Pure Random was created for the purpose of discussing random issues of our time and giving a human face to those random issues. But what exactly is a discussion? One group of people will give their side of the argument and another group of people will give their side. During discussions, people use talking points, examples, or statistics. But what about the human impacts of issues. Why are they ignored? Why do we so often ignore human suffering and reduce issues to statistical data. When issues are reduced in this nature, our humanity is reduced.
Lets kick off the first discussion of this website with the U.S. Constitution. There are those who want to use this document to support their ideological view of how America ought to govern its people. Political forces such as the Tea Party may contend that the Constitution has to return to what the founding fathers believed it should be. But what did the founding fathers believe? George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, two of the greatest American founders, believed that there should be a strong Federal government. Thomas Jefferson of course believed in states rights. In addition,John Marshall, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, believed that ultimately the Supreme Court decides what the Constitution means. Supreme Court interpretations, also known as judicial review, have been the precedent for the past 200 years. So the Constitution is not the original document that was signed in 1787. It is a document that had to expand and adapt to changing times. It is a document that has helped human beings over time. Returning to a 1787 interpretation of the Constitution would undermine 200 years of Supreme Court Constitutional law and it would undermine human progress in America.
So lets talk about the human impact of the Constitution. One great example concerns civil rights. The 1964 Civil Rights act gets it legal justification from the Interstate Commerce Clause. With this expansion, the Federal Government can go into states and regulate businesses. The Federal government can mandate that public accommodations serve African Americans. The Supreme Court has agreed with this expansion. This expansion along with other expansions has greatly protected African Americans. This significance of these achievements can not be overstated enough. They are monumental. Human beings were greatly protected by these expansions of the Constitution. The Constitution has enabled the Federal government to protect African Americans from dehumanizing conditions.
To those political forces, who want to reduce the Constitution to its 1787 meanings, explain your position to the African American mother who was able to protect her children from discrimination and brutality. Explain your position to the African American father who was able to allow his children to attend a good school. Explain your position to all those people who were able to obtain equal rights due to expansions of the Constitution. The Constitution has had a human impact.
The U.S. Constitution has protected real human beings with its expansions. It has had a human affect.The point of this site is to display the human effects of random issues. Issues should not be reduced to statistical data or ideological viewpoints. Issue discussions should attempt to consider the human impacts of problems.
