by Hugh Holub

Created on: May 08, 2010   Last Updated: May 09, 2010

Asking if the US Constitution is always right is a loaded question.

To some it means that one has to stick to the original intent of the folks who wrote it. This is the same kind of debate over whether one has a strict interpretation of the Bible. No, you cannot “interpret” the words of the Constitution or the Bible in a modern context.

To others it means that the Constitution  is a “living” document that has worked remarkably well for over 200 years because we can take the words of , for example, Article 1 and deal with modern issues.

“Article 1: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

We can look at these words in the context of the original writers back in 1791 when Article 1 was drafted and try and conjure up a strict construction based on original intent.

But the words were written in a time when the people of America had decided that “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

They set down a system of government that wasn't run by a King, and that made it clear the power of government came from the people to be exercised by the people for the benefit of the people. This was pretty radical stuff. Most of the world still hasn't agreed with this idea.

The Constitution created three branches of government, each with the power to frustrate and stymie the other. Congress can pass a law, but the President can veto it. Even if the Presidents signs the Congressional Bill into law, the Supreme Court can kill it. Try and explain our system of government to anyone else in the world. I actually heard a top foreign government official ask" What do you mean your President can sign a Treaty and your Congress can kill it?"

Lots of people get upset when the Supreme Court rules a law unconstitutional. They argue that the “will of the people” is expressed solely by Congress.

But an interesting aspect of the history of America at the time the Constitution was written was the philosophy that a

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