What Words Are (And Aren't) In The US Constitution

[The gist of this post is to point out the many words that are NOT mentioned in the Constitution.  Since the so called 'Originalists' who have gained a majority of the Supreme Court want to base their decisions strictly on the words found in the Constitution, then it would seem they would have to overturn many past decisions - including Citizens United.]

 A few weeks ago I announced a contest about how often different words showed up in the Constitution.  I guess I was asking a lot more of readers than they were willing to do.  I only got one response - which was a comment suggesting I should have checked out the word 'gun.'  (Gun is not mentioned, 'arms' is mentioned once.) I figured enough people had gone over that already and the part that includes 'a well regulated militia.'  

My point here was to support the belief that the so called 'Originalist' faction is a sham created to give radical conservative Supreme Court Justices their own way to spin things.  As you go through the list below, think about how many words NOT mentioned in the constitution seem to have Supreme Court decisions that ignore the fact they aren't mentioned.  

[Originalists basically argue they want to interpret the Constitution by using the words the Founding Fathers wrote.  I've covered it in several earlier posts:

Thursday, February 25, 2016   I Think Scalia's Originalism Is Like Intelligent Design Of Constitutional Theories

Monday, March 20, 2017    As Neil Gorsuch Takes Center Stage, What Exactly Is Originalism About?

Monday, October 12, 2020     Revisiting Originalism ]

I took an online copy of the Constitution and the searched it for each of the terms.  Here's my list of words and how often they show up:

	In Constittuion?		How often?	Contest Notes
	YES	NO
MAN		√	0	Manner = 11
WOMAN		√	0
CORPORATION		√	0
INDUSTRY		√	0
PERSON(S)	√		49
CITIZEN	√		22
LIFE	√		4
LIBERTY	√		3
ECONOMY		√	0
CAPITAL	√		1	“Capital or otherwise infamous crime”
CAPITALISM	√		0
MARKET	√		0
MARRIAGE	√		0
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE		√	1	Along with invasion
BUSINESS		√	1	“Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business”
TAX	√		10	Tax or taxes
VOTE	√		36
COMMERCE	√		2	“Regulation of Commerce”
BANKRUPTCY	√		1
SECURITIES	√		1
SEX	√		1
RELIGION	√		1
CHRISTIAN		√	0
WELFARE	√		2	“General welfare”
THE PEOPLE	√		9
GOD		√	0

Let me mention the context notes first.

1.  Man - I also checked 'men' and 'women'.  'Manner' was the closest thing to 'man' that showed up. Basically the constitution never mentions 'man' or 'woman.'  It talks about 'persons' and 'citizens.' Even the 18th Amendment (women's suffrage) doesn't mention women directly.

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

No where could I find person to refer to anything other than an individual human being.  Not to corporations (which are never mentioned.) 

2.  Capital - This word is mentioned in the context of 'capital punishment.' Neither capital (in the sense of money) nor capitalism are mentioned in the Constitution. 

3.  Domestic Violence - is mentioned once.  Not to mean violence within a household, but rather more like the January 6 insurrection.  It's mentioned along with 'invasion.'

4.  Business - The only mention is in regards to  needing a quorum for Congress to conduct business.  It is not used to refer to business enterprises, just as the words 'corporation,' 'industry,' 'economy,' or 'market' are used.  

5.  Tax - is mentioned 10 times

6.  Commerce is mentioned twice - both times in the phrase 'regulation of commerce.'

7.  Welfare is mentioned twice.  First in the Preamble that lists 'promote the general Welfare' as one of the goals of establishing the Constitution.  Second, 'general Welfare' is one of the reasons for levying taxes.  

8.  

Considering all of the Supreme Court decisions that give corporations rights that are reserved for persons -most egregiously in Citizens United - it's hard to imagine how this is done by so called 'Originalists.'   I'm not a lawyer and I haven't studied the evolution of business law, but it seems to me attorneys wanting to overturn Citizens United might take an Originalist approach and point out that corporations are not even mentioned in the US Constitution.  Nor are businesses or enterprises.  

But 'regulation of commerce' is listed.  

Promoting the general Welfare is listed.  That would seem to be a strong bases for including things like universal health care and many other programs that improve people's lives.  

I realize the law is complicated. My suggestion that since corporations aren't mentioned in the Constitution and 'person' only refers to actual human beings, Citizens United should be overturned, probably faces many obstacles I've overlooked.   But the lack of these terms in the Constitution seems to me to be one more way to show the silliness of the Originalist approach.  

Contest: How Often Do The Words Man (Men) and Woman (Women) Appear In The US Constitution?

The first contest on this blog was in July 2009.  That was a pretty passive contest.  The winner was the person who was listed as visitor #123,456.  We had one winner and some that were close.  The winner, BonzaiJay, later sent me a picture of his prizes.

The second contest was in May 2012.  That person had to guess how many dandelions were in the bag I'd collected in my front lawn.  She won a dinner at the Thai Kitchen.  But she'd moved to Juneau and I don't recall she ever collected her prize.  

So it's been ten years since I've had a contest.  This one requires more work.  Here's an intro:

The Supreme Court's majority has made a lot of noise about strictly following the original text of the US Constitution.  So I pulled up an online version of the Constitution  and searched it for some key  words.  

Reviewing the Constitution this way, it's clear that all USians should read the Constitution at least every six months, if not more frequently. [I saw someone use that term and I'm trying it out as a substitute for Americans when I only mean people in the US and not all of North, South, and Central America.  I've been using US residents, but USians is so much easier]

So to encourage you, here's the CONTEST.  

Make a copy [take a screen shot or a photo] of the chart below and fill it out.  You can just guess.  Or you can go to an online copy of the Constitution and search the terms.  There will be prizes for the top three submissions.*  You can email your answers my email address: whatdoino (at) alaska (dot) net. You can try this link but I can't make it work in my draft -  Email me. 

	In Constittuion?		How often?
	YES	NO
MAN (MEN)
WOMAN (WOMEN)
CORPORATION
INDUSTRY
PERSON
CITIZEN
LIFE
LIBERTY
ECONOMY
CAPITAL
CAPITALISM
MARKET
MARRIAGE
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
BUSINESS
TAX
VOTE
COMMERCE
BANKRUPTCY
SECURITIES
SEX
RELIGION
CHRISTIAN
WELFARE
THE PEOPLE
GOD

The more I've read about originalism or textualism, the more I'm convinced I was right from the beginning:  It's basically no more, probably less, objective than living constitutional theories. 

Meanwhile, you might want to read (or reread) my posts on Originalism:

Thursday, February 25, 2016   I Think Scalia's Originalism Is Like Intelligent Design Of Constitutional Theories

Monday, March 20, 2017    As Neil Gorsuch Takes Center Stage, What Exactly Is Originalism About?

Monday, October 12, 2020     Revisiting Originalism

*Since this contest requires some work, I'm not sure there will be that many submissions. So, the odds for those who do submit would seem pretty good.  Prizes will be determined by interests of the winner and my imagination and geography.  (Mail v. local pickup may affect size.)  

I have no idea how many people will submit, if any.  But I'll start with people who get the most correct answers.  But since you can look these answers up, there's the possibility of more than three with the same correct answers.  In that case, if someone chooses to write a few comments about what they learned from the exercise, I'll evaluate those comments. (And post them with your permission.)  If it''s a draw and there are no comments, I'll choose randomly.  

Deadline for submission:  September 21, 2022

Back Home - Random Bits

Flying north to Anchorage from Seattle on a summer night is always cool.  It has been a while since we've done it.  It was dark and definitely night when the plane finally took off at 10pm.  But soon there was a distant twilight visible on the northern horizon.  

Here's what it looked like just before landing at 12:15 am.  

TSA & Masks

When we left Anchorage last week, NONE of the TSA people at the Anchorage Airport was wearing a mask.  When we left Seattle last night, EVERY TSA worker was wearing a mask.  Not sure what that means.  Is the difference the location?  Is the difference the timing?  Don't know.

Houseboats

We had late lunch yesterday with a friend who lives on a houseboat in Seattle.  It was like being allowed into some secret community hidden from the world.  I understand that other Seattle houseboat enclaves are more visible to the outside world, but this one is small and tucked away out of view from most.  To actually get down to the boats, you need a key to open the gate.  

A relatively few people in the world live on houseboats.  When I googled to find out how many, there were only two links that discussed number of houseboats at all in the first few pages.  Most seem to be more commercial posts that I'm guessing pay Google to get them to the top.  They're more on topics like "Everything You Need to Know About Living On A Houseboat" or how to rent a houseboat.  A 2014 Smithsonian piece says 10,000 Londoners live on the water.  But remember that's people, not boats, and London's population is over 8.5 million. A 2021 Seattle Met link says there are only 215 legal houseboats in Seattle.  Statista has a graph of number of houseboats sold in the US from 2004 to 2013.  There was a almost steady decline from 550 to 70.  

It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and we sat on the deck as we chatted and dined.  

Blogging Post Ideas I'm Thinking About

• What does 'privilege' mean?  How is it different from a right?  Are there factors that deserve 'privilege' or does it then become something other than a privilege?  When if privilege legitimate, when not?  How does the nature of the person/organization that grants privilege make a difference?  Lots to explore here.  I think because people have started using 'privilege' in new ways, so the original meaning is being distorted.  Does/should intelligence give one privilege?  Money?  Force?   If so, when and how?

• When does talking about ending democracy move from free speech rights to treason?  Does advocacy of taking way other people's rights a legitimate form of free speech?  If yes, are there any limits?  If no, why not?

• The Christian brand.  To my knowledge, there's no trademark or copyright protection for terms relating to Christianity*.  This has led to people with widely differing beliefs and behaviors claiming to be Christian.  I would argue that the Christian brand has been appropriated by various people and groups, whose words and actions are contrary to what 'true Christians' believe.  Think about the people in the United States who claim to be Christian - church leaders and followers, politicians, judges, business owners - who claim to be "Christian" yet behave in ways that are very different from commonly believed Christian values such as 

Some of the main themes that Jesus taught, which Christians later embraced, include:

• Love God.
• Love your neighbor as yourself.
• Forgive others who have wronged you.
• Love your enemies.
• Ask God for forgiveness of your sins.
• Jesus is the Messiah and was given the authority to forgive others.
• Repentance of sins is essential.
• Don’t be hypocritical.
• Don’t judge others.
• The Kingdom of God is near. It’s not the rich and powerful—but the weak and poor—who will inherit this kingdom.  (From History.com)

If there were a trademark for Christianity that was held by people whose behavior followed these beliefs, could sue people who claim to be Christians but who don't behave as Christians.   

*There is legal advice available for how and when Churches can get Trademark protection.  But would suing a Ted Cruz or a Mitch McConnell itself be a Christian thing to do?  Probably more so than telling your followers to vote for them.

• What is a reasonable amount of money for a redistricting board to spend?  Redistricting is mandated by the US Constitution (Sec 1, Art 2)  and by state constitutions (see, for example, Alaska Constitution Article 6).  But how much should it cost?  Does anyone care?  Who's keeping track?  What are the incentives to save or to spend?