At FoxNews.com:

The solution to the nation's jobs crisis: Suspend congressional elections?

That was the proposal put forward by North Carolina's governor [Bev Perdue], who was trying to make a point at a Rotary Club event that political considerations are hindering efforts in Washington to tackle unemployment and economic stagnation.

For those concerned that a governor in America would even consider such a freedom-denying move comes this "reassurance" from a Perdue spokewoman: 

Governor Perdue was obviously using hyperbole to highlight what we can all agree is a serious problem: Washington politicians who focus on their own election instead of what’s best for the people they serve.

The problem is that Perdue's statement is quite in line with the spirit of how most politicians in Washington now operate: They couldn't care less about constitutional safeguards for American liberty. 

Even among Republicans running for President in 2012 there is little emphasis on the Constitution, and even less emphasis on how the Constitution is designed to protect the defining principles of freedom set forth in the Declaration of Independence.

This suggests that, although there is outrage today at the governor's statement, in the not distant future, it is entirely possible that a future President could make explicit what already is implicit: Suspend the Constitution to fix the latest, greatest crisis of the moment.

Was the governor's statement hyperbole? Or was it a heads-up on the state-sponsored oppression that might be coming down the pike -- reflecting a callousness regarding the principles of freedom that in many respects, in principle, is already among us?