Recently, on NBC's The Tonight Show, Host Jay Leno quipped, "They keep talking about drafting a Constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years, and [heck], we're not using it anymore."

That a stand-up comic would interject the subject of a country actually using our U.S. Constitution to a national audience is quite remarkable considering the fact that both major parties routinely ignore or blatantly disobey the Constitution. Yes, the sad truth is, Leno was absolutely right: we're not paying any attention to the Constitution anymore.

The fact is, most of the proposals put forth by both President Bush and John Kerry are egregiously unconstitutional. Yes, Martha, both Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, deliberately and recklessly ignore their oaths of office to faithfully submit to the Constitution of the United States. That's why, in the end, it doesn't matter to a hill of beans which party is in power. Neither party has any intention of obeying the Constitution.

It seems that most political office holders in Washington, D.C., don't even realize that the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of our country. It seems that they are not even cognizant of the oath they take before God to be faithful to the precepts and prohibitions outlined within the Constitution.

Yet, are not our national leaders presumed to be educated and intelligent people? Cannot they read? Cannot they understand what they read? Or, are they too lazy or too unconcerned to read? Or, is the problem that they do understand and do comprehend what the Constitution says and just don't give a flip?

What is even worse is the reality that most Americans, including Christian conservatives, couldn't care less about the U.S. Constitution. As with the pagan left, the religious right demonstrates a total disregard and apathy toward fidelity to the Constitution. As a result, both are equally culpable for the continued demise of our republic.

For example, Christian conservatives are salivating over the prospect of receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal treasury for "faith-based initiatives." Preachers and churches by the droves are running to Uncle Sam with their hands out in order to receive President Bush's latest bribe.

What is even more disconcerting is that some of the people at the head of the line at Uncle Sam's doorstep were the very ones who had taught me that we were supposed to go to our Heavenly Father for such things. Then again, it appears that many of my conservative brethren believe Uncle Sam and the Heavenly Father are one and the same.

When Bush first took office, he was frustrated by Congress' unwillingness to quickly pass his faith-based proposals. So, following the example of his predecessor, Bill Clinton, he simply by-passed Congress and signed an Executive Order (So, who needs Congress, anyway?)

As a result of his Executive Order, nearly 500 "faith-based" programs have received over $1 billion in federal handouts during 2002 and 2003. What President Bush has not done is to explain where the Constitution grants him the right to do that. And, of course, don't expect any of the "conservatives" who are receiving this inducement to ask that question.

What many conservatives have forgotten (and liberals never learned) is that fidelity to the Constitution is the glue that holds our republic together. Without adherence to the Constitution, the line between "liberal" and "conservative" is blurred to the point of no distinction. Without adherence to the Constitution, the United States of America ceases to exist.

As Daniel Webster said, "Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world." Webster also declared, "The hand that destroys the Constitution rends our Union asunder forever."

Destroying the Constitution is exactly what both major parties are doing. If Jay Leno can figure this out, why can't Bush or Kerry?

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