Let’s use a little analogy to look at the U.S. Constitution. In all of our lives, we need numbers. Numbers for groceries, checkbooks, cholesterol and so on. We know that we have enough money for some milk because it costs $3.29 and we have $4. But what happens if we get to the store and they say “Yes, it costs $3.29, but I now interpret those numbers to mean 500 pennies.” We are out of luck.

Of course that’s nonsense, but this is what happens if we say that numbers are living and breathing symbols that evolve with our culture.

Once we lose the strict value of these numbers, we lose track of all things related to these numbers: speed limits, 99-cent cheeseburgers, etc.

The same applies to the U.S. Constitution. The words that were written have meanings. They are the foundation of all of our law. When those words were transformed into living, breathing and evolving things, our foundation turned to dust. This is why some people get so worked up about who sits on the bench, because we no longer have a foundation made of stone.

What we have now is quicksand, where $3.29 equals whatever the majority of nine people sitting on the bench says it equals. If you are the store, you hope there are people who say $3.29 equals 500 pennies; and if you are buying the milk, you may hope they interpret those numbers to mean 200 pennies.

Frank Phillips, Auburn

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