How Well Do You Know the Constitution?
Thursday, October 21, 2010 at 09:19AM 
Given all the rhetoric about the secret government plot to undermine the Constitution, we wondered how many people had actually read the document. So we put together a quiz. After you take it, come on back and comment.
Already taken it? How’d you do? If you got a perfect score, then you can join the Founders’ celestial kaffeeklatch when you die. If you scored above 80, then you’re an Ideal Citizen—someone who actually read the darn thing instead of just mouthing off about it. If you barely passed with a score of 70, congratulate yourself; most people fail it. I haven’t met a lawyer yet who passed.
And what if you flunked? Then you qualify to join the distinguished faculty of Glenn Beck’s Beck University.
Add more of your own questions in the comments here, and, like the Constitution itself, we’ll make amendments.
Reader Comments (30)
Some of Obama's actions in the financial crisis have been labeled as socialistic--and, indeed, taking over auto companies counts--but the feds have been scrambling to re-privatize those companies. Was the healthcare legislation socialistic? Not hardly; the government takes a slightly larger role, while private employers remain responsible for their employees' insurance. The "single payer" plan, which would have expanded Medicare, suffered an early abortion.
So the Birchers and Partiers seem to be fighting a really cool-sounding menace which looks nothing like the socialism that's rapidly disappearing in Europe.
Libertarianism, like most political philosophies, gains little traction in the public mind unless there's an enemy to fight. Where's the enemy? Taxation? Our taxes have been going down, not up--one major reason for the exploding deficit. Big government? Again, if you count employees and regulation (not budgets!), its size has remained steady. Budgets are indeed huge, but an enemy has to be personal, not the stuff of spreadsheets and out-of-control deficits. So the Libertarians swiped their enemy from the Birchers.
If only that enemy existed.
Also, it's just as true that in America--by which I mean the US--we have few-to-none options when it comes to choosing between the free market and socialism. I was just trying to paint how black and white the world is to them. How they frame the debate. I've been arguing for a nuanced approach to this debate with on associate of mine, whose stated duty is to take up arms against the Muslim/commie forces at work in our country. It's been my experience that getting a tea party activist to look a situation with shades of nuance is like giving a fish bicycle-riding lessons.
Fig.
Pulling out my copy of TYFA: I believe, the fish riding a bike, a variation on "a woman needs a man, like a fish needs a bicycle" is the surprise ending (paraprosdokian)