Wednesday, September 12, 2007

It's fun to feel superior


I suppose I should be alarmed at the fact that most Americans, according to a poll released today, believe that the nation's Founding Fathers wrote Christianity into the U.S. Constitution.

But I'm not alarmed. Instead, I take great pleasure -- smug pleasure, to be sure -- in knowing that most of my fellow citizens are so stupid. It gives me a feeling of superiority to have actually read the Constitution and to have noticed that it makes no mention whatever of God, or Jesus, or the Creator or any such thing.

Hey, world, look at me! I'm fully aware that the Constitution is entirely a secular document. Most Americans can't say that. They're not aware. Most Americans are stupid. I'm so proud of myself!

There was a time when such widespread ignorance worried me. What's going to become of us, I asked myself, with so many of our people so unaware of even the most basic of America's founding principles? But I learned to chill. There isn't much I can do about it, anyway.

Most Americans also say they don't believe in evolution, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence supporting it. Not much I can do about that, either. All I can do is feel intellectually superior, which, as I say, is not without its pleasures.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rascal, you're a Cub fan so there's no way you're intellectually superior. Actually I do find this poll scary. This kind of ignorance allows politicians to manipulate the public and does this country great damage. I still can't get over the polls showing the number of Americans who don't believe in evolution. Where are these people?

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure politicians understand the constitution any better than the general population. That's the really scary thing.

The Rascal said...

Hey, I'm a Cub fan only when they're doing well. When they're not, screw em. As for where you'll find people who don't believe in evolution, the churches are full of them. So is the Republican Party. A lot of the Republican creationists also are global-warming deniers. They don't got no faith in science no how. They're into superstition and make-believe, which is why so many of them admire such Hollywood types as John Wayne, Ronald Reagan and Fred Thompson.

Anonymous said...

Do you think congress could be educated to understand the 10th amendment?

The Rascal said...

Mr. (or Ms.) Anonymous: I'm guessing you're one of those people who think that most federal laws are violations of the 10th Amendment, which reads: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." However, since 1937, the Supreme Court has rejected most challenges to federal law based on 10th Amendment arguments. It's a complicated matter, but it comes down mainly to the amendment's lack of the word "expressly." We could argue about this for hours, but suffice it to say that 10th Amendment arguments are, as practical matter, of little avail. You may not like it, but that's the way it is.

Anonymous said...

The constitution is a living document and is to be reinterpreted by each succeeding generation. If a future supreme court interprets it as establishing the United States as a Christian nation and requiring the teaching of creationism in schools, who am I to complain. After all, they're just following the will of the people.

The Rascal said...

How can the Supreme Court interpret the Constitution "as establishing the United States as a Christian nation and requiring the teaching of creationism in schools"? The Constitution contains no mention at all of God or Christianity. And the Supreme Court is not supposed to be "just following the will of the people." It's supposed to follow the Constitution. From time to time, the "will of the people" in this country is in direct contradiction of the Constitution. The Supreme Court is supposed to protect us from these variable winds of public opinion.

Anonymous said...

"The Constitution contains no mention at all of God or Christianity. And the Supreme Court is not supposed to be "just following the will of the people." It's supposed to follow the Constitution."

The essence of the penumbra of the constitution very clearly states that the United States is a Christian nation. Right next to the requirement that all Americans own assault rifles. How could you possibly miss that?

The Rascal said...

Oh, I get it now! You're just jacking me around, right? Well, penumbra THIS, pal!