Reviewing Ferdinand Lundberg's 'Cracks In The Constitution'

The Sacred Constitution Lundberg quickly transfixes his readers by disabusing them of notions commonly held. Despite long-held beliefs, the Constitution is no "masterpiece of political architecture." It falls far short of "one great apotheosis (bathed) in quasi-religious light." The finished product was a "closed labyrinthine affair," not an "open" constitution like the British model. It was the product of duplicitous politicians and their close friends scheming to cut the best deals for themselves by leaving out the great majority of others who didn't matter. The myths we learned in school and through the dominant media are legion, long-standing and widely held among the educated classes. They and most others believe the framers crafted a Constitution that "powerfully restrained and fettered" the federal government and created "a limited government (or a) government of limited powers." It's simply not so because through the power of the chief executive it can do "whatever it is from time to time" it wishes. In that respect, it's no more precise and binding than The Ten Commandments the Judaic and Christian worlds violate freely and willfully all the time. Even so-called "born-again" types, like the current President, do it, along with Popes, past and present, and the former Israeli Sephardi chief rabbi, Mordechai Eliyahu, who advocates mass killing by carpet bombing Gaza to save Jewish lives. The "supreme Law of the Land" here deters no President or sitting government from doing as they wish, law or no law. The Constitution is easily ignored with impunity by popular or unpopular governments doing as they please and inventing reasons as justification. Lundberg is firm in debunking the notion that America is a government of laws, not men. It's "palpable nonsense of the highest order," he said. Governments enacting laws are composed of men who lie, connive, misinterpret and pretty much operate ad libitum discharging their duties as they see fit for their own self-interest. It was no different in 1787 when 55 delegates (privileged all) assembled for four months in the same Philadelphia State House, where the Declaration of Independence was signed 11 years earlier, to rework the Articles of Confederation into a Constitution that would last into "remote futurity," as long as possible, or until others later changed it. None of them were happy with the finished product but felt it was the best one possible under the circumstances and better than nothing at all. The document is "crisply worded" and can easily be read in 20 to 30 minutes and just as easily be totally misunderstood. The sole myth in it is stated in its opening Preamble words: "We the people of the United States....do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." In fact, "the people" nowhere entered the process, then or since. At its beginning, "the people" who mattered were established white male property owning delegates and members of state ratifying conventions who rammed the ratification process through, by fair or foul means, in the face of a "largely indifferent and uncomprehending populace" left out entirely. They were elected to do it by eligible and interested while males comprising only from 12.5 - 15.5% of the electorate at the time. Women, blacks, Indians and children couldn't vote and many or most qualified voters didn't bother to and still don't. The process, and what it produced, showed "Democracy operatively is little more than a fantasy." The American revolution was nothing more than secession from the British empire changing very little with one-third of the colonists favoring it (not upper classes), one-third opposed (mainly upper classes) and another third indifferent to the whole business. From then to now, the country is no nearer "government by the people" than under monarchal or autocratic rule. The latter types rule by application or threat of force whereas sovereign people are manipulated by other means with naked force held in reserve if needed. Lundberg explained the minimum function of government, ours or others, should be to insure the public welfare is being broadly served. It's stated in the Preamble and Article I, Section 8 that "The Congress shall have power to....provide for....(the) general welfare of the United States" - the so-called welfare clause. Lundberg let scholar Herman Finer (with more detail on his ideas below) dispel the notion from the constitutional flaws he found and some of the many "social and political evils" he recounted as a result through the middle 20th century decades - rampant crime, unsafe streets, lack of justice, political corruption, dishonest police, racketeering labor officials, corporate fraud in pursuit of profits, raging unresolved social problems and lots more. Only government can address these issues and unless it does successfully it fails. Our is a long history of failure overall with only feeble attempts to fix things. Lundberg reviewed popular misconceptions about the Constitution saying so many are embedded in the American psyche it's hard knowing where to begin. He noted the document is called "The Living Constitution" saying, in fact, it's "whatever government does or does not do" or uses in whatever way it wishes. The Constitution defines itself as the "supreme Law of the Land" in Article VI, Section 2 which it is and includes all amendments, enacted statutes and treaties made with the concurrence (not ratification) of the Senate. The people are left out of the process entirely with Lundberg saying "government of the people, by the people and for the people" is a "nonexistent entity. The people don't govern either directly or through 'representatives.' The people are governed." In sum, although the Constitution served many of the purposes its designers and supporters envisioned, in light of the majority populace's great expectations of it, "it has been, quite plainly, a huge flop." That's made clear below. "We the People" Lundberg destroys the romanticism and enthusiasm felt today about the Constitution and the revolt against Great Britain preceding it. He began by reviewing the establishment of state constitutions at the time and the enactment of the Articles of Confederation adopted by the Second Continental Congress November 15, 1777 with final ratification March 1, 1781. None of these events had electoral sanction. "They were strictly coup d'etat affairs, run by small groups of self-styled patriots many of whom bettered their personal economic positions significantly" from the revolution and events before and after it took place. Despite what's commonly taught in schools, most people opposed the Constitution when it was ratified. So by getting it done anyway, the framers (with the conservative Federalists spearheading the effort) went against the will of the people they ignored and disdained. It wasn't easy, though, as only by promising amendments did it happen. The anti-Federalist opposition demanded and got the "oft-hymned" first ten amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights. In fact, they "made no great difference," and did little to dilute the 1787 document. More on that below. Lundberg explained that most anti-Federalists weren't particularly happy either with the Articles of Confederation or the Constitution. These men were mostly privileged property owners (all white, of course) squabbling over the means to get pretty similar ends and having a generally hostile attitude about the majority population overall. In other words, everyone was not considered "We the people," which is how radical English Whigs felt and whose traditions colonists adopted. "The illiterate and underprivileged (elements) were not much considered" with the "people" again being the privileged male property owners in charge of everything and out only for their own self-interest. Lundberg cited voting patterns earlier, up to his time, and clearly now as well, to explain how people are left out of the political process. Whether franchised or not, most don't vote in presidential elections and even fewer show up for congressional, state and local ones. It indicates the will of the people needs considerable qualifying because most of them aren't interested, don't want to bother, don't think it matters, don't understand the whole process, and decide to opt out and act like nothing's going on. "Although repugnant to ideologists of democracy," Lundberg stated, "this conclusion is quite true." In sum, the relevance of this to the Constitution is that its opening words are meaningless window dressing. They neither add nor detract from the document which served as a "screen and launching pad for practically autonomous, freely improvising politicians (like any others in the world)....the gentry....sustained (in whatever their endeavors were) by the constitutional structure" they created for their own self-serving purposes. What the Framers Thought Lots, lots more at: http://www.rense.com/general77/reviewing.htm

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