Constitution Day at K-State

The Constitution of the United States was signed by the framers and presented to the states for ratification on September 17, 1787. In commemoration of this historic event Congress in December 2004, apparently without conscious irony, declared September 17 as Constitution Day. Kansas State University has scheduled three days of activities for Constitution Day. Reading the announcement, one doesn't know whether to laugh or cry:

A Constitution Day booth will be available from noon to 1 p.m. all three days outside the food court at the Union. At the booth, people can test their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution with a special quiz, pick up a booklet-size copy of the Constitution and get a special "I Love the Constitution" button, while supplies last.

Activities Tuesday, Sept. 16, will include a special presentation in K-State's Dorothy L. Thompson Lecture Series on Civil Rights at 6:30 p.m. in the Union's Forum Hall. The presentation will be a panel discussion on racial profiling, featuring Danielle Dempsey-Swopes, executive director of the Kansas African-American Affairs Commission; Steve Cisneros, executive director of the Kansas Hispanic and Latino-American Affairs Commission; and Judges Henry W. Green, Richard Greene and Nancy L. Caplinger of the Kansas Circuit Court of Appeals. Panel moderator will be Kyle Smith. The presentation will be free and open to the public.

Instead of having a panel on the meaning and underlying philosophy of the Constitution, there is a discussion on the politically correct issue of the moment. This is consistent with the concrete bound mentality the university seeks to inculcate. Instead of focusing on the clear and present dangers to our rights, the ever growing power, reach, and scope of government at all levels, students will get to hear the standard race, class, gender litany.

As an example of this threat to Constitutional liberties one need go no further than Executive Order #13432 promulgated by President Bush in May 2007. This decree purpose is "“to ensure the coordinated and effective exercise of the authorities of the President and the heads of the [DOT], the Department of Energy, and [EPA] to protect the environment with respect to greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles, nonroad vehicles, and nonroad engines . . ." in accordance with a Supreme Court ruling the previous month, April 2007 (more here on this power grab). Is there any doubt that K-State's panel of legal experts would be in favor of this unconstitutional take over of transportation and food production by the EPA?

Speaking of "climate change," the weather here in Kansas has been unseasonably cold, wet and cloudy. I think there is a man-made reason for this. We are enduring a Smug Alert. An example of the "progressive" smugness that the rest of us in Manhattan, Kansas endure is the "Movies on the Grass" farce I wrote about earlier this week.

The administration is serious about getting as many people to attend this weekly, leftist documentary film indoctrination as possible. On every table in the cafeteria and library are announcements for "Movies on the Grass." The sub-title for the event in these advertisements is ... drum roll please ... "Movies with a Conscience." Classic leftist, elitist terminology. Rest assured that if you think that in the name of genuine balance documentaries such as Obsession or June Arunga's The Devil's Footpath or Border Wars or The Stoning of Soraya M. or Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life should also be screened, then you are a doubleplus crimethinker. You are not a person of conscience and will not get invited to the right wine-and-cheese parties, much less search committees.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone show the connections between, and costs of, smugness, parties, and being on the "right" side of issues, any issue.




Crossposted at The Dougout