think #3 is a stretch, consider this recent exchange between a reporter and White House spokesman Bill Burton:

“Some Republicans were equating the president's golf game with Tony Hayward (BP CEO) on the yacht. Is that fair?"

BURTON: “…all the different issues that the president's dealing with, I think that a little bit of time to himself on Father's Day weekend, probably does us all good as American citizens.” (emphasis added)

You see, Obama’s well-being is essential to your own well-being. No way you can take care of yourself; no way you know what’s best for yourself; just get down on your knees and hope that Obama is not too stressed out to be able to lead you where you need to go.

This is what passes for adult thought in the Obama administration. What complete garbage; what moral idiocy; what spiritual vacuity.

But back to the Constitution, and back to the Ten Commandments. Every human generation, including Moses’ generation, has elements that know better than the Ten Commandments. Every generation has elements that can explain how and why the Ten Commandments have become outdated. Every generation has elements who believe a new charismatic leader has found a new path to human salvation. But the truth is the Ten Commandments are foundational to civilized society; they cannot and will not be ‘bettered’; they will never be outdated; and no one will replace Moses.

What about the US Constitution? Surely it is sacrilegious to hold up the Constitution as comparable in stature to the Ten Commandments. Isn’t it? Surely it is sacrilegious to hold up those wretched, slave-holding founding fathers as if they were holy figures comparable in human history to Moses (though Moses himself wasn’t exactly pure as the driven snow). Isn’t it?

No, it isn’t. But historical comparison questions that focus on physical things like stone tablets and parchment, or on human personalities like Moses or the founding fathers, or even on dates and times, miss the historical significance of what is really at issue: the advance of right ideas.

The monumental importance of the Ten Commandments are the ideas they set forth—the very baseline of moral teaching by which the human race is lifted above the animals.

The monumental importance of the US Constitution, including its philosophical precursor in the Declaration of Independence, is in the ideas these two documents set forth—which in the simplest terms, introduce the principle that freedom is the God-given right of mankind. Its further genius lies in the checks-and-balances structure by which it protected this God-given freedom from the tendency of humans and human government to intrude on that freedom and attempt to take the place of God.

So yes, the Ten Commandments and the US Constitution do share historically comparable levels of importance to the progress of humanity. Neither needs to be changed, updated or replaced; fundamentally, neither can be improved. And all the intellectual gibberish in the world will never change this truth. Yet today’s 5-4 decision upholding the 2nd amendment of the US Constitution (a part of our original Bill of Rights) shows just how close we are to having the godless intellectual left throw out the US Constitution—a move that would be no more or less destabilizing to society than a vote to throw out one or more of the Ten Commandments.

For this reason and this reason alone, Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court should be filibustered until withdrawn. It’s time to take back our country; it’s time honor our American heritage; it’s time to honor God.

Kagan must go. Obama must go.

Paul Gable

June 28, 2010