Hi crashfrog,
I'm not sure about that. Government puts a lot of effort into maintaining its "upwardness". I would argue that the contents of the constitution, for example, have been long opposed by the various US federal and local governments, and often by central government itself. So for example "seditious libel" (that is basically criticism of the government, under the Sedition Act 1798) was only ruled in law to be illegal according to the first ammendment in 1964(!). And the 1917-8 Espionage Act basically make it illegal to publish anything that makes a joke about the military uniform of the US army, and this law still stands (I think). And remember slavery, lack of ability of women to vote, etc. continued pretty late into US history. All of these are clear violations of the constitution. But whether a something is considered to be in violation of the US constitution is basically determined by the US court system (unelected). This is why using consitutional methods to try to prevent religious infiltration of science education (for example) might not work, simply because the supreme court is chock full of right wing christian fundamentalists! The court doesn't necessarily represent the interests of Americans. I'm not at all sure that US citizens can rely on the constitution to guarantee their rights. But that's just my idea, we have to hope for the best and support everybody who wants to challenge unjust laws whatever methods they choose to do it.
Cheers!
Mick
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