By John Seiler

I watch debates differently. I look for how each candidate upholds the U.S. Constitution, which each has taken an oath to “preserve, protect and defend.”

In the vice-presidential debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan, here’s how many times the Constitution was mentioned: zero.

I listened closely, then checked the transcript.

Same thing for the Bill of Rights: no mentions. The closest either candidate got was Ryan saying, “We should always stand up for peace, for democracy, for individual rights” — and, no doubt if Biden hadn’t kept butting in, Ryan would have added truth, justice, the American Way, baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.

This is more proof that the Constitution and Bill of Rights are moribund documents. They act only as a structure in which the politicians operate: the presidency, the Congress, the Supreme Court, the government bureaus (most of them unconstitutional; all of them doing unconstitutional acts). Inside the structure, the Constitution is completely ignored. Anything goes.

It’s good to know that the government, at all levels, is lawless.