Maybe it is the fact that I am in the middle of Naomi Wolf's The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (read a synopsis here), or maybe it was the talk Lionel from Air America was having this morning with the authors of this book, or maybe it is just a rather disturbing gut feeling I am having about the state of our democracy; whatever the case, I am starting to feel as though the United States Constitution is the new Bible.

When I make the analogy above, I don't mean it in the way you may be thinking. I do not mean that people are reverent towards its words and message. I do not mean that people are reading passages of it in their homes on a Sunday afternoon. And I definitely do not mean that it is being treated with the same care and protection as one would demonstrate with their personal copy of the Bible. No, what I mean is that, similar to the "message" of the Bible, the "message" of the Constitution is becoming increasingly twisted, manipulated, and used for selfish personal and political gain. I think the people in this country who would want to rule with more power, rob the nation of its riches, and weaken our democracy are inherently limited in doing so by the powers of the Constitution. I think that, because of that fact, they misuse the Constitution as a shield for their actions. They hide behind it, saying things like "This is how the founders would have wanted it" or "I am a strict constructionist", and they take for granted the fact that the majority of U.S. citizens (including myself unfortunately!) do not really know what the Constitution says, and can't be bothered to look it up. They take for granted the fact that we have subleased our protection of our democracy to the "experts". We put all of our faith in the elected officials, or the law makers, or in anyone else who must be smarter than us to do the Constitutional homework, and make sure we stay the same strong democracy we have always been. Well, the obvious question this line of thinking leads to is, what happens when that small group of citizens we have put in charge of guarding our democracy have no real interest in doing so? What happens when we put the foxes in charge of the hen house?

It is similar to me to the way followers of the Christian faith have subleased their understanding of the Bible to the leaders of their church. The church that teaches its followers to be intolerant of those with alternative sexual lifestyles. The leaders who fall back on the simple logic "It is an abomination in the Bible". Well, so are a lot of other things that are not being emphasized or even mentioned. Did you know it is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord, according to the Bible, for people to eat shrimp? Why are there not Christians marching in protest outside of the Red Lobster? Isn't the message of Jesus about love, tolerance and compassion? Why are so many Christians taught to do the opposite to those they disagree with? Isn't it easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into heaven? Then why do so many church leaders live extravagant lives and build mega churches? Think about it, and more importantly, read your Bibles people and decide for yourself! Do not let others do the critical thinking for you. This only allows them to subjugate the message and use it towards their own selfish ends.

I do not want to turn this blog into a Christian bashing sessions (especially so close to Christmas!), I just want to point out how, when you do not do your own homework, when you do not actually read and study the thing you claim to believe in, and when you allow others to do this work for you and accept the message they say comes out of it, you are only setting yourself up for a fall. The belief in Christianity, just like the belief in our democracy, can be and should be larger than the men who are currently in control of its distribution. It can only be that way if we, you and me and everyone we know, put in the work and dedication that both the founders of the Christian faith and the framers of our democracy expected us to do. If we don't, I am afraid both are doomed to fail.

Now, I should be off to read the Constitution!!