Infamy.
That's how David Sirota described the most recent servile attempt of the Republican party to focus on a trivial wedge issue at the expense of the greater good of the American people.
They just tried it with flag-burning, one of the more popular items on their agenda--and they failed. Before that, they tried gay marriage--and failed miserably. And before that, they thought it would be a good idea to focus on immigration--and they nearly split their party in half.
One would have thought that they would have learned their lesson by now. That they would actually try to govern instead of play "Risk", election-style. But these bastards aren't done. They have what they call the American Values Agenda--designed to get social conservatives to the polls once again.
One of the items on that list is guns. But recent events have given us an enormous opportunity here to make it backfire. More below.
House Republicans intend to hold votes this summer and fall touching on abortion, guns, religion and other priority issues for social conservatives, part of an attempt to improve the party's prospects in the midterm elections.
The "American Values Agenda" also includes a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage -- which already has failed in the Senate -- a prohibition on human cloning and possibly votes on several popular tax cuts.
What we're seeing is the last, desperate attempt of a party in disarray to re-romance its jilted, alienated base. By the time the AP is stating matter-of-factly that the so-called "American Values Agenda" is designed to specifically improve their electoral chances, you can bet that the rest of the American public sees it too.
The list in question has the usual stuff--abortion notifications, restrictions on 10 commandments and pledge of allegiance lawsuits, and all the good stuff. But let's take a look at what they're trying to do with gun ownership:
Two measures relate to the rights of gun owners. One would prohibit the confiscation of legal firearms during national emergencies, barring practices such as the one that officials said arose in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit.
As we all know, the NRA has always had a phobia that the government would take away their guns. Well, there have been many reports--I don't know how believable--that the Federal Government initiated gun confiscation of law-abiding citizens in New Orleans as part of the attempt to restore law and order in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Well, Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA, had this to say about these confiscations:
"The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina became the proving ground for what American gun owners have always feared: the day that government bureaucrats throw the Bill of Rights in the trash and declare freedom to be whatever they say it is."
You know what I see? A huge opportunity, that's what.
Ever since this administration came into power, we have fought against the constant shredding of the United States Consitution, and the bill of rights in particular. Under this administration--under Republican leadership--we have seen clear, constant and wholesale violations the following amendments to the United States Constitution:
Amendment 1.
Amendment 4.
Amendment 5.
Amendment 6.
Amendment 14.
And guess what, NRA? Why don't you just pile the second amendment onto that ever-increasing list of unconstitutional atrocities?
You see, NRA, if you're really afraid of the government violating your constitutional rights, try acting like it and voting for a party that actually cares about the constitution. All the amendments of the constitution. A party that actually respects the rule of law.
Every single election cycle, the NRA floods the mailboxes of its members with literature designed to scare them into voting Republican because Democrats and the U.N. will take their guns away. And this has influence with traditional Democratic consituencies like union workers who work in more rural areas. This biennial strategy can cost us elections in swing races. It's time to put a stop to it, and we have a wonderful opportunity to do so.
The new generation of netroots Democratic candidates--candidates such as Gary Trauner in Wyoming, Jon Tester in Montana and Jim Webb in Virginia, just to name a few--are the living counterexample to every claim the NRA makes about the platform of the Democratic Party. Hell, even their bogeyman Howard Dean, our current DNC chair, got an A grade from the NRA for his record of governance in Vermont, despite his support of background checks and his opposition to legislation shielding gun manufacturers from lawsuit liability.
It's time to start spreading the message that Democrats care about the Constitution--all of it.
Terrorism is no longer a Republican advantage. They have lost their way and the support of the people on gay marriage. They failed in flag-burning. It's now time to launch a pre-emptive campaign against the one piece of ammo they haven't thrown at us yet--because it's the one thing that still has a chance of being effective.
I will, however, support a constitutional amendment keeping guns out of the hands of Dick Cheney.