Since President Obama took office, Republicans have shrouded their agenda of opposition by wrapping it in the
flag and the Constitution. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) even went so far as to label her radical anti-government views “
constitutional conservatism.” Yet, for all of their constitutional pablum, the GOP’s agenda is nothing less than a direct assault on America’s founding document. Time and time again, Republicans have called for basic constitutional freedoms and fundamental aspects of our constitutional government to be repealed either by amendment or by activist judges:
REPEALING CITIZENSHIP: Numerous GOP lawmakers, including their
Senate leader and the most-recent
Republican candidate for president, are lining up behind a “review” of the 14th Amendment’s grant of citizenship to virtually all persons born within the United States. Such a proposal literally revives the vision of citizenship articulated by
the Supreme Court’s infamous pro-slavery decision in
Dred Scott v. Sanford. It has no place in the twenty-first century.
REPEALING CONGRESS’ POWER TO REGULATE THE ECONOMY: The Constitution’s “Commerce Clause” gives national leaders broad authority to
regulate the national economy, but much of the GOP has embraced “
tentherism,” the belief that this power is small enough to be drowned in a bathtub. The most famous example of tentherism is the ubiquitous
frivolous lawsuits claiming that health reform is unconstitutional, but these lawsuits are part of a much greater effort. In his
brief challenging health reform, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli claims that Congress is allowed to regulate “commerce on one hand” but not “manufacturing or agriculture.” Cuccinelli’s discredited vision of the Constitution was actually implemented in the
late 19th and early 20th century, and it would strike down
everything from child labor laws to the federal ban on whites-only lunch counters.
REPEALING CONGRESS’ POWER TO SPEND MONEY...
REPEALING CONGRESS’ POWER TO RAISE MONEY...
REPEALING EQUALITY...
REPEALING FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS...
REPEALING ELECTION OF SENATORS...
moreGOP agenda: