Read the fine print . . .

In almost every agreement or contract you can find “small print”.  That’s where they bury the important exceptions or potential modifications to the document that catches the unsuspecting or trusting party.  While there is nothing illegal about the procedure, it is not only annoying, but upsetting to say the least, particularly when some provision it contained turns out to be against what you had understood or thought you were accepting.

That said, one of the major pluses in the writing of the Constitution is that there are no “fine print” parts.  Yet, there are situations contained in the document that might well fall into that category simply because they can be so easily overlooked or disregarded.

For example, “No State shall . . . make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts . . . ”  (Art. I, Sec. 10).  How many readers are aware of that requirement?  And, how many states are complying with this mandate?  Recognizing that the physical handling of large quantities or gold or silver in whatever form became a burden, the government began the process of printing “certificates” (Gold and Silver Certificates) that were acknowledged and accepted as representing the specific amount of the metal as noted on the face thereof.    

The practice of exchanging such “paper certificates” became widespread until the Federal Reserve was created and began the slow and quiet practice of “modifying” the certificates, eliminating any reference to gold or silver!  Thus the expression “not worth the paper it’s printed on” began to define the Federal Reserve Notes as they are now called.  The “fine print” worked its way while the public was otherwise occupied.

Another example, “The Senators and Representatives . . . and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution . . .”  Today we have some people openly advocating abandoning the Constitution as the controlling document for our government.   

Rep. Henry Hyde is quoted as telling Rep. Ron Paul in response to Paul’s resolution requesting a formal declaration of war following 9/11 and the Iraq invasion, “There are things in the Constitution that have been overtaken by events, by time.  Declaration of war is one of them . . . Inappropriate, anachronistic, it isn’t done anymore.”  Was the oath a “fine print” area to be ignored at will?  Can the President declare war whenever he feels like it?  Such disregard of a sworn oath as well as ignoring the Constitution surely indicates some “fine print” may have been missed in the beginning!

Perhaps the most egregious example of “fine print” that truly affects everyone, is to be found in a document of some 4 million plus words.  It has been said that no one person fully understands

or comprehends it.  Yet it is involved in everyone’s life every day and requires compliance with its dictates regardless of who you are or what business or profession you have.  It can fine you and even imprison you if you fail to respect its regulations or to provide what it demands.  And, it is all perfectly constitutional since it is the result of an amendment.  In case you haven’t already guessed, the “fine print” is that of the Internal Revenue Service (Amendment XVI ratified in 1913).  Until that time, the federal government “lived within its means” and without the “fine print” of the IRS.

We should read the “fine print” always!  That’s my view.  What’s yours?  Reach me at constitutionviews@gmail.com ©2013 Hillard W. Welch