***Everyone needs to read the Constitution***

http://www.thereporteronline.com/articles/2009/02/10/opinion...

I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to those of you who voted for Barack Obama last November.
Many of you voted for him because you thought he would end the war.
But his Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, informed us we'd be involved in Iraq for "many years to come" and that troop levels in Afghanistan will soon double.
We were promised change, yet the Bush-appointed Gates still commands.
We were promised peace, but all we're getting is more war.
But don't feel so bad — at least your vote was counted. Mine, on the other hand, was not.
In one of the most historic presidential elections in American history, I was disenfranchised.
How so? Not wanting to waste my vote on either of the two war candidates, I wrote in Congressman Ron Paul of Texas.
Appallingly, I found out that the Pennsylvania Department of State received official notice of NO write-in votes recorded in Montgomery County, none at all, even though the newspapers reported that over a thousand of them were cast.
Someone stole my vote for Paul!
Sadly, America's woes go far beyond mere voter fraud or a two-faced president, because all of the presidential contenders (except Paul) routinely violated their solemn oaths of office.
Witness how they voted to spend our tax dollars on bailouts, unemployment benefits, education, AIDS research, mass transit, food stamps, "protecting" marriage, medical insurance, mandatory retirement plans, and much more.
Unfortunately for the rule of law, none of these initiatives are authorized by the U.S. Constitution.
It should come as no surprise that on Inauguration Day that Obama flubbed his oath of office to uphold the Constitution; apparently he never meant a word of it.
Does your being blatantly duped by Obama make you angry? Does the thought of a thousand Americans being deprived of their vote for president make you furious?
Do politicians flaunting the Constitution make you livid?
Apparently not, given your silent acquiescence. But don't you see that silence is consent?
And by allowing our elected officials to ignore the Constitution in one area, you've opened the door to any and all who would ignore it in others?
It's already become a downward spiral that accelerates with each passing year.
One by one our precious rights are being eroded away, whether it's the habeas corpus right to a fair and open trial, safeguards against unreasonable searches, being secure in our homes against unjust eminent domain, defending the right to bear arms, medical privacy, sound money, freedom of speech, or any of the innumerable constitutionally protected rights that are now under heavy siege, if not already lost.
And the only reason those rights are slipping away is because you, my fellow voters, are silently letting it happen.
Granted, it's not entirely your fault.
Our state-run schools haven't taught us or our children the meaning of the U.S. or Pennsylvania Constitutions for the last half century.
Have you ever read either of those critically important documents cover to cover?
Likely not.
Instead you've left the law in the hands of lawyers, of all people. And look at the tangled, unintelligible mess they've made of it.
Fortunately, there is still time to reverse our nation's perilous decline.
The solution begins with you reading your Constitutions— yes, you — then holding to the fire the feet of any duplicitous politician or larcenous lawyer who dares to ignore a single word of them.
The only alternative is to hold on tight and wait for the crash — and I fear more each day that the wait may not be a long one.

Ken V. Krawchuk is a resident of Abington.

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