When it comes to defending right-wing talking points, everyone’s a Constitutional scholar: Your cousin who believes aliens have replaced members of our government with exact duplicates, your uncle who dropped out of high school in his third freshman year, your friend who thinks nothing on FOX News is a lie because “they can’t say it on TV unless it’s true!” (But of course every story on MSNBC is a blatant falsehood, don’tcha know.)
And defend Conservative philosophy they do when anyone’s discussing health care, the minimum wage, and government assistance, using an argument they believe puts a definitive end to all dissent. “There’s no right in the Constitution to…” Fill in the blank.
Whenever I hear that line of reasoning, my reply is, “When was the last time you read the Constitution? Have you studied it? Have you read any of the writings of Madison, Jefferson, or any Founder of the United States? I have. I’ve read the entire document many times. And not only are you wrong, but by saying we don’t have these rights you’re telling me that the United States is not the greatest country in the world.”
Naturally I’m challenged to prove what I say, even though they’ll admit they’ve never read the Constitution, or if they did it was only because it was required reading in a history class sometime back in the Mesozoic Era and they skipped over the boring parts, which is pretty much all of it. (The Founders would have had a best-seller on their hands if instead of calling it The Constitution of the United States they had named it Fifty Shades of Democracy.)
So, where’s my proof that we have these rights? It’s The Ninth Amendment:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
That’s one hell of an Amendment. It’s so amazing, it should have been placed right up there with the First and Fourth Amendments, perhaps Third with a bullet on the Top Ten Amendments List. You see, the Founders knew they couldn’t “enumerate” every right that citizens hold, nor could they know what the future would bring to our nation. It was against arguments such as “there’s no right in the Constitution” that it was included.
Then, after the blank stares, I put them to the test. Does the Constitution give you a right to travel freely? What about privacy? Not specifically. But what if the government decided to put cameras in your bedroom to make sure you weren’t doing anything un-Conservative, made your tax returns public, or decided to track you with RFID chips (yes, they believe this is on the Obama agenda). Would you demure because the President said there’s no right to privacy in the constitution? The word “Tyranny!” would rise up from their throats quicker than Kanye West at an awards ceremony.
Now, about that “greatest nation ever” thing. Many democracies guarantee their citizens health care, a living wage, an education, and other things Conservatives don’t like…I mean, don’t think we have a right to. When anyone says, “The Constitution doesn’t give you the right…”, ask whether our greatest nation status depends on having fewer rights than other countries. Is their thought process, “How horrible it must be to live in Sweden, Denmark, Britain, or those other Commie countries that have more rights forced on their citizens than we have! I didn’t fight for our country just so people in America can have more rights than the people I was killing! The sign of a truly great nation isn’t how many rights it has, but how few! Damn! You take away a couple more rights, and we’d have pretty close to a paradise here! Just don’t touch the Second Amendment – the only part of the Constitution I’ve memorized, but misread anyway.”
I can’t say you’ll change anyone’s mind with this line of argument, but it may make a reasonable person think a bit more clearly about what they’re saying. The rest of them, of course, will have another retort that will prove they’re always right about rights.
“Benghazi!”