再论美国总统眼中的宪法及其启示(上)——以美国总统的竞选演说为分析范本

New Expositions of Constitution in the Eyes of American Presidents and Its Apocalypse(I)——Taking the American Presidents' Campaign Speeches as the Sample of Analysis

分析美国总统的宪法观,具有多方面的学理价值。美国总统在竞选演说中对宪法的论述,主要是两个方面:一方面是强调宪法保护公民权利,这是杜鲁门、肯尼迪与克林顿论述宪法的全部内容;另一方面是表达对宪法的信仰、赞扬与尊奉,这是福特与卡特论述宪法的基调。这两个方面启示我们,通常所说的"国家根本法"并未彻底揭示宪法的特质,宪法的特质在于它是治理国家的根本法,是保护人权的根本法。

Analysis of the constitutional concept of the American presidents has various theoretical values. The American presidents＇ expositions of Constitution in their campaign speeches mainly lie in two aspects. In one hand, they emphasize that Constitution should protect citizens＇ rights, which is the total content in expositions of Constitution of President Truman, Kennedy and Clinton. In the other hand, they express their believes, praises and respects to Constitution, which is the tone of expositions of Constitution of President Ford and Carter. Both of the aspects give us apocalypse that ＂fundamental law of the state＂, which we have usually used, hasn＇t exposed the characteristic of Constitution, and it is actually the fundamental law of goveming the country and protecting human rights.