The U. S. Constitution

When I was 12 or 13, I read the U. S. Constitution for the first time. I thought I understood it. After all, it seemed pretty straightforward. Since then, however, I've discovered that I actually understood very little of what I had read.

Here are a few of my childish misunderstandings:

• I thought that Congress had only a few, clearly defined powers. (Article I, Section 8)
  
• I thought that the states had the majority of the power, since they had all the power not explicitly granted to Congress. (Amendment 10, 1791)
• I thought that "cruel and unusual punishment" just meant that torture is illegal. (Amendment 8, 1791)
• I thought that the Ninth Amendment meant that all of our rights can't possibly be listed, and that just because they weren't listed in the Bill of Rights doesn't mean that they don't exist.
• I thought that the Fourteenth Amendment clarified the implications of U. S. citizenship, specifically for former slaves.
  
• I thought that the job of the Supreme Court was to decide who is innocent and who is guilty of a certain crime. (Article III, Section 2)
• I thought that the way to learn more about the Constitution and law in this country is to read the Constitution.
  
• I thought that the Constitution is a legally binding document that the federal government simply obeys (Article VII), and that the way to change it is to amend it (Article V).
  

Since then,

• I've learned that Congress's power to "make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers" means that Congress has the authority to make any and every law. (See Article I, Section 8)
• I've learned that the 10th Amendment is "but a truism" (e.g. see this commentary), because the federal government has all the power it wants.
• I've learned that "cruel and unusual punishment" describes any kind of punishment imaginable.
• I've learned that the Ninth Amendment guarantees rights to homosexuals and other groups not mentioned elsewhere in the Constitution.
  
• I've learned that the Fourteenth Amendment provides for affirmative action, abortion, and just about anything one can think of.
  
• I've learned that the job of the Supreme Court is to decide which laws are "constitutional."
• I've learned that the way to learn more about the Constitution and law in this country is to read Supreme Court precedents, so I'll understand what the Constitution is really saying.
  
• I've learned that the Constitution is a "living" document and that the way to change it is to "interpret" it.

Why is this? Our country is drifting away from our "rule of law" to "rule by men" - exactly what the Founding Fathers fled. We should not need to appeal to what the Supreme Court says the Constitution says; we should appeal to what the Constitution says. Otherwise, we have made the Supreme Court not just the highest court in the land, but the highest law in the land.

(For more on this topic, see John Whitehead's Second American Revolution - a book that I really will get around to finishing someday!)