How come so many right-wingers, neo-cons, corporate RepubliDems, NRA lobbyists, Fox News commentators and radical-extremist talk-show hosts are currently getting all up in our faces about how wonderful the Second Amendment is? “Second Amendment! Second Amendment!” they cry night and day. That’s all we ever hear from these guys. You would think that they might occasionally mention the rest of the Constitution occasionally as well — but no.
Right-wingers, gun lobbyists, Tea Party congressmen and corporatist-owned radio talk-show hosts all scream and yell and hold their breath and throw temper tantrums about the sanctity of the Second Amendment constantly. But have they ever thrown tantrums or held their breath when other parts of our Constitution were violently stepped on — especially by they themselves? Er, no.
Where were these spoiled brats when George W. Bush trampled all over our Constitution and forced several illegal wars down our throats? Silent as the tomb.
Did these spoiled brats ever throw themselves down on the sidewalk and wail and flail around violently when the PATRIOT Act gutted so many of our sacred rights as citizens? No, no, no and no. Nary a peep from the right wing noise machine.
The Constitution begins with “We the People…” But you never hear any right-winger ever bitch and moan about how America is now run by “We the Corporations….” Right-wingers, the Koch brothers, Rupert Murdoch, John Boehner, etc. apparently have never met a corporation they didn’t like. “Corporations are people!” they always cry. And what about the rest of us? Chopped liver? “Pretty much.”
Section 2, paragraph 1 of the U.S. Constitution states that, “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” George W. Bush used that clause again and again to mire our country in the quicksand of trillions of dollars of debt, and not one right-winger anywhere seemed to even notice that our George had illegally used presidential executive privilege — let alone voice any objection to its misuse. We never heard any protests at all from the Tea Party, the NRA, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, Grover Norquist or any of those guys. GWB was using executive powers to benefit the wealthy 1% but not the rest of us? Fine with them!
And speaking of GWB, doesn’t the Constitution also state somewhere that you gotta be elected before you can live in the White House? Bush was never elected. Both the 2000 election and the 2004 election were blatantly stolen. But there’s been no outcry from any right-winger about that. Hell, Anton Scalia didn’t even seem to mind. And neither did AIPAC or CPAC. What’s with that?
And what about our First Amendment rights such as “Freedom of Speech”? You never ev-ah hear right-wingers’ strident voices raised in hue and cry whenever ordinary people like us are arrested and beaten for practicing free speech.
“Freedom of Religion”. Worth fighting for? Yeah sure — as long as it only includes some kind of weird slash-and-burn Wall Street and War Street version of “Christianity” that wingers go nuts over and that Jesus would have abhorred.
And what about protecting Native Americans’ freedom of religion too? That the land itself is considered sacred? No freedom there. “Just shut up, stop whining and let the Great White Father shove his tar-sands pipeline up your throat.”
I’m not even going to mention Muslims’ freedom of religion. For right-wingers, it simply doesn’t exist.
And what about the 19th Amendment, which dares to speak out against involuntary servitude? Neo-con spoiled brats have no issues with this one — just as long as we allow them to keep their prison labor system of involuntary servitude going. And their involuntary sweatshops in Asia and Haiti that have stolen our jobs. And sleazy American factories that keep their doors locked even when there is a fire. And those thousands of WalMart workers who aren’t allowed to organize or demand a decent wage or respect? Does that count as involuntary servitude too? Apparently not.
And the 19th amendment also covers the right of everyone in America to vote except, apparently, in Virginia — where right-wingers are trying to return to the old “Three-fifths of a person” approach. http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-parry/47801/the-return-of-three-fifth-of-a-person
And what about “Freedom of the Press”? Are right-wingers defending it at all? Hell no. Just ask WikiLeaks’s founder about that one — or even the New York Times. It seems that if you ever even dare to publish anything in America that goes against Wall Street and War Street, you end up either fired or in jail. Like Bradley Manning for instance. No right-wing temper tantrums or breath-holding over him. The only exception to this rule is when the neo-con media darlings on talk-radio or Fox News get called out on their lies. Then right-wing spoiled brats really do start holding their breath.
Amendment Four? No illegal search and seizure? Violating this one is the right wing’s sweetest dream. “Gotta protect the Homeland!” they cry — apparently protecting it from We the People.
Amendment Six? “Right to a speedy and public trial.” You never hear right-wingers throw a fit about this one either — only about their treasured Second Amendment.
Then there’s Amendment Eight. No cruel and unusual punishment. Abu Graib? No outrage. “Zero Dark 30″? That torture got cheers. Mordechai Vanunu kept in solitary confinement for eighteen years by Israeli right-wingers because he spoke out? Or the countless Palestinian non-violent protesters now in Israeli neo-con jails? http://world.time.com/2013/01/25/oscar-nominated-documentary-brings-palestinian-plight-to-center-stage/ “Oh goody!” But these particular cruel and unusual things are all happening to foreign nationals, not us. However, even when horrible things like that happen right here at home too, right-wing spoiled brats still don’t even care. “Bradley Manning? Leonard Peltier? The Cuban Five? Lynne Stewart? Chris Williams and other legal medical marijuana growers and dispensers? Martin Luther King Jr?” Yawn.
Rep. Alan Grayson just wrote an article in the Huffington Post stating that Tea Party right-wingers in Congress are attempting to violate two other Constitutional Amendments — the 14th and the 27th. “As Texas Gov. Rick Perry would say, ‘Oops’.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-alan-grayson/federal-budget_b_2563242.html
I could go on and on about all the parts of the U.S. Constitution the right-wing has happily gutted over the last several decades. But you get the gist. For them, only the Second Amendment counts.
But I have an important question here to ask “We the People” of America regarding the right wing’s constant spoiled-brat behavior. “At what point do all these temper tantrums and breath-holdings get old?”
When do “We the Parents” finally put our foot down, stand up for our own selves and send spoiled-brat Wall Street and War Street and Wrong-Wing Street and Wreck-the-Constitution Street off to bed without any supper? Apparently never.
Memorial Day 2009