Monday, March 28, 2005
Uphold, defend
I was getting all cranked up for a good long ramble on foolish consistency and all that, when I realized there's a shorter way to say it.
Officials in all three branches take an oath to "uphold and defend" the Constitution. Those two verbs are separate for a reason.
Under normal conditions, sticking with the process is the best way to keep things running. Every now and then, conditions get abnormal, requiring extraordinary action to defend the EXISTENCE of the land, people, and culture on which the Constitution is built.
War is the most obvious example of abnormal conditions. Another one is persistent disobedience and disloyalty by an entire branch of the government, in this case the judiciary. Terri's case is a highly visible instance of such disobedience, but we've been seeing a strong pattern of rulings that obstruct the executive's ability to wage war. ¶ 9:37 AM
Officials in all three branches take an oath to "uphold and defend" the Constitution. Those two verbs are separate for a reason.
Under normal conditions, sticking with the process is the best way to keep things running. Every now and then, conditions get abnormal, requiring extraordinary action to defend the EXISTENCE of the land, people, and culture on which the Constitution is built.
War is the most obvious example of abnormal conditions. Another one is persistent disobedience and disloyalty by an entire branch of the government, in this case the judiciary. Terri's case is a highly visible instance of such disobedience, but we've been seeing a strong pattern of rulings that obstruct the executive's ability to wage war. ¶ 9:37 AM
