There was a recent exchange between Glenn Back and Law Professors Duncan Hollis and Chris Borgen. The topic was Harold Koh – one of Obama’s new appointees who has advocated using international law as a precedent for interpreting American law. Glenn Beck pointed out that if we cede our sovereingty to an international body, our Constitution is dead. Law professors Hollis and Borgen interjected, pointing out that Koh only advocated looking at decisions in other countries for educational expertise. Well, first off, America has been doing this for 233 years, I think we have our own educational expertise. Secondly, while Hollis and Borgen are probably right in the short-run, Beck is right in the long-run, which is what actually matters. Accepting Koh’s philosophy is like planing a seed, not giving a shot. If you give a shot to someone, it is a one time stimulant. If you plant a seed, it will grow and grow to something far bigger and harder to escape then what you had originally.
In other words, if we start using foreign law as an “educational basis,” we run the risk of allowing too much foreign law into our own, which would contribute to the decline of the American Constitution and the American sovereign nation. Koh advocates that we see ourselves not as a unique free nation, but as part of a global human rights movement. Koh may be reframing our law in order to further his anti-freedom agenda regarding gun rights. He has advocated a global regulatory agency to outlaw all firearms, something which international agencies from other countries who lack understanding in the gun issue as we do. Other countries have gotten better over time and good for them but America remains the first and the best. If we allow foreign influence into our law precedent than we are merely watering ourselves down. And besides, our Constitution was crafted by geniuses and we would do best to preserve it so we can enjoy such freedom as long as possible. If any manipulative interpretation is made, from foreign law or not, it spells our demise. A living Constitution is a dead Constitution.
