Let's Go to the Constitution

My Man James Madison and Me at the National Consitution Center, Winter 2010

I have watched a lot of sports in my day (pause for a reaction of shock and awe), and for some reason, a line that has always stuck with me is, "let's go to the videotape." The second chapter of the with the same title by Warner Wolf with Larry Weisman asks what we could learn had there been videotape in the early 20th Century. If we were able to review play-by-play would it help determine with certainty that the 1919 Chicago White Sox (called the Black Sox World Series) did actually throw games? 

"If they really were taking a dive, why did the White Sox bother to win Games 6 and 7 of the best-of-nine-Series?"

Cue the Field of Dreams reference...

"Is this heaven? No, it's Iowa!"

 Maybe in heaven, I will get to ask Shoeless Joe Jackson who hit .375 and made no errors throughout the whole series if he really did take money to throw the Series. In the meantime, I need to stop digressing after I say that I think I need to go home and watch Field of Dreams.

All this is a lead up to saying, let's go to the Constitution and more specifically, the Bill of Rights to get a better sense of the 2nd Amendment as that has become a hotly debated issue around the rash of violence in this country. 

Disclaimer: This is not directed at P Trump as this issue is a bipartisan one as neither party has done enough to take action against the ease of access to guns.

One of the best classes that I took at Indiana University, Bloomington in the pursuit of my Bachelors' in Secondary Education, Social Studies was Constitutional Interpretation. The crux of the course was looking at the different ways in which the Constitution is analyzed for legal purposes. An interesting article from the Huffington Post outlines 14 ways to interpret the Constitution, 14! 

Within those methods, I believe the focus for the sake of a discussion around the 2nd Amendment is Textualism (Literalism, or Plain Meaning), which is what I think is being utilized and Living Document (Aspirational) the technique that would allow for conversation and perhaps even change. In other words, this is the approach that I utilize and my studies of American History lead me to believe the framers - specifically my man James Madison, intended.

One of my favorite episodes of The West Wing is called "The Supremes" in which the staff is charged with helping President Bartlet name a nominee to the Supreme Court following the death of a very conservative justice. In comes Evelyn Baker Lang (Glenn Close), a brilliant and wildly liberal appellate judge and Christopher Mulready (William Fichtner) a staunch conservative...

Evelyn Baker Lang: I am not... No, I am not rewriting Article I. I am saying that a gun free school zone...

Christopher Mulready: [Cutting her off]  Is not a federal issue. In Lopez

Evelyn Baker Lang : [Cutting him off]  Lopez overturned 50 years of precedent.

Christopher Mulready: No, it stated that a plain text reading of the Commerce Clause does not allow Congress to

Evelyn Baker Lang : [Cutting him off again]  A plain text reading of the Constitution values a negro at 3/5 of a man.

Christopher Mulready: Hence the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

Evelyn Baker Lang: Oh, how generous. Thank you

This exchange serves to articulate the fact that a textualism (plain text reading) of the Constitution does not take into account the time and space in which it was written. The Bill of Rights (the first 10 Amendments of the Constitution) also "shows its age" in the Third Amendment: "No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law." Other than the Revolutionary War or perhaps the Civil War, what other time in history would this rule apply?

A textualism (plain text) reading of the second amendment does not acknowledge that much has changed since 1787. The framers of the Constitution could not have fathomed automatic assault weapons used in battle, let alone used against their own children or friends or neighbors in an educational or entertainment environment. The framers of the Constitution were some of the most educated men of their day, I have to believe they would have valued safety in schools.  

Instead, I believe that the forward-thinking framers of the Constitution would have expected their successors to employ a Living Document (Aspirational) viewpoint of this document. As a student of history I have stood in awe on more than one occasion at the fact that there have only been amended (updated) 27 times, and two of those have to do with alcohol! In 231 years, lawmakers have only made 27 changes to this document that shapes the law of the United States of America. An aspirational view of the 2nd Amendment would allow lawmakers to allow for people who wish to arm themselves to do so, but within some level of rational thought, that would limit access to assault weapons or other firearms that your average citizen does not need to carry. 

Each time the news reports that another crime has been committed with a gun, I think of the word beget. Not the reproduction definition... Rather the thought that violence begets more violence. If people think the way to protect themselves is to carry a gun, does that not encourage other people to arm themselves? It feels like such a vicious cycle.

Until someone breaks the cycle, I am going to continue to vote carefully and consider each candidate's record on accepting donations from special interest groups especially the NRA. I will also make a donation to Every Town for Gun Safety. The irony of these plans is that the framers of the Constitution did not even allow me to take these actions as women were not given the right to vote until 1920 with the ratification of the 19th Amendment of the Constitution. What do you think my man James Madison and his compatriots would have to say about that one? Or perhaps I should say, "how do you like them apples?"

I will leave you with this striking quote from Supreme Court Cheif Justice Warren Burger (Conservative - appointed by P Richard Nixon), "The Gun Lobby's interpretation of the Second Amendment is one of the greatest pieces of fraud - one of the American people by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime. The real purpose of the Second Amendment was to ensure that state armies - the militia - would be maintained for the defense of the state. The language of the Second Amendment refutes any argument that it was intended to guarantee every citizen an unfettered right to any kind of weapon he or she desires."

Proof that a Textualism interpretation can work too...

One Final Broadcast: The Love and Kindness of Mister Rogers and Grandparents

Last year for the April meeting of the board, I was asked to give the opening devotion. I get terribly nervous in these instances where I am surrounded by highly educated (many of them theologically trained) people, but for this one, the timing was well suited in that I truly had been thinking a lot about my grandparents. Today would have been my Grandpop's 88th birthday, so I again find myself thinking about him more than usual. While there are days marked on a calendar where I can anticipate that I will be thinking about my grandparents, but truth be told not a day really goes by where they don't float across my thoughts. It may be something sensical like my sister taking me to see The King and I  stage play as we grew up watching all the Rodgers and Hammerstein movies (except South Pacific which was a one-time showing). Or it could be something more random like a visit to the grocery store's deli department and thinking how Grandpop would have approved of their selection and the person who cut the meat (or disapprove as the case may be). It is in these moments of grief that I am reminded of the fragility of life, and try to tell myself not to squander time or opportunities. We can give ourselves a lot of things, but more time is not always one of them.

One Final Broadcast

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about grandparents, mine specifically. On Easter Sunday my grandmother turned 90, and this past Tuesday was the third anniversary of my grandfather’s death. Many people knew my grandfather as Alice Killmer’s husband of 64 years, father of two, a veteran of the Korean War, an employee of Acme markets for over 40 years, a life-long Episcopalian (let it be known, however, that he had Presbyterian leanings), but to his five grandchildren he was Grandpop.

My Grandpop retired at 55 and has encouraged us all to do the same. Since most of us will not be lucky enough to follow that lead, the life lesson regardless is that he knew how to live life to the fullest. Even in his last years when dementia took his mind, he was always in good spirits. There are times when the grief washes over me, and my only solution is to put on one of his shirts. He had a quality collection of flannel shirts, and everyone in the family went home with one. I also have a terribly scratchy wool sweater that I wear at times when I miss him an extra lot. In fact, I am wearing it today. I am convinced it is real love if you are willing to wear an itchy wool sweater that also gives off a Mr. Rogers vibe (a direct quote from my youngest sister).

I see a lot of similarities between my Grandpop and Mister Rogers, each with their own gentle spirit that the world needs more of. I would now like to read a short section from the book, The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers: Spiritual Insights from the World’s Most Beloved Neighbor by Amy Hollingsworth.

"The very last time I saw Fred in person, I asked him a question for no apparent reason, except perhaps out of idle curiosity. It didn't fit with the rest of the interview or even the context of what we were talking about at the moment. In fact, I didn't even remember asking it until I looked back the interview tape years later. Hearing his answer again, after his death, I found that his words had a 'quality of eternity' about them, as if they were spoken from eternity and not from the conversation we happened to be having that day.

'If you had one final broadcast,' I asked, 'one final opportunity to address your television neighbors, and you could tell them the single most important lesson of your life, what would you say?'

He paused a moment and then said, ever so slowly:  

Well, I would want [those] who were listening somehow to know that they had unique value, that there isn't anybody in the whole world exactly like them and that there never has been and there never will be.

And that they are loved by the Person who created them, in a unique way.

If they could know that and really know it and have that behind their eyes, they could look with those eyes on their neighbor and realize, "My neighbor has unique value too; there's never been anybody in the whole world like my neighbor, and there never will be." If they could value that person -- if they could love that person -- in ways that we know that the Eternal loves us, then I would be very grateful.

"And I think that from where he sits in his new neighborhood, Mister Rogers is just that, eternally gratefully."

Eternally grateful. I am eternally grateful for my grandparents, as well as many people. I truly hope you have someone (or someones) that you too are eternally grateful for having in your life.