I do not like Huckabee at all and I did not appreciate his Christmas ad with him basking in the glow of the cross. Or how he covered up how his son sadisticly stoned a dog to death in college so the son wouldn’t get in trouble. For being a psychopath that stones dogs to death!

To say that I don’t like any of the Republicans other than Paul is an understatement. Most of them disgust or terrify me, or both. And I dislike most of the Democrats too and am fairly indifferent about the rest.

I very much understand his apathy.

But I also understand the FEELING that the government (read “congress and the presidency”) has completely ignored the founding document. Yes, as Peter pointed out certain freedoms spelled out in the Constitution are still around – the right to bear arms, freedom of speech and so on – but other just as clearly annunciated provisions have been completely ignored. Has there ever been a case in the Supreme Court challenging Federal involvement in public schools? If the Justices have their heads on at all (read, “they are actually, apolitically defending the constitution”), such a case would surely succeed, no?

As you referenced, Article 1, Section 8 lays out 18 things that fall into the realm of the federal government – education is not included. (The concept of mass, compulsory schooling did not gain widespread acceptance until the 1880s – those initially behind the public school movement were quite open about their intention to use the public schools to change society.)

The habit of ignoring the Constitution completely is less than 100 years old – notice that Americans valued the Constitution enough to amend it for Prohibition, but later couldn’t be bothered to do the same for the “War on Drugs”, instead opting for a ridiculous, all-encompassing interpretation of the inter-state commerce clause that has become the rationale for most, if not all, big-federal-government programs.

This mentality of placing zero value on the constraints of our foundational law shows the weakening of the Republic Empire both intellectually and morally. I’m not sure that the current trends can be reversed, but I will speak out against them where and when I can. I desperately want to live in an America where states are free to try various solutions. I’d love to be able to choose between libertarian and semi-socialist state governments – that would be a political experiment worthy of the United States of America.