do you think this means Repubs really are anti-Constitution?

[eek]

This was on the gop.org website.
Am I interpreting correctly? the republicans - as suspected - do not respect the Constitution?



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[Davis_X_Machina]

1. It'sa reference to Originalism...

...they want to keep the Constitition of 1789, complete with its absence of women and swarthy people.

[ArmchairActivist]

2. Today's GOP...

... is pro-POWER, period. As far as I can tell, they will say anything, do anything, to cling to power like grim death.

For Bush*CheneyRoveNorquistRummy et al, this almost makes sense, but as far as the party's lesser luminaries (local party wonks, state congresspeople, etc.), I just don't get it. Massive denial? Outright ignorance? Or simple black-hearted hate?

-AA

[gasperc]

3. they are anti-democracy, anti- one man one vote

they insist THIS IS A REPUBLIC, a representative form of government that never intended to allow a vote for all the people. In a sense this is true, a reading of the federalist papers clearing explains why the electoral college was created to contain the "passions" of the common man. However many of the constitutional delegates were unconvinced and the compromise was the house of representatives which is directly elected by the common man and the appointed Senate(till the 1900s) to cool the houses passion.

Most of the Rethugs hate that the illiterate, the poor, the "uninformed(non-republicans)" vote. To them they see themselves as hard working taxpayers and illiterate, poor Americans as too lazy to learn, too lazy to work( which is why they think so many illegal aliens are here doing work that Americans don't what to do) and are just taking advantage and literally "stealing" money right from their family's checking account. Republicans will tell you that not a single American should be out of work with all the illegal aliens in the country.

[Hammie]

4. Your conclusion is correct but I don't get your logic.

There is no question that the Republicans hold the constitution in low esteem. Witness the patriot act with its warrant-less searches and etc. However your quote is a reference to the idea of the constitution not being a living breathing thing which doesn't support your conclusion. It actually support the opposite since it refers to the notion that the constitution is the supreme law of the land with a fixed specific meaning, not to be bent and twisted to the political expediency of the day. Taken in that context, it is actually a homage to the constitution. Of course it is just a cynical appeal to their support base since all they really care about is getting and keeping power, but you've got say the right things to keep the masses quiet. You wouldn't want the folks that care about the Constitution to go libertarian on you or, worse, democrat.

[iverglas]

5. up here in the frozen north

... the (Canadian) Constitution IS considered to be "a living, breathing thing", and in fact it has been a tenet of constitutional interpretation for several decades that it is just that: "The Constitution is a living tree" is one of the most well-known pronouncements of the constitutional courts.

Oh look, the Supreme Court of Canada couldn't have said it better itself:

This Court has consistently endorsed the living tree principle as a fundamental tenet of constitutional interpretation.

Seriously, if anyone here were to quote one of the Fathers of Confederation in a discussion of, say, same-sex marriage or firearms control or religious discrimination, people would point and laugh. The tree has grown a lot of new branches since their day, and the people who live under it feel quite competent and entitled to use it for the purposes that best suit us, not whatever might have suited a bunch of old dead rich white guys who were often wont to drink too much.

USAmericans do indeed tend to take a different view of their constitution, one that we up here might call the "petrified tree" approach. ;)

I'm quite sure that this is what the GOP website is referring to: the US Constitution is not "a living, breathing thing", it is a thing etched on parchment that must be applied exactly as its authors intended, even if what it's being applied to are things they could never have imagined in their wildest dreams.

Nonetheless, it doesn't exactly sound like a compliment to say that something is not a living, breathing thing. Might be worth taking a second look at that notion, when they put it that way!

.