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'We The Government?' - HUMAN EVENTS

The Constitution, according to Obama in this 2001 radio broadcast, "[s]ays what the states can’t do to you. Says what the federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf."

Rush Limbaugh is arguing now that from these comments it's clear Obama "doesn't believe in the US Constitution." He most certainly believes in it -- he just thinks the government has failed to use it to its overweening advantage.

This provides some incredibly revealing insight into Obama's interpretation of the role of government. For him, it is ideally up to the courts to assure social and economic justice is meted out, not lawmakers. We call this legislating from the bench, of course, and most agree this is an abuse of power that directly contradicts the tenets set forth in the Constitution.

But here's the main point: the Constitution doesn't exist to empower government, but to empower people. It begins, "We the people," not "We the government." He's absolutely right that it limits what government can do, and necessarily so -- at the time it was authored the United States was emerging from under the thumb of a ruling monarchy. Obama's apparent willingness to use the Constitution as a means of giving government more power isn't necessarily surprising, unless you've been in hiding the past year, but it is very frightening.

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