Friday's episode of the Dennis Miller show on CNBC included a discussion of the Pledge of Allegiance case currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. Miller's show is meant to be comedy, and much of it was hilarious, but when he and his panelists got to the Pledge discussion I stopped laughing.
What stunned me was the apparent unanimity of the host and panel on the following view of the case: it is unacceptable for judges to even think about striking "God" from the Pledge when 90% of the public wants to keep it there.
What's wrong with that view? It demonstrates either total ignorance of, or total contempt for, the rule of law.
The United States of America is not a simple majority-rules democracy, it is a constitutionally limited republic. The Constitution, Bill of Rights, and lesser laws determine what is legal and what is not in this country, and judges appointed by our elected politicians interpret those laws. We don't do public opinion polls to decide who goes to jail and who doesn't, we allow our judicial system to apply the law of the land. If and when we decide to change that law, the Constitution provides specific mechanisms for doing so.
What Miller's guests were saying is that we should ignore all this rule of law mumbo jumbo and just do whatever the majority thinks is right. To do so would be to reduce this country to the richest banana republic in the world.
If some Americans want to do away with the religious neutrality guaranteed by the First Amendment, then they should have the guts to call for the modification or elimination of that amendment. If they want to do away with the rule of law entirely and let the tyranny of the majority prevail, they should say so, and should propose a Constitutional amendment to achieve their goal.
What Miller's guests and their fellow travelers are currently advocating is sheer gutless hypocricy. It is an affront to the very Pledge they claim to defend, demeaning the constitutional republic for which our flag is supposed to stand.
Posted by Andrew Coulson at March 27, 2004 12:12 AM | TrackBackThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
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