By DAVID WARGO

tneditor@tnoline.comDid you know there was an important anniversary on March 4? It was an important anniversary, especially for the 300 million Americans in this country, because without the anniversary of the ratification of the United States Constitution, none of us would probably be living free in this wonderful country. It pains me to listen to those who have been bamboozled into believing this document is "dated" and no longer relevant to our nation.Georgetown law professor Mike Seidman has taken the position that the Constitution is outdated and more of a millstone than a marker as to how our society is to be run. One of the choice nuggets from this interview on the National Public Radio site: "The people who wrote the Constitution lived in a small, rural country, huddled along the Eastern seaboard a large part of which was financed by slave labor. ... Many of them believed that it was OK to own other human beings. Almost all of them believed that women should have no role in public affairs. Almost all of them believed people ... without property have no role in public affairs. Why on earth would anybody think that their decisions ought to bind us now?"While much of what he said is true for that time period, I do not agree that we should just discard their decisions about how this country is run. The Constitution was designed to live and grow. Seidman's statement implies that the document is irrelevant because it is old and was written by people who had different philosophies from the learned men and women of today.To act as if the Constitution cannot be changed is inaccurate. There is a 10-amendment Bill of Rights and 17 other amendments that makes me beg to differ. The real reason these people are critical of the Constitution is they do not like how it binds them from doing what they want to do to destroy the core fabric of this country.Lately though, it appears that our own leaders are taking matters into their own hands and just ignoring it.It is bad enough Congress has stretched its legislative powers by legislating a bureaucracy that in my opinion oversteps the bounds of its authority, but the Affordable Care Act has demonstrated that our lawmakers and leaders do not hold the Constitution in any high esteem. We have the president unilaterally making law, and last year we found the Supreme Court legislating law from the bench, both of which violate their powers, and we have an impotent Congress divided by contemptible leaders who value party solidarity over the needs of the American people.The Constitution is not irrelevant or outdated. The Constitution would continue to function just fine if the government chose to respect and honor it.Those 4,400 words are not outdated. They can be expanded and changed. The Constitution has not worn out its welcome. What is wearing out its welcome is a government that allows itself to be bought by special interests and businesses instead of being beholden to its people.This is not a Democrat versus Republican issue anymore. This is an issue of how long are we willing to tolerate a government that is no longer of the people, by the people and for the people. We need people to vote self-serving career politicians out of office and replace them with people who care about us and will listen. Are you going to continue to be played or are you going to say enough is enough? The choice is yours.