We firstly see this enacted, ironically, upon the implementation of the Bill of Rights which ensured the civil rights and liberties of Americans, that is white male Americans only, and only in cases of Federal law, the states remained exempt. For decades after the passage of the Bill of Rights it reflected the conservative bias of the judiciary, allowing for such injustices as continued slavery then ‘separate but equal’ and a plethora of laws that protected commerce but not people. Civil rights and liberties at this point in history were defined by the elites in favour of elites who wanted to maintain their stronghold on political and social power. Even when laws where passed that seemingly sought to impose actual civil rights and liberties such as in the case of Brown v Board of Education they were enacted and manipulated in such a way that reflected the persistent racist conservative views of the elite, who were more fearful of upsetting Southern whites than they were interested in upholding the true intentions of the constitution’s clauses. In the afore mentioned case the intended end of segregation came agonisingly slowly due to the Supreme Courts decision to delegate responsibility for its implementation to the lower courts. Similarly the Supreme Court continually failed to address and indeed punish the states, who enacted measure after measure which blatantly infringed their resident’s rights and liberties.
The pattern outlined above continued until the 1960s, and was reflected in the struggles of all minorities, and of course a ‘majority’ – women, who did not receive the vote until the 1920s and as do blacks, Hispanics, homosexuals etc still fight for true equality. Such people have only had their problems addressed because they have fought for recognition. It is them, not the Supreme Court or the political parties who advanced a realisation of the concepts of civil rights and liberties. The American political system has failed to protect the rights and liberties of a significant minority of it citizens as they throughout history politicians and more importantly judges have firstly failed to grant certain groups civil rights and liberties in their most basic form. Secondly even when these groups have gained recognition as citizens the concepts of rights and liberties have been manipulated by the political elites in order to conform to their own political values. They have not used their power to serve the true ends of their constitution but instead to create a society provides liberty and equality that benefits people such as themselves.
Bibliography
Lowi & Ginsberg, (1996) American Government (4th Edition) W W Norton Company (New York)
G Mckenna (1994) The Drama of Democracy (2nd Edition) Dushkin Publishing Group (Guilford)
Miroff, Seidelman & Swanstrom, (1998) The Democratic Debate (2nd edition) Houghton Mifflin Company (Boston)
W M Wiecek (1988) Liberty Under the Law John Hopkins University Press (Baltimore)
Dye & Zeigler (1997) The Irony of Democracy (7th Edition) Brooks/Cole Publishing (Montery)