If you've seen any television this week, you must be aware of the Wrong's short-lived marriage to one Cliven Bunda, um er Bundy, sorry. Here is a quick recap: Bundy is a cattle rancher that denies the legitimate existence of the federal government to which he owes over $1 million in grazing fees.
This guy waves an American flag which stands for a Republic and claims to love the Constitution and carries a copy around, but denies the existence of the federal government. Dear Republicans, you own him. Him and all his racist views.
Please follow me below the squiggle.
It is comical when Republican politicians wave their pocket-sized copies of the Constitution and then quote from the Declaration of Independence. The Wrong is always going on about States Rights except when those states espouse liberal views. Here is waht the Constitution says about states rights:
From Article VI:
This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.
Amendment X:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Notice that the Constitution, and any laws passed by Congress under its Authority are the supreme law of the land. Federal court is the arbiter empowered to determine the extent of that Authority. Even in the event that a state passes a "nullification" law, federal court decides whether or not the federal government has overreached.
States Rights are how the Wrong defends the South in the Civil War. They still talk about how it wasn't about slavery. Fine. It was about the States' rights to keep slavery legal. That's why we needed the 13th Amendment. There was a movie about it recently. The beloved Constitution originally allowed this abomination. BTW, Dred Scott was precisely the kind of originalist Supreme Court decision the Wrong claim to love- even thought they say they hate that particular decision.
You cannot claim patriotism while waving a flag (Stars and Bars) of treason. When a Tea Party rally has a poster of President Obama as a Witch Doctor with a bone through his nose, or derisively calling him a "Halfrican," well we do have a First Amendment. However, when you are asked about those posters and whether or not you condemn them, the answer is a simple and unequivocal "YES!" and not "How dare you call me racist!"
Since I parenthetically referred to the Tennessee Confederate Battle Flag, I feel the need to mention that it went away after the Civil War. It became a part of Southern Heritage in the 1950's when civil rights laws were being introduced.
When you do an election Post-Mortem study, and it reveals that people perceive you to be racists, the appropriate response should be to wonder why people perceive you that way, and not just categorically deny and decry the perception.
During the 2012 elections, Former Speaker Newt Gingrich talked about going to the NAACP and telling them that they should prefer paychecks to food stamps. Former Senator Rick Santorum talked about giving your money to "Blah" people (yeah, he wasn't about to say black). That year's Vice Presidential nominee on the Wrong just recently talked about people in the inner cities having a culture where they don't even think about working (yeah, he wasn't implying that those people are predominantly black). I'm trying to think of someone on the left implying that black people may have been better off as slaves, maybe a commenter will help.
They say that a "gaffe" is when a politician tells the truth. Some Bundy defenders have said that he is not a politician and isn't media savvy. How do his comments differ from the preceding paragraph? To paraphrase Chief Justice John Roberts, If you want to stop being called racists, stop being racists!