I'd like to think that at some point in time, even the Teabaggers will hit some sort of firewall when it comes to how crazy and extreme their ideas can get.
Then I read that Virginia's own "Taliban Bob" McDonnell is backing a proposal that would put forth what is being called a "Repeal Amendment" into the Constitution.
This would allow 2/3rds of the state legislatures to vote to repeal (or, if you'd like to use ye olde terme for it, "nullify") a Federal law that was Congressionally approved.
Of course, this side avenue of crazy should not really surprise me or anyone else, but it is yet another example of a case in which wingnut fever is taking over in which the Teabaggers think they can out-Constitution the very document they claim to love and cherish.
First, I read this article on WVEC.com, the local ABC affiliate here in Hampton Roads. That McDonnell, The Cooch and Bolling are all aboard the Teabagger Train with an almost religious fervor is not new, but the concept of this particular "Repeal Amendment" is new to me.
Naturally, the hacks at the Wall Street Journal have made their own case for why we "need" such an amendment.
Some of their statements in my opinion are either laughably bad or just perplexing:
The Repeal Amendment should not be confused with the power to "nullify" unconstitutional laws possessed by federal courts. Unlike nullification, a repeal power allows two-thirds of the states to reject a federal law for policy reasons that are irrelevant to constitutional concerns. In this sense, a state repeal power is more like the president's veto power.
So basically, this would allow a bunch of states who have whiny-ass Republicans (because let's not fool ourselves, the only people who would be interested in this are the righties) who have gotten the vapors over a law who would then decide that they should convince (browbeat) enough state legislators into voting for something like this.
It doesn't matter how Constitutional something is. If you don't like something, and you get enough friends to stamp your feet enough, you can get what you want.
Really? That's what you'd prefer over, you know, the actual provisions for governing the country set forth in...The Constitution?
This amendment reflects confidence in the collective wisdom of the men and women from diverse backgrounds, and elected by diverse constituencies, who comprise the modern legislatures of two-thirds of the states. Put another way, it allows thousands of democratically elected representatives outside the Beltway to check the will of 535 elected representatives in Washington, D.C.
I actually laughed out loud a little at this one.
The argument here is something to the effect of "let's cram as many people into the kitchen as we can and tell the chef how to make the soup".
Also, while I will not make any bones about the fact that people in DC can succumb to that "Beltway" thinking - the fact that 535 people were chosen to make up Congress does allow for plenty of "diversity" to represent the country. From the teabaggingist Teabagging bagger that ever bagged a tea bag like Tom Coburn to the self-described Socialist like Bernie Sanders, to a failed former NFL QB like Heath Shuler to the first elected Muslim to Congress in Keith Ellison.
Congress - for whatever you think of them right now - is relatively diverse. Sure, one side of the aisle (COUGH) looks a lot like one another mostly, but on the other side, there are plenty of different types of people, stories, etc.
Put it all together and you've got one hell of a body of people to represent you - for better and worse.
But again, this notion that we should let "thousands" of people who were put into State legislatures make decisions for the good of the country...flies right in the face of what the Constitution calls for.
The teabaggers are clearly hoping that such a method would stack the deck in favor of overturning every piece of librul soshulist agenda that Barack H. Obama is interested in shoving down our collective throats, in order to protect and preserve the most sacred of documents (next to the Holy Bible that is!) the Constitution.
But it is in the utter hypocrisy and idiocy of such a movement that continues to pull the mask back off of these people.
They only give a damn about the Constitution when it serves their needs. If it doesn't, well, let's find a way around that pesky Constitution. We have got to save the country from...brown people! Yes, that's it.
PS: The Supreme Court has already upheld, rather firmly, that the Federal Government's actions cannot be "nullified" or otherwise repealed thanks to the Supremacy Clause.
Where do you find this so-called "Supremacy Clause" that gives the Federal Government this power?
...
Of course. It's in...
The Constitution.