Who thinks about the Constitution anymore?

Here's a video from PJTV with a catchy title asking if President Obama has a different copy of the constitution than everyone else does. The initial reference is to a piece by President Obama in the Washington Post. But as the three talking heads get going, it's clear that the responsibility for upholding the Constitution in the USA belongs to the voters. One point which is briefly mentioned is the abdication of power to regulate and set laws to unelected ageencies. This is one area where voters have really lost control over their government. In the recent Cap and Trade discussions in Congress, one representative stated that it was important for Congress to act so that the EPA did not enact its own draconian measures.

Meanwhile, Victor Davis Hanson identifies a number of reasons why our latest presidents don't seem to measure up to earlier ones. He compares our presidents to Roman emperors, ending with the fall of Rome - several emperors after the emperors took over the Bread and Circuses gig - when Bread and Circuses became the preoccupations of the citizenry. In our day, people want more government service without higher taxes. So we defer payment to the future while saying that "the rich" should bear the primary costs of government. (Somehow, the richest of "the rich" currently seem to profit greatly from their connections in government). It's ominous to remember a similar lack of a sense of seriousness and individual responsibility at the end of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Dark Ages.

In our celebrity-crazed society, it is easy to put most of our political focus on one "star", the President, Everything seems to rise and fall with the popularity of one person. He's so much more interesting than words on some old "constitution" written long ago. He sometimes seems to be able to personally solve all our problems. Why not give him and his agencies the power and the money to do it? People don't even stop to consider what will happen when that money and power is in the hands of a president they really don't like.

Why worry about separation of powers? It's not so glamorous to think about who our local, state and congressional representatives are and to actually interact with them. But that's where the real political action should be. Finally, it's extremely unfortunate when our elected representatives turn the power to set laws and regulations over to unelected bureaucracies or to the courts because they don't have the courage to face the voters. It's up to us to turn this around, if we can.

Update: PJTV FOMENTING INSURRECTION