Congress “Reads” the Constitution
When Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) suggested that the "full text" of the Constitution be read on the House floor for the first time in history, it sounded like a great idea! This historic event was officially scheduled to take place at the opening of the 112th Congress on January 6, 2011. Goodlatte, however, later qualified this pronouncement to state that those parts of the Constitution which were considered to have been superseded by one or more amendments would NOT be read, after all.
I have never seen a printed "full text" copy of the Constitution which did NOT include those portions that were affected by subsequent amendments. It is truly astounding that Congress just arbitrarily assumed the authority to "revise" and read their own version of the Supreme Law of the Land!
It is very interesting to note that one of the most crucial sections in the Constitution, which is completely unaffected by ANY amendment, was deleted in its entirety:
Article IV, Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic
Violence.
Why did Congress refuse to read this section? Could it be that the political establishment (the leadership of both the Republican and Democratic parties) would like to ignore the fact that, not only is the United States of America a Republican Form of Government, but so is every State in this Union? In addition, the second phrase suggests that the United States Government is prohibited from invoking martial law in any State, since this would essentially be
an invasion BY the United States Government into the jurisdiction of that State.
I am curious if all of our "public servants" are allowed to modify whatever portions of the Constitution they find objectionable when they take their oaths of office. I seriously doubt that any of our military personnel are permitted this liberty when they take their oaths.
Reference Video Source (reading of Article IV, Section 1 begins at about 12:10 into the video) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_740062&v=wg5aPOFJ8X4&feature=iv
I have never seen a printed "full text" copy of the Constitution which did NOT include those portions that were affected by subsequent amendments. It is truly astounding that Congress just arbitrarily assumed the authority to "revise" and read their own version of the Supreme Law of the Land!
It is very interesting to note that one of the most crucial sections in the Constitution, which is completely unaffected by ANY amendment, was deleted in its entirety:
Article IV, Section 4. The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic
Violence.
Why did Congress refuse to read this section? Could it be that the political establishment (the leadership of both the Republican and Democratic parties) would like to ignore the fact that, not only is the United States of America a Republican Form of Government, but so is every State in this Union? In addition, the second phrase suggests that the United States Government is prohibited from invoking martial law in any State, since this would essentially be
an invasion BY the United States Government into the jurisdiction of that State.
I am curious if all of our "public servants" are allowed to modify whatever portions of the Constitution they find objectionable when they take their oaths of office. I seriously doubt that any of our military personnel are permitted this liberty when they take their oaths.
Reference Video Source (reading of Article IV, Section 1 begins at about 12:10 into the video) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_740062&v=wg5aPOFJ8X4&feature=iv