You are not seriously proposing, are you, that each of us can
determine for ourselves what the constitution means?  If I
come to believe, for example, that the supreme court
determined badly forty-five years ago, and that hence every
subsequent decision made utilizing that precedent is likewise
contaminated, then can I on that basis decide not to enforce
or uphold the law?  I would hope you would agree that the law
obligates obedience, regardless of my own person belief as to
whether it has been properly vetted and determined by the High
Court.  If I choose, as a private citizen, to break the law,
for example to publicize why I think it is a bad law, then I
should do so with the full expectation that I will bear the
appropriate sanctions for my actions.

Most of us are not in positions of public authority, and thus
are free to engage in civic disobedience if we so choose.  But
the authority of the President of the College of William and
Mary stems from the power of the state, and hence is granted
to him in trust on behalf of all citizens of the State of
Virginia.  That is the nature of the social contract in a
democracy, and it places him under higher obligations.  

Moreover, he is in an especially important moral position, in
as much as he heads an institution of education whose mission
is in large part civic in nature.  Thus, he is under an
especial obligation to model good citizenship, which,
conservative that I am, I take to include modeling respect for
ordered liberty.  Since a core value of ordered liberty is
respect for the law, I take the president of that institution
to have behaved in a commendable fashion.  I would suggest
that anyone who thinks that bedrock conservatism matters
should find his actions laudable.  

As a side note, we should note that ordered liberty is itself
in good part derivative from Reformed Christianity.  If you
are an evangelical Christian, you have especially strong
reasons to support this notion.  To see how and why, I would
urge you to take a look at the famous speech by John Winthrop,
that he gave in 1645 to the General Court of the Colony of
Massachusetts, and which is often referred to as "John
Winthrop's Little Speech on Liberty."  Too many evangelicals
today seem to prefer striving for short term, narrow
victories, in the pursuit of which they are willing to
sacrifice their long term interests.  Such deeply engrained
lack of prudence is one reason why they remain marginal in our
society.  Here, it is very much in the interests of
evangelical conservatives to see the law upheld.

For our purpose here, the question of whether or not the
constitution is a "living" document is irrelevant.  The
doctrine of strict separation has been the law of the land
since the 1960s.  It in turn is based on constitutional
precedent extending back to the first amendment incorporation
cases of the 1920s and 1930s.  The ultimate justification for
it is to be found in the arguments of James Madison, in his
1785 "Memorial and Remonstrance."  If you do not like this
well established doctrine, you can and should work to change
it.  But in the mean time, you should be celebrating the
principled actions of the President of William and Mary, who
is providing an excellent model of civic responsibility for
his students, and for us.

All best,
Kevin

---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 18:27:33 -0500
>From: "Donald W. Moore" <[log in to unmask]>  
>Subject: Re: The Constitution  
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>>
>> Finally, the Constitution IS a living document.  The
example I gave  
>> in a previous message--the expansion of the franchise from
white  
>> property-owners to a more inclusive body--is the ultimate
example.
>
>Justice Scalia would disagree, and has. He was quoted a few
months  
>back--in a speech, not in a legal brief (and no, I don't have
the  
>particulars, but it made the news)--as saying that the
Constitution  
>is a legal document, just like the deed to your house. How
would you  
>like the deed to your house to be a "living document" subject
to re- 
>interpretation every few generations? Wonder what would
happen to  
>legal chain of title? His example, not mine.
>
>___________________
>Donald W. Moore
>Virginia Beach, Virginia
>
>
>To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the
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Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Department of History
James Madison University

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