Most voters don't care one lick about the Constitution

The politicians know it, too.

I think we make a mistake when we center our arguments around whether something is unconstitutional or not.

That's something that we left bloggers seem to care about, but not many other people on the right, or even the center. I don't think it's even "mainstream" to care about the Constitution any more.

Many of us have been in a situation, where arguing with a Freeper, centrist, "apolitical" person, or even an uninformed Dem. You prove that something is "unconstitutional", and the person says, "So?"

We're in a country of hyper-pragmatists. Proving something is unconstitutional isn't enough. Many people see the Constitution as an outdated document, written in the time before terrorism and technology could do us great harm.

What may serve us, the party of ideals, is to start a campaign that reminds people why the Constitution is important, and how it allowed us to flourish into a prosperous, and powerful country.

even if they are doing criminal things. They think their status (and let's face it, in many cases--whiteness) makes them immune from search and seizure.

But that would be a great place to start, if you can convince people that that's a possibility without our Constitution.

but you are right, most folks don't know anything else about the Amendments or the Constitution itself. This puzzles me--I was required to take a test on the Constitution in order to graduate from high school--a state mandated requirement. Isn't that the case anymore? (I graduated in Illinois)

It's appalling that so many know so little about the Constitution.

Many studies over many years have polled Americans on aspects of the bill of rights. Whatever the right (especially the press or freedom of religion) the public usually says NO about 4 to 1. If given a situation (eg an atheist suing the public schools) the NO is even greater.
Imean, you know, if your not doing anything wrong what should you need the BOR for?

What they don't care about is "politics," and the things they associate with it. Everyone does care about their rights and being left alone to do what they want. However, thanks to the systematic stupification of the populace, they don't realize that the Constitution is central to these rights and freedoms. It isn't hyper-pragmatism, it's hyper-ignorance.

People have been taught to think of politics as a con game and politicians as all being crooks. Politics isn't worth their time and effort since "they're all a bunch of crooks anyway". We've probably all heard people say that a number of times. Because of this they're failing to link being left alone with politics, when in fact the two things are intimately linked.

The Repubs have been frantically trying to reinforce this attitude of late.

There's a reason the right wing of the Democratic party spends all of it's time, money and effort trying to sway "fence-sitting moderates" rather than making any effort to recruit the half of all eligible voters who don't bother to vote.

While I certainly agree that corruption is no stranger to either party, it's important not to buy into the idea that they're all the same. There has been massive Republican corruption in recent years. I've seen no evidence of a similar scale of corruption among the Democrats. The Repubs have been trying to push the idea of equivalence, that the Democrats are as corrupt as the Republicans. That's just not true and we shouldn't be feeding into that perception.

I said that there are many who are benefiting from the fact that many Americans treat all things political as plagued. That was a true statement. I don't feel the need to distinguish between degrees of corruption when none of it is acceptable. If that bothers some, they should distance themselves from the corruption.

If one party has many more corrupt politicians then the other than that is a major difference and it's very important not to blur that difference. The "they're all crooks" meme has caused many people to avoid participation in politics, to their own detriment.

Arguing about who is doing something "more wrong" is the distraction. No one listens to that, either. We have to lead by example, not just blame and accent our own hypocrisy. THAT is what causes people to avoid participation in politics - the bullshit. Stop the bullshit.

And, most people are frightened of those that do.

They don't give a rip about Freedom of the Press because they pay little or no attention to the media beyond the daily dose of crap doled out to them by the TV.

They think "Freedom of Speech" means you can tell your neighbor, ex-spouse, or the driver honking at you to "Fuck-off."

Freedom of Religion is scary because it means Baby Jesus might not be allowed at the school.

And, Freedom of Assembly, is downright terrifying because those who use it are usually darker skinned, women, or Communists who want to take their SUV's from them, "spit on the troops", or make their children into swishy homosexuals.

are the same ones who think the freedom of speech means the license to curse on the radio at will, with no regard for others around them, as if they were the only ones who have any rights at all; freedom of expression means the right to engage in outrageously shocking behavior in the presence of children and the elderly without consequence; and the Second Amendment means kids, criminals, and terrorists have a right to carry Uzis and AK-47's on the streets.

Yeah because how could anything written by a bunch of STRAIGHT, WHITE, MALES, hundreds of years ago...not be perfect...sacrosanct and holy? :rofl:
Lee

there are people on teh right that care deeply about the Constitution (Ron Paul comes to mind)

That said, most folks don't care about it, partly because nobody teaches them about it

Go ahead, ask recent HS graduates if they had a civics class

Dime on the dollar they didn't... at least from public schools in less well to do areas

It seems like more people than not who I'm around (I work with a lot of freepers) have the "24" approach to civil liberties--do whatever you need, whenever you need to "protect" the people.

A lot of people believe in the unitary executive idea, too. I think that's why * knows he can get away with it. A lot of people I know think, "That's how a person needs to be to cut through the red tape and get things done--authoritative".

The complexity of checks and balances is too complicated for a lot of people to understand. I'm just frustrated, I think people care, but like the post said, people just don't know it.

so if we suspect you are going to commit a crime, we can freely torture you?

Make it personal and watch them dance

Oh and the, but I would not do anything to get myself in that predicament is also easy to deal with

It is not about you doing something, but me having a simple suspicion.

I've played this game, and usually the 24 crowd is left shaken

I agree with your premise, but the second sentence, "I think we make a mistake when we center our arguments around whether something is unconstitutional or not," is wrong.

If fewer people cherish the Constitution, we should praise it and bring it to mind as often as possible. Bring it back to the mainstream. Continually measure the political dialog with the Constitution. Encourage people to talk about it.

If the friends of the Constitution won't do that, who will?

It used to be that it was far more evident in criminal matters ... when "people" would say: s/he got off on a technicality ... I've never considered the US constitution to be a technicality. I just view this as evidence that many are willing to throw other peoples rights out the window because they don't think it can happen to them.

They care about THEIR freedoms, not everybody in general. "It doesn't affect me" syndrome. Remember when gonzo wanted start taking guns at will? That disappeared pretty quick. Even the RW'ers recognized that, and it affected THEM.