Constitution Committee

Comment Up

Suzanne Squire

For the most part, members of this group are strong believers in the United States Constitution. They have no other agenda. They remind me of certain bible sects that literally interpret "God's word" to their perspective. There is no other point of view that is acceptable.

Our Constitution gives certain rights to the people. It does not cover every eventuality and its meaning is challenged from time to time. When that happens, those disputes come before the judicial branch of our government. There is no black and white way to interpret many aspects of it and often times there are conflicting rights. The Supreme Court will then step in.

The Constitution Committee believes that the only way the Constitution should be interpreted is the way in which the "framers" intended, the most pure way. Times change and 200 years later our country has a whole new set of problems, a whole new set of circumstances. We have a diverse population today with over 300 million people from all over the world and it is less rural with less farm land than it was when this document was written. The entire lifestyle of this country has changed. We no longer have slave owners who wrote the Constitution. There is an entirely different set of standards today.

One question to ask is, does this document become old and stale in some ways through the eyes of all of us living in the 21st century. Should those in charge of interpreting the Constitution use modern realism? One thing for sure, when a situation arises, we all look to our Constitution, the greatest document ever written.

The Constitution Committee met last night at McKenna's Restaurant. They are located where the old Lenora's used to be. Suzanne Squire of Lake Worth, an expert on the Constitution, made an awesome presentation on Agenda 21 (See Wikipedia) which is a comprehensive plan of action to be taken globally, nationally and locally by organizations of the United Nations System, Governments, and Major Groups in every area in which human impacts on the environment.

Suzanne showed how this entire Plan, that is being called sustainable development, is being used across America and even in Lake Worth, changing from a society of equal justice to one of social justice. Some of the current issues she cited were: smart growth development, leading children towards accepting global citizenship, laws being enacted that monitor individual activity, even microchips in our garbage cans, economies shifting from free enterprise to public/private partnerships, the League of Cities conference in Phoenix on global development (attended by Scott Maxwell) and even giving turtles on our beach consideration or a greater importance than the rights of human beings.

All in all, it was an evening to ponder. I left believing that there are many people among the group who are sincere and who have nothing more in mind than adhering to their strict interpretation of our Constitution with a small number of radicals sprinkled in. The last person who took the microphone to speak was very disconcerting. As I walked to my car, Ted Kaczynski came to mind. It was a weird thought.