Death of Constitution?

Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, was an advocate for the United States Constitution and the blessings of liberty that it guarantees. He often praised it. He once made a statement something to the effect that the Constitution would one day be hanging as though by a thread and it could only be rescued by good people. I have often thought about his statement and wondered how the great nation of the United States of America could fall so far that its Constitution would almost be null and void. As I have watched the events of the past year or so, I am beginning to understand just how this change could come about. In my studies of recent weeks and months, I have seen other writings that are echoes of that statement given by Joseph Smith. On October 15, 2009, Mark Alexander of The Patriot Post wrote an article entitled "Our Constitution is on Life Support" (http://patriotpost.us/Alexander/2009/10/15/our-constitution-is-on-life-support). In his article Alexander quoted Benjamin Franklin as saying "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Then he made the following statement: "That wise old sage, Ben Franklin, was prescient back in 1748, when he issued his simple Rx for success. Unfortunately, the wealth and wisdom of generations of Americans have been progressively supplanted by our central government's exercise of unconstitutional authority. "In regard to wealth, I refer most directly to our government's colossal spending and debt accumulation, and unlawful taxation. "As to wisdom, well, there's not much of that emerging from government-run school systems. "Having depleted the wealth and wisdom of our great nation, the Obama juggernaut is determined to do likewise to health, that third prong of Franklin's trident. If successful, then we may rightly fear it as a death blow to the greatest experiment in human history." "Alexander then proceeded to explain why the health care reform, that is being rushed through Congress and forced upon us, is unconstitutional. He alleges that the Democrat bill is not so much about health care as it is about gaining power and control and stated, "Patriot Readers, the U.S. Constitution is on life support." "On life support" sounds very much like "hanging by a thread" to me. These statements were made in times separated by nearly two hundred years. Are they based on truth? I think so. Can our Constitution be saved? I think so, but I also think it will take great effort and expense. The American people are waking up to the fact that the Constitution is in grave danger. Now we must all become engaged in the rescue!