As I walked out to lunch today, I noticed that the flags in front of my office building were at half-mast in honor of the victims of the deranged shooter at the Washington Navy Yard the day before, Monday September 16, 2013. As I paused to reflect on this, a thought came over me that maybe there was something else to mourn as well.

Today, September 17, 2013, marks the 226th anniversary of the day the U.S. Constitution was signed by Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. This document, along with the U.S. Declaration of Independence, was and is, and to this day, the blueprint from which this great country was built. It was authored by great men such as James Madison, Alexander Hamilton & John Jay, men who had great foresight, vision and an understanding of the fact that what they were writing was something special. It would stand as the law of the land to present day, something that was never done before in the history of the world.

It was American exceptionalism at its best. And even to this day, most Americans can still recite the preamble to the Constitution by singing the tune we all learned from Schoolhouse Rock on Saturday mornings.

Unfortunately, that does not include President Obama.

This is a president who continually thumbs his nose at the Constitution. A president who consistently ignores everything this great document represents. You would expect more from an individual who claimed to be a constitutional law professor at University of Chicago Law School, which of course was another lie about his past since he was only a part-time lecturer (I know, shocking).

Want some examples of how Obama has trampled on the U.S. Constitution? Where do we begin?

1. Appointments of “Czars” without Senate approval – remember all of those appointments? If you don’t here are a few: Afghanistan Czar, AIDS Czar, California Water Czar, Climate Czar, Faith-Based Czar. Yes, they sound as ridiculous as they look. They are also a violation of Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution.

2. Obamacare – we all know about this one and will feel it in the pocketbook before we know what hit us. What you may not know is that Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate commerce and levy taxes, NOT force Americans to engage in commerce. Obama claimed that Obamacare was not a tax; it was so unconstitutional in its written form that, to the detriment of the American populace, Chief Justice Roberts had to rewrite it, calling it a tax.

3. Fast and Furious – Obama invoked executive privilege to avoid handling over approximately 1,300 documents that would have most likely implicated Eric Holder in the scandal that led to the murder of border patrol agent Brian Terry.

4. Voting Rights – the 15th Amendment states that the rights of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race. I guess nobody mentioned that to the Black Panthers that stood in front of polling locations in Philadelphia and intimidated white voters. Even with videotape proof, Eric Holder threw the case out, instructing Justice Department officials to ignore white complaints.

These are just a few examples. We could go on and on about the multiple violations involved in the Benghazi tragedy or the president’s assault on the Catholic religion. How about his decision to bypass Congress in attacking Libya (and possibly Syria) and his numerous illegal recess appointments? Granting the FCC wide ranging authority is a direct slap in the face of the First Amendment. Obama picks and chooses which parts of the law he wants to enforce like he picks ice cream flavors for dessert. And you can pen a document as long as a dictionary by listing all the ways spying by the NSA flouts the 4th Amendment.

Maybe those flags should stay at half-mast. If Obama continues getting his way without opposition, we will be mourning the late great U.S. Constitution.