Can anyone recommend a book I could give to someone who doesn't think the Constitution is important anymore?

Made me cry a little inside.... Is America that far gone?

Guess I better start reading the dates on these things.

How about "The Creature from Jekyll Island"....

Even if started by a troll it is a good question. I try to think of the fewest books which would make someone aware of the depth of the movement and which would provide the perspective needed to understand what we are trying to achieve.

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
Tom Wood's Nullification
G.Edward Griffin's The Creature From Jekyll Island

Ludwig von Mises' Planned Chaos ; Planning For Freedom ; Human Action
Murray Rothbard: Conceived In Liberty ; The Case Against The Fed
Nathaniel Branden: Breaking Free

Ron Paul : The Revolution: A Manifesto; End THe Fed

that this is almost a year-old dead thread, and the OP hasn't even been on this forum for almost 4 months, and was shown to be nothing more than an OWS troll that pretty much only posted to OWS threads?

Let's face it folks. You're wasting time on a year old thread from a troll who isn't even here.

LET IT DIE!

Is there a book that reveals our founding fathers experiences and shows examples of how smart they were?
...that would help build a foundation for the constitution in his mind.
Examples of our success back when we followed it compared to NOT following it.
It seems that an American who doesn't recognize how priceless the first 10 ammendments are may need to start with Doctor Seuss books and work their way up!
(forgive me)
Sadly many people go to college and lose their common sense.

It's Good to Be King by Micheal Badnarik

I had a daughter once, bright, intelligent, compassionate. Then she went to law school, now she is dumb as a box of rocks and cold hearted as an attorney.... They taught her the Constitution was no use as written, that it must be considered A "living document" to be applied in modern society. Her husband, former Air Force, is PLANNING on sending his kids off to war. They have a real problem with me and my peace-loving, they are worried I will be a bad influence on the kids.
Now you know why I am up at 3:00 AM nearly every day....

"Agree" with him that anarchy would be better...? :)
What foundation for "civil society" does he think we have if we toss the Constitution?

by Kenneth Royce (pseudonym Boston T. Party)

There are many I know who think, or thought, the constitution was 'outdated.' No book is required. Just go through the Bill of Rights with them and ask "Is freedom of speech outdated? How about due process? Is the right to a trial outdated? The right to protect yourself? Outdated? The right to assemble?" Etc. etc.... they get it pretty quick when you broach the subject in those terms. Don't forget a lot of these people don't even know what's IN the constitution and haven't read it since the 10th grade. They just oppose it because it was written by white dudes, some being slave owners, over two hundred years ago, so it's fashionable to dismiss and disrespect it. Occasionally you'll run into a militant totalitarian who doesn't care about individual rights, but most see the wisdom in the constitution when they're actually informed of what's actually written in it.

Give them some history books of countries that don't have freedom. (Nazi Germany, Communist countries, etc)

This is not a book, but an analogy I use when talking to people that are clueless and addle brained about anything that's going on.

You want to use this - while walking the delicate line between illustrating an obvious point, and talking to them like a 7 year old.

Its tough, I know

--
The Stop Sign Analogy:

At some point in the dim past, some individual or committee designed the Stop Sign.

The Stop Sign is Red.

The Stop Sign has 8 sides, a shape called an octagon.

And the Stop Sign has the word STOP - written in the middle of the octagon, in big bold white letters.

The purpose of the Stop Sign is to prevent a common problem. Before the Stop Sign, accidents were happening

... because when two roads crossed in the street, both drivers would often keep going, and smash into each other.

This was causing a mess. Something had to be done.

So they created the stop sign.

The Stop Sign means? STOP

Most 5 year olds know what the Stop Sign means, and they don't even drive.

So we can safely say - the Stop Sign has a definite purpose. It has a very clear and important reason why it was designed.

And we can safely say - that most people that are even marginally aware agree on what the Stop Sign means, why it is important, and know what to do if they are driving and they see one coming.

Now ..

Lets say that there's a town somewhere out in the midwest. And over the years, a curious situation has come about.

In this town - some people ignore the Stop Sign. Whenever they see a Stop Sign?

They ignore it. They drive right through.

And these people are never punished for driving though the Stop Sign. In fact, they are never even questioned about it by the police.

When these people drive through it, the police look the other way and pretend they don't see it.

Who are these people that keep driving through, and sometimes causing acccidents, severe injuries, and death?

Why .. the Town Council Members.

Because the Town Council in this little fictitious town have decided that - for them - the Stop Sign no longer means Stop.

For Town Council Members - the Stop Sign means Go.

On top of this - they have managed to hypnotize a large number of the townspeople ... that this is not only a good thing ..

... they have convinced these people that it has always meant Go. For Town Council Members.

"The Stop Sign is a Living symbol!"

"We can never be sure what the original designers of the Stop Sign meant!"

"Can't you see that these people that are trying to get us to Stop at the Stop Sign, are limiting progress??"

Meanwhile the accident, injury and death rate in the little town keeps rising and rising.

And the group of people that are actually aware of this and pointing it out ... are in the minority.

In this town - the majority of people are either completely unaware of what's going on, or are too afraid to challenge the Town Council, or are just too stupid to understand why the Stop Sign was so important to begin with.

In fact:

There is a large and growing block of people, who are hostile toward the people that are trying to prevent the accidents and save lives.

They actually fight the people who are pointing out the Stop Sign and trying to get people to consistently Stop.

And this large majority group is actually calling them names, threatening them, and outright attacking them.

They support the Town Council, without question.

And they keep electing the same Town Council people over and over and over again ...

Because they are POSITIVE that the Stop Sign never really meant Stop.

So:

The Declaration, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are just like the Stop Sign in that little town

The Constitution is a kind Stop Sign that was written, with the express purpose of preventing the kind of people that are on the Town Council of that little town from doing stupid and evil things.

There are people in our Government, and on TV, and in Corporate boardrooms that have spent a very long time, a whole lot of money, and ton of effort trying to convince naive and gullible people otherwise.

And there are plenty of people that are naive and gullible.

1984 or lord of the flies!

and like another poster who went in another direction, I will ask, why not send the Communist Manifesto? That's the only other competing philosophy.

It might just be the smack in the face to see what we've turned into and which direction we're headed.

AND declaration of independence! WIthout slanting it - just defining it objectively. This book is spectacular. I did not know just how rich that darned document was!

http://www.dailypaul.com/180777/new-book-understand-the-constitution-like-ron-paul

As stated before, The Law by Bastiat is really good and a short read too. Another is The Constitution of Liberty by F. A. Hayek http://www.amazon.com/Constitution-Liberty-Definitive-Collec...

by William Whiting

Can start off a little by reading this
http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/fallacy.htm

Continued with 25 Important Questions.....
http://www.thinkorbeeaten.com/informer/m25q.htm

I believe there is alot of history we need to examine under a magnifying glass...

The 5000 Year Leap.

Ask whether your friend wants free speech and other rights protected by the Bill of Rights. Whether the U.S. should be a democratic republic with elected leaders. Etc.

Then ask why, if we don't need to abide by the Constitution to protect things he/she finds unpalatable, would we need to abide by it to protect the crucial liberties above.

Either the Constitution is followed consistently or it can be violated in any way one might want. There's no appeal to a higher authority than the Constitution itself that can legitimize departures from it.

That's why Dr. Paul talks about respect for the rule of law. There isn't any federal law outside the bounds set by the Constitution. We now have the illusion of a republic and an actual oligarchy.

It describes the rise of a populist politician who calls his movement "patriotic" and creates his own militia (the Minute Men or "MM", paralleling Hitler's "SS") and takes unconstitutional power after winning election — mirroring what Hitler was doing in Germany at the time of writing. Its plot centers around newspaperman Doremus Jessup's belated realization of what is happening, and his subsequent struggle against the fascist regime of President Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can%27t_Happen_Here

But the Declaration of Independence might be a great place to start.

who write the textbooks. My son's second grade social studies text book, referred to the Constitution as a "living document". I nearly fell out of my chair. The manipulation and programming starts early. I am now homeschooling him, and teaching him with accurate information. I plan on incorporating Ron Paul's reading list into his education.

To all parents on the DP. Review the textbooks your kids are using in school. Teach your kids the correct information.

The Constitution in Exile By Andrew Napolitano