Moving on from the current wars in the Senate for the soul of America, I find myself thinking ahead to the 2006 and 2008 elections. In 2004 the Republicons, in a move that would have made Machiavelli proud, mobilized the right-wing fundamentalist faction of their base around homophobic anti-gay marriage amendments in key states. It worked like a charm. Democratic candidates were forced into a corner - openly support an issue many voters aren't really comfortable discussing yet or flip-flop and turn your back on human rights. From local elections right up through Congress and the White House, it worked for the GOP.
Since last fall I've wondered what "wedge issue" we as Democrats/progressives can launch that
- is the right thing to do,
- will have wide electoral support and
- will force R's at every level into the same sort of ideological corner we faced this past year.
And I think I've found it...
Propose an amendment to the Constitution guaranteeing the right to privacy.
We can frame this in such a way that we'll get 70-80% approval ratings for it. Why does the government need to know what happens in your house? Why does MBNA need to have access to all your purchases? Why is Congress so concerned about who you talk to on the phone? Why does the FBI need to know what meeting you attend?
It's not only the right thing to do, it pushes them into a corner. It's a win-win any way you look at it for the Democratic Party, and it helps frame us as the Party of Individual Rights and Freedoms.
You're saying we don't need it? You think case-law protects us? Well, as Senator Santorum has so helpfully pointed out to us,
"this right to privacy doesn't exist".
And you know, he's right. The US Constitution doesn't enumerate a right to privacy. Just not there. Now, of course, any reasonable person would extrapolate from Amendments nine and ten of the Constitution that it is clearly implied, but we're not dealing with reasonable people, we're dealing with rabid idealogues, religious fanatics and greedy, bloodthirsty gangs posing as honorable people.
The godfather of the "no right to privacy" movement has been Wingnut Martyr Robert Bork , who believes it's just a prop for legalized abortion. Read up on Bork - he's one of the guiding lights behind the current anti-judicial frenzy. But I digress.
Of course, you can find plenty of case law and good common sense that will lead you to believe that, yes, of course, we already have a right to privacy in America. Other nations and even some states, I believe, guarantee it. But let's codify it nationally. Let's force the Santorums and Cheneys and Bushes and Hasterts of America to stand up and say, "no, we don't think you have a right to privacy in your home." Let's make it obvious that the Democratic Party is the party that wants what happens in your house to stay in your house as long as you're not hurting anybody.
I see tremendous electoral success in this idea - but it needs to be something as cut-and-dried as a constitutional amendment. It can't be just some campaign idea. Our candidates need to be able to rally to it, to use it as the base talking point - and they need to be able to rub their opponents faces in it.
As always, I'm open to other ideas - how can we make this a reality? Has it been done before? If so, why did it fail and how can we improve it? Let's talk about it!