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Entry: The U.S. Constitution is Not Democratic -- and Why That's a Good Thing Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_us_constitution_is_not_democratic_and_why_thats_a_good_thing#17840 Post contents: I once heard Levinson speak and immediately struck by the feeling that he comes from a tradition that would be totally alien to that of our founding fathers. Those fore bearers that Levinson so proudly boasts of believe that there were no real immutable laws or eternal truths. Instead there were only laws made by man "with divine inspiration." Under the Pharisees the Ten Commandments lost all real significance because they could be ignored entirely depending on circumstances. This means to someone like Levinson that laws can be interpreted any way the interpreting judge wants depending on his frame of mind and prejudices. A law can be interpreted differently from one day to another based on continually changing set of variables. Murder, for instance, would theoretically be illegal in one situation but legal in another if it was decided that the murder as beneficial to the group as a whole. We see this interpretation on display virtually daily in Israel's courts where targeted assassinations are approved by both state and rabbinical courts because they are considered beneficial to the country as a whole. If people of Levinson's ilk had been around at the time of the Constitution our Bill of Rights would be very different from one the one that emerged. Judges would be able to make decisions without consulting precedence as demanded by our system of common law. There would be no real rights. Levinson represents the frame of mind of those who continually push for a "living Constitution." similarly devoid of any real principles. And here is the funny thing. Despite his claimed devotion to majority rights,what Levinson wants is a country that is riven by conflicting groups. This diviseness makes it possible for a small cohesive group to usurp power. We have already seen what this sort of system led to in the excesses of the USSR. Sent at: 2008 07 24