I went through high school, (got good grades too) and never really read or studied the constitution, just learned a few lines from the preamble. That's a shame, constitutional limitations (on government) and the Bill of Rights should be taught from 1st grade up.
When you mention to most Americans that the constitution limits the federal government to those powers specifically enumerated in the document itself, and specifically reserves all other rights and authority to the people, or the individual states, they look at you like you are a Kook, because they have never read it, but it IS in there, congress ignores it, presidents have ignored it for the last 100 yrs and frankly, letting the supreme court decide which parts of the "highest law of the land" they will support, and which they will ignore, has become akin to letting the foxes guard the hen house. The only way we will retain our liberties for the next 20-30 yrs even, is for regular, average Americans to pick up our founding documents and read and see for themselves how much freedom we have already lost, and how out of control the federal government is.
Bush and Obama are not polar opposites, they are just two faces of the same guy. They have the same agenda, same goals. Under Bush we saw the largest increases in welfare expansion since FDR, Obama and the Dems pretend to hold the "Patriot" act in contempt, yet they just voted (without a single nay vote) to extend the act, without any debate. The two party system exists only to create the illusion of choice.
That all sounded crazy maybe, but it is all true. I was once very active in the Republican party, precinct chair, state delegate etc, but all I saw was corruption, backroom deals with big business, and efforts to expand welfare to buy votes. As long as we are content with "choices" like McCain or Obama, Bush or Gore, Bush or Kerry, we will have no real choice at all.
Good for you, attending a Tea party. I have been to a few, salt of the earth people for the most part, seeking a way to peacefully reign in a government run amok. The rallies I went to were fun too, good music, food and orations.
