The Feld-Blog

So I was thinking… (I know, always a dangerous activity for me)…. The Republican Party platform calls for smaller government, i.e. less government intrusion, and more personal accountability. Basically they seem to want government to do only what it needs to do, and give more autonomy to individuals. But both significant Constitutional amendments that the GOP has proposed would significantly restrict personal liberties. Think about it: The flag burning amendment (also known as the anti-free speech amendment) and the Federal marriage amendment (also known as the intolerant bigot amendment; see my post earlier this week) are designed to tell private citizens what they cannot do. In fact, besides the prohibition amendment, which if you remember was a tremendous, almost awe inspiring failure, no constitutional amendment has ever before restricted the rights of private citizens.

I’m astonished. The Framers of the Constitution were suspicious of government. They knew it was necessary, but they set up checks and balances and an elaborate constitution in order to temper the powers of government. The constitution is meant to protect the people against the government. If you look at any article, clause, or amendment (as I said, with the exception of the Prohibition), they are all designed to protect the rights of citizens against the powers of government. But what do the Republicans want to do? They want to grant the government sweeping, brutally intrusive powers to restrict your freedoms of speech and even steal the rights of millions of Americans to publicly and officially declare their love for one another and commitment to each other.

These would be unprecedentedly damaging and intrusive powers. For the party that stands for smaller government, they sure want to add a lot of new and unheard of powers. When you think about what Democrats want to do with their bigger government, pay you money so that you can retire, pay your medical bills for you, help educate you and your children, provide for the academic research that has helped to keep America on the technological edge….Maybe that kind of big government doesn’t sound so bad. It almost sounds like the ideal best friend. The republican form of big government sounds more like the drunken belligerent father who used to ground you for no good reason.

Of the 27 times we have amended our constitution, the only time we tried to restrict personal liberties, the policy ended in a miserable failure. I know that George Bush doesn’t like to read the paper, but maybe one of his staffers could read him the constitution. Maybe one of his aides can let him know what he should have learned in high school history class – that the prohibition was a miserable failure that is actually largely responsible for the creation of organized crime. Why on earth, with that knowledge, who Bush or the Republicans ever try to constitutionally restrict our ‘inalienable’ rights? Well? You tell me.