Our wacky Constitution

Hey everyone, how are we doing this evening? I'm doing pretty well. And hey, since its dark and gloomy outside, and the rain is falling, I've opted to take this time and share with you, the US Constitution. What a back drop.

I'm sure you keep hearing about certain laws, and you'll see some professor, suit and tie and all, going on TV talking about "How this law is a form of government invasion, yack yack yack."

Well, I'm going to bust a few myths tonight (or morning, or day, depending on which time you read this) as far as our US Constitution goes. So get the pen and paper handy, because US Constitution class is in session.

Yes, Rhode Island. you know, I think there is a reason why its the smallest state. Perhaps, our fore fathers acted in revenge in order to keep it small. Here's the deal, on March 24th, 1788 a popular election was head in the state in order to determine the ratification of the brand new US Constitution. To say it lost, was a slight understatement. Since I'm willing to bet the majority of you weren't around when the Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins 73-0 to win the NFL championship. Instead, I'll use the more recent example of when the 49ers beat the Broncos 55-10 in the Super Bowl, a game when the Broncos did not register one penalty. While 237 people in Rhode Island voted to ratify the Constitution, 2,945 opposed it! I haven't seen a beating like that since the Yankees ruined the 100th anniversary of Fenway park.

So the US Constitution gave us democracy, did it? Yeah, I'm sure it did, even though the word democracy does not appear once in the document. By the way, for the record, there are 4,440 words in the Constitution..and democracy isn't one of them.

You know, they left out a few things in that grand document, and guess what, voting was one of them. You see, when it was originally penned, voting requirements were not included. As a result, only land holding white men could vote. Women, nope they couldn't vote. In fact, if they were to become a widow, the land would automatically revert to a surviving brother of the husband. Black people could not vote, because they were considered chattel, and chattel can not vote. And Native Americans...the ones were kind of stole this land from, they couldn't vote either. In fact, it wouldn't be until 1924 they were granted that right.

By the way, those tea party spam emails floating around about  secret 28th amendment that Obama forced through..it doesn't exist. The 27th amendment, which dealt with congressional salaries, was proposed in 1789, and wasn't ratified until 1992!

Voter ID fraud is rare, pretty rare in fact. However, voter ID fraud has been used as an excuse to force people show ID when they vote, which just may be unconstitutional. After all, once you've tried to force an entire race to pay a tax for the right to vote....you have to seek out another extreme. I could go on about how no one was calling for ID laws after voter fraud was found in 2000 and 2004 (when Bush was elected"), but I'll save that rant.

About amendments, there have been some pretty wacky amendments proposed. Like in 1876, when they tried to abolish the US congress. You know that was the same year of a proposal  that religious leaders not be allowed to hold office or get federal funds. Two years later, it was proposed that the President be abolished, and replaced with the Council of Three! Man, they have of been smoking George Washington's left over stash.

Yeah, they also tried to abolish the Navy and Army in 1893, and the next year, tried to usurp the power of the Constitution by forcing that the US recognize God and Jesus Christ the supreme authority in all matters.

And then there were those nasty ideas about making divorce illegal as well as banning interracial marriage. Which occurred in 1916 and 1914 respectively. And let's not forget that in 1947 they tried to amend the constitution in 1947 to keep the amount of taxes that anyone in the US pays below 25%.

Yeah, the most important document in US history has been tweaked and toyed with, and nearly ruined with some really terrible ideas. I hope this has been educational for everyone.