Another common scare-tactic is to accuse your opponent’s ideas of being “Unconstitutional.” This works brilliantly as most citizens don’t walk around with a copy of the Constitution on hand.  This renders them unable to challenge the claim and more likely to believe it. The unfortunate reality is that many of these candidates have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Each party wants you to believe that THEIR defending the Constitution on your behalf while the opposition is hell-bent on trampling it.

The recent GOP debates have revealed a severe deficit in the understanding of American history. It gets worse as the current administration is also guilty of misrepresenting the Constitution on more than one occasion. Sadly, both the Democrats and Republicans have proven themselves to be woefully ignorant on this topic. And don’t forget about the fringe groups like the Tea Party and Constitutionalists who tend to treat the U.S. Constitution as some kind of sacred, religious mantra.

Perhaps these folks should take a field trip to the Center for the Constitution at James Madison’s Montpelier. The Center is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the study and teaching of founding principles and constitutional ideals. It was established by The Montpelier Foundation in 2003 with a goal of becoming the nation's leading resource in high-quality constitutional education. The Center serves as a teaching academy, a place where professionals are immersed in an intellectual engagement with the theory and meaning of the American Constitution. Program activities take place in the Constitutional Village, where participants read, think, and discuss the ideas and innovations that underlie our nation's great experiment in self-government. According to their website:

The Center's programs vary by content, length, and audience but each are distinguished by three trademarks conducive to a constitutionally thoughtful citizenry: Constitutional thinking — using the fundamental ideas of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as the framework for civic reasoning in a country where, to be a full member of the American democracy, one must be first a "Citizen of the Constitution." Rigorous interpretation of primary documents — as sites where the innovative concepts that animate the nation's political institutions can be encountered in their original form, so that American civic life can be preserved, restored, or reformed by its citizens. Respect for the intellectual capacity of our participants — teachers and professionals whose status as colleagues can provide the power of a community of scholars at Montpelier, inquiring into the values that make us a Constitutional People.

Nearly 10,000 professionals from all 50 states and 49 countries have participated in the Center's programs — among these are teachers, state supreme court justices, and elected officials. (Best of all, it is not polluted by any political agenda.) As a result, there is hope. People, yes regular everyday folks like you and me, are actually reading the Constitution. In 2010, with funding from the Claude Moore Charitable Foundation, the Center for the Constitution at James Madison’s Montpelier conducted a survey of Americans' understanding of the Constitution and of attitudes toward the structure and function of our government. According to these numbers it looks to me like the voters may have the upper hand.