The only reason I can think of to vote for John McCain is Barack Obama. And the only reason I can think of to vote for Barack Obama is John McCain. On the horns of such a dilemma, the choice between a fascist or a communist megalomaniac, my write-in vote for Ron Paul is surely just another pass by a cranky old geezer at the latest windmill. I preface this article with that observation because I don’t want you, my readers, to think I favor one of the dissembling gasbags over the other. It is the moribund Constitution that interests me, in which I believe lies our only chance at lasting freedom and prosperity.

The destination of the American handbasket will not change after the impending election. That doesn’t mean, however that the contest is without its moments of revelation.

There is, stirring in a courtroom in Pennsylvania, a widely ignored lawsuit, Berg v. Obama, No. 08-cv-04083. Attorney Phillip J. Berg has sued Obama to determine if Barack Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States. The U.S. Constitution requires that our presidents be natural born citizens. I know not what axe Mr. Berg may have to grind, or if he has one at all, but that’s beside the point. Either Obama is or is not a citizen.

I’ve followed the suit for a little while, but now it’s reached a point where it deserves some real attention. A certified copy of Mr. Obama’s birth certificate would have ended this suit immediately. Certified copies of birth certificates are not hard to get. I needed one for the Costa Rican authorities. It took a phone call, a letter, and about 2 weeks. Easier still is www.vitalchek.com. The Democratic National Committee and their candidate have so far failed to produce one for Obama. What’s the problem here?

And now, in a strictly legal sense, by failing to answer a “Request for Admissions” filed in the lawsuit, the Democratic National Committee and Mr. Obama have admitted that the front-running candidate for president is not a U.S. citizen. The admission, taken to its logical conclusion, means that not only is Obama not able to serve as president, but that he is an illegal alien in the bargain.

“Requests for Admissions” are part of what is called “discovery” in lawsuits. To help focus the parties on the issues, plaintiffs and defendants can submit to each other lists of statements of fact that each believes true. The opposing party must, item by item, either admit them or deny them. If you don’t answer at all, the court takes it as an admission of every fact on the list.

This is what has happened in the Berg v. Obama suit. Mr. Berg filed his list of admissions and Mr. Obama failed to respond to it. Mr. Berg has moved the court to deem the statements admitted. If Obama doesn’t respond to the admissions, the law is clear that they will be considered admitted. When they are, Mr. Obama will be in the furry hug of another legal bear called “estopple.” Estopple is the legal principle that says once you admit something in court, either outright or by non-response, you can’t take it back. You are “estopped” by your admission from arguing later that you don’t agree.

Some of the highlights of over fifty admissions Obama has made by default are: that he was born in Kenya; that the Hawaiian Certificate of Live Birth shown on the website Fightthesmears.com is a forgery; that he is a citizen of Indonesia; that he has an Indonesian passport; that he has traveled to countries on that passport where Americans are forbidden to travel; that he is not a “naturalized” citizen of the United States; and that he took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States when he became a U.S. Senator, an oath he has apparently broken.

Pretty damning stuff. The DNC has admitted, by non-response, that they know about the whole thing and have done nothing about it except try to cover it up.

Obama’s apparent emergency trip to Hawaii to visit his ailing grandmother adds credibility to his admissions. Hawaii is the only place where he might use a little senatorial influence to somehow gin up proof of his birth on American soil.

In a country where there remained even a whiff of respect for the fundamental law of the land, this problem would precipitate a colossal legal crisis. In modern America, land of politicians, bankers, and lawyers, it doesn’t even make the six o’clock news. You might as well cast a quixotic vote for principle. None of your representatives will.