Conservatives, Please Stop Calling Yourselves "Constitutionalists"

At first, I hoped it was a fluke.  Maybe a few rogue conservatives that started calling themselves "constitutionalists."  Maybe Sarah Palin loyalists?  Unfortunately, I keep hearing this absurd claim from conservatives.  They really think that they are constitutional loyalists! 

It drives me crazy to hear this, and it doesn't even take a lot to discredit them.  A few simple questions will dispel this ridiculous attempt to make them feel that they are no longer a party of backwards, anti-equality, anti-progress religious fanatics. 

• Do you support the implied right to privacy in our Constitution that has been recognized by our Supreme Court...including the right to choose abortion?
• Do you support the equal protection (14th Amendment) of all people within the boundaries of a state?  Including illegal immigrants?  Including homosexuals who choose to enter into the contract of marriage?
• Do you believe in the freedom of, and from religion, that is provided in the First Amendment?  Including not allowing the government to write any laws respecting the establishment of religion?  (This means no anti-abortion laws.)

There are more questions that I could ask to disqualify any conservative as a "constitutionalist."  However, I've never had to ask more than this.  If they can truthfully answer yes to the above questions, you should probably follow up with something like, "are you aware that you are actually a liberal?"

I do understand that conservatives recognize that there is a bad connotation with the term "conservative."  It tells people that you are against progress.  That you want to go back to the way things used to be and don't want our society to progress...at least not at a reasonable rate.  Don't be mad, conservatives...you've done this to yourselves.  This makes them want to find a new term for themselves that sounds a little more positive.  Unfortunately, the closest term I could find for conservative ideology is "constitutionalists of convenience."  I use this term to mean that they passionately believe in the Constitution when it fits neatly into their ideology.  However, they believe that anything that falls outside of those ideals, like gay marriage and abortion, should not be protected by the Constitution because it offends their religious and moral beliefs.  This means they are willing to ignore the Constitution when it is not convenient for them.

Conservatives, whatever you choose to call yourselves...and I can think of a few more terms if you would like.  Please...I beg you...stop calling yourselves "constitutionalists."  You're just making yourselves look worse.

The Fall of Conservative Ideals Protects America's Future

In the last month, we have witnessed a political party that has been shaken to its foundations.  Immediately after the American people sent a message to Republicans that we will not accept their extreme and harmful beliefs, the fighting began within the party.  The loss was blamed on everyone from urban voters to Governor Christie, Mitt Romney, and Rush Limbaugh. 

Conservative business people have punished Americans for our choice in the election by laying off workers.  Others have threatened to reduce hours for employees to avoid paying for health care.  Many of those companies have backtracked on their threats after their sales dropped. 

The decay of the party continued with the announcement that Tea Party Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) would be resigning.  While his replacement may not be any better, at least we've gotten rid of this guy and have a chance to replace him with someone less extreme.  On the reverse side, Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren, the bain of Wall Street, will join the Senate Banking Committee which has oversight of the rules and regulations under which banks operate. 

Approval of gay marriage has grown and new states are issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples today. 

Some conservatives are working to have Boehner replaced as Speaker of the House because he removed because of his decision to remove some far-right conservatives from committees.  The extremists and Tea Party element in the Republican party are panicking because they feel their power slipping away.

Republicans are experiencing backlash from their refusal to ratify a United Nations treaty that protects the rights of disabled people.  The treaty makes the Americans with Disabilities Act a non-binding international standard and would not have changed any U.S. laws.  It's been signed by President Bush in 2006 and again by President Obama in 2009.  Former Senators Bob and Elizabeth Dole (R) and a small contingent of current Republican Senators (John McCain, Dick Lugar, and John Barrasso) also supported the treaty. 

In what has to be one of the most devastating aspects of the Republican implosion, multiple business executives have come out to discredit the notion that tax hikes on wealthy Americans will hurt jobs.  Executives such as Warren Buffet and Fed Ex CEO Fred Smith, among others at companies like Goldman Sachs and AT&T, have stated that they would support an increase in the tax rates for the wealthy.  Smith described the idea of those increases killing jobs as "mythology." 

Of course conservatives are panicking and fighting through all of this.  They are watching their ideology fall apart.  The people of the United States, even many of the wealthy, are seeing that we can't continue to operate under conservative theories and maintain our position as the greatest country in the world.  We have to support each other, we have to provide for our people, we have to maintain a strong middle class.  The greatest nation in the world can not be an aristocracy.  The greatest nation in the world cannot have the best health care, but refuse to provide coverage for all of its citizens.  The greatest nation in the world cannot allow discrimination of any kind.  The greatest nation in the world cannot claim to be founded on the idea of freedom of religion, and freedom from religion, while writing religious beliefs into laws and limiting people's rights based on those beliefs.  The greatest nation in the world cannot support conservative ideals and remain great.  In my eyes, the United States is truly the greatest nation in the world.  This is why we are seeing the walls of conservative rhetoric fall before our very eyes.  The people of the United States have stood up and said, "We will not allow elitism and discrimination to run our lives!  We will live our lives supporting the ideas of fairness and equality, concepts that our people have fought and died for over hundreds of years!  We are all in this together!"  And I'm loving every minute of it.

Mourdock's Comments Costing Republicans Senate Seat

For those of you who read my column in The American Complaint Department, this week's was about the ridiculous comment made by Senate candidate Richard Mourdock (read the article here).  In his final debate with Joe Donnelly and Andrew Horning, Mourdock was asked about his position on abortion in the case of rape.  If you haven't heard, Mourdock said that, if a woman got pregnant from rape, it was "something God intended to happen."  

Of course I think his statement is ridiculous, but great news has come out about Mourdock's Senate campaign.  The results of the first independent poll that has been released since his statement came out today.  The poll shows that Mourdock is now trailing Joe Donnelly by an 11 point margin.  If this poll is even close to accurate, Mourdock has likely ruined his chances of winning this race with his extremist comments.  He would have to pull off a miracle come back in the final four days of the election.  I doubt that is likely because Indiana television stations are being flooded with commercials condemning Mourdock's tea party extremism.  In the short time it took me to write this blog, I have seen about 6 or 7 commercials using Mourdock's comments against him. 

Most importantly is what this means for the election in general.  Republicans have been working very hard to gain a majority in the Senate.  This was going to be an uphill battle, but Indiana Republicans made it even harder when they replaced 35 year incumbent Richard Lugar with a tea party extremist candidate.  Lugar was a well-known moderate Republican that has worked well with Democrats for decades.  The desire to rid themselves of anyone who has worked across the aisle has now likely lost Republicans a seat that has been a mainstay for over three decades.  I hope Republicans take this into consideration as proof that the majority will reject the tea party extremist element that has been infecting their ranks.  It lost them an ally in the Senate, and will continue to destroy the Republican party from within.  Of course, that's not an entirely bad notion.

Paul Ryan Actually Tells the Truth...Almost

My home state had the wonderful privilege of a visit from Paul Ryan recently.  While I normally disagree with everything that comes out of this man's mouth (because it's either a lie or complete nonsense), I actually found a statement in his speech with which I agree.  In the speech, Ryan referred to the Senate as a dysfunctional pit where important issues wallow.  For once, I completely agree.

Of course, the reason for this is because Senate Republicans are following the party line and blocking every bill that they come across.  Let's look at a few important examples from this year alone:

June 2012 - Senate Republicans block the Paycheck Fairness Act
This bill "sought to bar companies from retaliating against workers who inquire about pay disparities and open pathways for female employees to sue for punitive damages in cases of paycheck discrimination." 

July 2012 - Senate Republicans block the Disclose Act of 2012
This bill would have required independent groups who spend unlimited amounts of money on attack ads during elections to disclose the names of donors who contribute more than $10,000.  What's very interesting about this is that, only 12 years ago, 14 Republicans who opposed the act voted for a very similar disclosure.  Those Republicans include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and former Republican Presidential candidate Senator John McCain.  Both of these Senators are quoted as supporting disclosure:

Senator McConnell - "why would a little disclosure be better than a lot of disclosure?"

Senator McCain - "I promise you this. I promise you there will be huge scandals… because there’s too much money washing around, too much of it… we don’t know who, who contributed it, and there is too much corruption associated with that kind of money. There will be major scandals."

July 2012 - Senate Republicans block the Bring Jobs Home bill
This bill was intended to reward companies for bringing jobs from overseas back to the United States, a practiced termed "insourcing."  The bill would also have ended the tax deductions that companies could take on the costs of moving jobs out of the country. 

You can see why I would agree with Ryan in his assessment of the dysfunction in the Senate.  What he didn't mention is that the dysfunction is coming from Senate Republicans.  I will warn him, if he keeps this up, he might someday actually utter a completely honest and intelligent thought.  That would tear the GOP apart.