[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 85 (Tuesday, June 27, 2006)]
[House]
[Page H4673]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     THE IMPORTANCE FOR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS AND STAFF TO READ THE 
                              CONSTITUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Utah (Mr. Bishop) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BISHOP of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I also appreciate the opportunity of 
being here to talk about Mr. Conaway's piece of legislation dealing 
with the Constitution.
  In Mack v. The United States, Justice Scalia said, ``The Constitution 
protects us from our own best intentions. It divides power among 
sovereigns,'' that is the national and State government, ``and among 
the branches of government,'' the executive, legislative, and judicial, 
``precisely so that we may resist the temptation to concentrate power 
in one location as an expedient solution to the crises of the day.''
  The Founding Fathers also understood this when they were trying to 
sell the Constitution originally. Madison wrote in Federalist 45 that 
``The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal 
Government are few and defined'' and those to the States are ``numerous 
and indefinite. Those we were supposed to deal with were the external 
objects like war, peace, negotiations, foreign commerce. The States 
were supposed to deal with everything which affected the ordinary 
course of affairs, concerns the lives and liberties and properties of 
the people, internal order, improvement of prosperity of the States.
  So why don't we really do that today? It is not because we are 
deliberately trying to trample upon the concepts of the Constitution. 
It is not something that is vicious. It is something that we simply do 
not do because we tend to base our actions on the traditions of what we 
have always done, rather than the principles of what we ought to do.
  So enter Mr. Conaway and his resolution. Why should we do it? Well, 
maybe if we did read that document more often we would not follow the 
traditions we have always done instead of the principles we ought to 
do. It does not happen by itself.
  I was a poly sci major. Three of my children are. None of us were 
ever required to actually look at the document itself. When I taught AP 
government classes, I required our classes to read the document every 
year. It took a week to just go through it going at a fast clip.
  But none of my kids were ever required to replicate that experience 
when they were in college, even if they were poly sci majors. My kids 
did know at that time what the Gitlow decision in the 1920s did to 
impact the 14th amendment in the 1950s. They did know the answers that 
I am repeatedly asked, like how often are congressman up for reelection 
or which Senator is supposed to represent our part of the State of Utah 
or when you go down to the Senate Chamber that was restored, why are 
there 11 chairs instead of nine?
  They understand the concept of the Supreme Court's declaring things 
unconstitutional. It is not written in the document itself. It is a 
precedent that was established 15 years after the document was written. 
Jefferson always thought the legislative branch should be the one doing 
that job. Washington, and he was there when this thing was written, 
always thought the executive should declare things unconstitutional, 
and that was the purpose of the veto. In fact, the first six Presidents 
of the United States only vetoed items for constitutional issues.
  I always ask my students if the Constitution allows you a guaranteed 
right of a secret ballot. And when they say, yes, I say that is a 
unique concept, especially since it was not popular only until 100 
years after the Constitution was actually written. Why else would 
George Washington be able to buy a round of drinks for all the people 
that voted for him for the House of Burgess? Or when Thomas Nast draws 
his cartoons and there is this round globe there, what is that? In 
fact, it took a while to realize that was the ballot box of the 1800s. 
It was clear you got your ballots from the political parties. They were 
color coded; so everyone knew how you voted publicly. And, in fact, in 
New York one year, they even perfumed the ballots in case you were 
color blind so you could at least smell the proper ballot to cast.
  It is fitting and proper that we and staff read the Constitution. 
Why? Well, maybe we will start asking the right questions or maybe it 
is just the right thing to do. If the Boy Scouts of America can insist 
that every kid wanting to get an Eagle has to read the Constitution 
first, if it is good enough for a 13-year-old kid, it ought to be good 
enough for us and for our staffs.
  In fact, we should thank Mr. Conaway for making it an easy 
resolution. He is simply asking us to read the document. He could have 
made it tougher by asking us to understand it at the same time.
  Maybe it would even allow us to rein in the size and growth of the 
Federal Government because, as PJ O'Rourke very clearly said, ``The 
mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it 
stop.''

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