The Resurrection Of The Constitution

       I write this for my Christian libertarian friends.

       In an essay published in 2002 Joseph Sobran wrote:   "In short, the U.S. Constitution is a dead letter. It was mortally wounded in 1865. The corpse can’t be revived. This remained hard for me to admit, and even now it pains me to say it."

       To me, Joe Sobran has the stature of a political prophet, and I take his words to heart.  He knows whereof he speaks:  "The corpse can't be revived."

       Nevertheless, I wish to offer two encouraging words about the Constitution's future.  But I begin, instead, with a meditation on Holy Scripture.

       It is written that the following words were spoken by the Lord of All Worlds, of whom it is also written that His words shall never pass away:

An evil and adulterous generation 

seeketh after a sign; 

and there shall no sign be given to it, 

but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 

For as Jonas was 

three days and three nights in the whale's belly; 

so shall the Son of man be 

three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

The men of Nineveh 

shall rise in judgment with this generation, 

and shall condemn it: 

because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; 

and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 

The queen of the south 

shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, 

and shall condemn it: 

for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth 

to hear the wisdom of Solomon; 

and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

       The Lord of All Worlds here demonstrates His ability to bring all manner of disparate things together in one speech, in His one consciousness:  an Evil and Adulterous Generation (then living but now dead these past two thousand years); a disobedient but beloved Prophet; a remarkable Whale; Himself; the Heart of the Earth; the Men of Nineveh; the Queen of the South; the Judgment; the Wisdom of Solomon; and a Greater Than Solomon.

       He seems to be indicating that by some means known to Himself, He will bend Time and Space in such a way that at the Judgment, people of one generation will be able to confront the people of another. All of Reality, it would seem, will be able to perceive Itself with a remarkable clarity.  Interesting.

       May I suggest a further word of my own, which might, by some logic, follow from the previous words.

The Founding Fathers 

will rise in judgment with this generation, 

and shall condemn it:  

because they ordained a Constitution 

to protect, guide, and inspire you.  

They thought to restrain you 

from your lust for power and control over others, 

and guard your own liberties 

by defending the equal liberties of your neighbor; 

and you would not be restrained, 

and you would not be guarded.

       And to this I add a second word:  

The Constitution will have its day.  

       I truly believe this.

       The day of judgment is already upon us in the United States, as it is written:  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision.  May the judgment fall first and hardest upon the usurpers of power and the deadly wolves; may the foolish sheeple learn from their circumstances and be spared the worst.  But come what may, if the precious rights and the holy vision remain in the hearts of a few, the spirit is preserved and the resurrection may come.

       Do I speak merely as a wishful thinker?  I do not.

       At the commencement of the Nineteenth Century, Napoleon Bonaparte was quoted as having said,  "All religions have been made by men."  And in the arrogance of his own self-anointing, he brought the scourge of war and death to all of Europe.  Nevertheless, he is also quoted as saying, "The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it."  Did he actually say this?  How would I know?  But if he didn't say it, he should have; because it came literally true upon his own head.

       In the middle of the Twentieth Century, in my father's day, Joseph Stalin said sarcastically of the Pope, "The Pope! How many divisions has he got?"  I'm not sure Stalin or anyone else ever got around to counting them, however few or many there were; but forty years later, in my own lifetime, they were enough to dismantle his entire Soviet empire.

       Courage, friends.  Napoleon's god was War, and the Bible defeated him.  Stalin's god was the Monster, and the Church defeated him.

       The tyranny of today is Mammon.  You cannot serve God and Mammon.  Against Mammon is the Spirit of the Lord.  And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Liberty.

       I believe that the Spirit of the Constitution will prevail.  In time.

*       *       *

       I first drafted this post a year ago, in December 2010, but never published it.  It seems appropriate to do so now, what with the latest kicking of the corpse by the Congress, the President, the Republicans, the Democrats, the Christians, the Jews, and the others.

       There is a famous essay by Albert Jay Nock, published in 1936 during another dark time for the people and their liberties.  Read  Isaiah's Job, and discover "The Remnant."

       And if you would like to form your own opinion of the validity of the Vision of George Washington, you can do so.