Protect and Preserve v. Use and Abuse

A couple of ideas have finally come together for me. I can be explain what it is about Sen. Obama that really worries me. Before I go further, I should also admit that this same idea worries me with respect to many others, both liberal and conservative. The idea is simply the attitude one has about the Constitution. Do you really want to protect and preserve the Constitution, or do you want to use it and abuse it to reach your self-determined goals. The Constitution is the single greatest charter developed by man for establishing freedom and liberty for men ever developed. The Constitution provides a system whereby men can live as free as justly possible, while still providing enough governmental power and involvement to do those things that only a strong government can do that individuals cannot. That is the balance we are continually striving to preserve. Tipping the balance too far in one direction leads toward anarchy, while tipping the balance in the other direction leads toward tyranny.

Laura Hollis makes a great point with which I tend to agree. Sen. Obama is not worried about Constitutional restraints, and in fact sees them as obstacles to be overcome. However, I think he knows that he cannot simply bull through them; that would be too obvious. Bill Dyer provides another important piece to this puzzle by pointing out that after Sen. Obama realized the Supreme Court did not, and could not, go beyond the Constitution to achieve the goal Sen. Obama deemed important, "redistributive change," something else was needed to achieve this goal. That something else is a "coalition of power." This "coalition of power" is described as the Executive and Legislative branches working together to achieve this purpose, this extra-Constitutional purpose.

Now we see that Sen. Obama, with the help of Sen. Pelosi and Sen. Reid, may be only a week away from essentially achieving that "coalition of power" and being within sight of genuine "redistributive change." I am not so much worried about Sen. Obama shredding the Constitution as much as I am worried about him using it, because the Constitution is not really what prevents abuses of power. The voice of the people demanding and electing those people that will actually defend and protect the Constitution and govern accordingly, as opposed to those that would govern with an eye toward abusing the system in place, that is what really prevents an abuse of power by government.