| In Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed a law that would allow his office to declare "financial marshal law" and then appoint and unelected business manager to take over a municipality, and go as far as dissolving the elected government of that city or town, all without any input from the voters there in.
Combine this with Rep Eric "Jethro For Life" Cantor's plan, which he proposes as "getting serious about the budget impasse" and you see something very disturbing; a political party that not only does not understand the Constitution but is actively trying to thwart it at every turn.
It was one of the things that we Liberals warned about in the days of the criminal Bush administration, that if the flagrant disregard for the Constitution of that administration was allowed to continue it would degrade the affects of our founding document beyond just those instances.
The abject failure of the Obama administration to investigate, and where appropriate prosecute the offenders had proven that this slippery slope is indeed real. I completely understand that it would have been and continues to be politically difficult to follow the rule of law in this case; however this failure is not without consequences.
Without the firm backstop of Constitutionality, and the enforcement of laws against heinous crimes like torture and indefinite detention we open ourselves up to debate exactly what every right and responsibility in the Constitution means. The Conservative movement has opened a Pandora's Box and is more than happy to start taking bed rock assumptions apart now that we do not have clarity on issues as black and white as torture.
From Birth Right Citizenship, to how Senators are elected, to EPA to collective bargaining rights they are ready to ignore centuries of progress and try to take our nation back to a time when we were, frankly less free. It is of course, ironic that these fools wrap themselves in the mantle of the Framers of the Constitution. It is a good thing I don't believe in an after life, else I would have to endure the image of Franklin, Jefferson and Addams puking their guts out at the mockery these asshats are making of their nation.
One thing that we can do is to start to push the media not to give a platform to the Jethro's. Rep. Cantor is protected in his right to say any damned fool thing he likes, but that does not mean it should go unchallenged.
Take a couple of minutes to write a letter to your local newspaper about the fact that one of the top Republicans is going to waste the time of the Peoples House to vote on a bill that will never be law and acts like the House has more power than it does.
The floor is yours. |
