By KENNETH S. IMBRIALE
Taimour Chaudhri’s anti-Tea Party screed [“The Truth About The Tea Party: They Have No Idea What They Support,” Your Opinion, March 11] arrogantly tells us that “knowledge and logic are power, and I hope your group considers using them.”
While not a Tea Party member, it seems that Chaudhri is the one lacking knowledge and logic.
The United States Constitution is not an “evolving document.” It established the structure of the general (“federal”) government, and defined its relationship with the State governments. It specified the limited powers of this federal government, and left all remaining power to the States.
These concepts are not to be interpreted capriciously!
This doesn’t mean that the Constitution is unalterable: Article V provides us with the methodology. Chaudhri’s citing of Marbury v. Madison (1803) is predictable but erroneous — the Constitution does not grant the Supreme Court the power to “interpret” the document.
Thomas Jefferson was particularly scathing of the Marshall Court’s Constitution-violating legacy.
Contrary to what Mr. Chaudhri says, slavery was ended by the Thirteenth Amendment, not via “interpretation.” Criticizing laissez-faire economics by citing bad government policy and illegalities is illogical; the problem lies with government and the lawbreakers, not the free market.
Defining the Constitution as an “evolving, interpretative document” as he does, destroys the reasons for having a Constitution in the first place.