Mr. Stengel: We The People Deserve More Credit

We the people are neither as obtuse nor as self-deluded as Time Editor Richard Stengel supposes in his June 23, 2011, piece, “One Document, Under Siege.”

The framers of the Constitution may not have imagined themselves pontificating on a flat screen, sexting over the Internet, or singing the lyrics to “Captivated” by Lady Gaga, but they understood human vulnerability. They understood that the absence of a social contract invited chaos, political repression, even genocide. That their deaths prevented them from making the acquaintance of Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Ida Amin, Muammar Gadhafi, Saddam Hussein, and Osama Bin Laden does not nullify the promises of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

No, the framers did not anticipate the deaths of more than half a million Americans during the Civil War or bear witness to the horrors of Nazi Germany. But they were students of history and they knew of man’s capacity to evil.  They knew of Tomas de Torquemada, Vlad the Impaler, and Ivan the Terrible.  Religious bigotry, torture, and extra-judicial killings existed before them, and the framers knew they would persist in their absence.  The framers' intent was to moderate the possibility that Americans would be susceptible to such iniquity. They provided a framework for "a more perfect” union, one grounded in justice, equality, and religious tolerance – and one wherein the general welfare of its citizens would be promoted and their liberties protected. 

So would the framers think that drones over Libya constitute a violation of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution?  The answer has nothing to do with whether George Washington ever dreamed that man could fly or use global-positioning satellites to aim a missile.  The question is whether drones over Libya and using global-positioning satellites to aim missiles (and asking the UN Security Council to authorize the US to bomb Libyan tanks and artillery) amounts to a declaration of war and if so, whether our Executive Office usurped congressional authority in declaring it.  The framers, I suspect, would not have needed time to deliberate before responding.