THE PATRIOT IN ME ASKS WHY?

 

I think that a person should examine one’s own strongly held beliefs now and then and ask yourself why you feel so strongly that they are correct.

I was in that frame of mind last week when watching the news I heard myself described as a radical, extreme right wing conservative. The commentator used the label conservative in the most pejorative way. In his view people that self identify with the TEA PARTY pose as big or bigger threat to our country than al-Queda. I found the patriot in me asking why anyone could hold this view. Imagine my surprise when I learned that my belief in the 2^nd amendment right to keep and bear arms branded me as one who condones gun violence. Apparently my belief that all human life is sacred also shows that I hold a deep seated hatred of women. His narrative moved on to equate my conservatism with being a racist, homophobic and virtually cult-like in my irrational devotion to the constitution. Asking rhetorically he said “Just think how great America could be if we weren’t anchored down by a moldy 18^th century document that limits the government from doing most of the good things that need to be done.” My first thought upon hearing his question was that this person with a microphone in front of the camera had no idea what was in the constitution. You see I know that the constitution is silent on the question of whether a woman has the right to abort a pregnancy, not one word. What the constitution does say in a very general way is that the federal government does not have the right to tell her she can’t do it or most other things as they are reserved to be the rights of individual citizens or to the states. His final condemnation of me as a conservative came as the proclamation that my resistance to granting amnesty to illegal aliens is because I hate poor people and most of all colored poor people.

Way back in high school I learned that one effective debating technique when defending a weak position is to assign reprehensible motives to the other person and then attack him for holding those beliefs. I know that I am not a racist and I do not care what gay people do in private but he tarred me with both brushes as well as hating women and the poor to further his argument. Taxed Enough Already is the common thread that unites the TEA PARTY. I have never met a self identified TEA PARTY member or conservative that holds the beliefs he says we all hold.

In one of the commentator’s rants he stated that because the constitution says that blacks are only 3/5 human we clingers are obviously racist. I would like to respond to this charge of all his misguided judgments in particular. First, the constitution counts all free people except Indians as a whole person for the sole purpose of determining how many representatives would serve in the House of Representatives. Second, slavery was a divisive issue at the time the constitution was ratified and the framers believed that outlawing the practice would prevent the states where slaveholding was common from voting to ratify. Third, all other persons, not free or Indian, were assigned as 3/5 of a whole person so that the slaveholding states would not enjoy a dominance of numbers in the legislature. It was in fact built into the constitution as a way of eliminating slavery and at the same time guaranteeing that once freed all free people count as a whole person. I would suggest that anyone who doubts my assertions read the constitution for themselves and follow up with a reading of the federalist papers to gain an understanding of the framers motives.

The constitution is a charter of negative rights that seeks to limit the power of the federal government. It grants very specific and limited power to the federal government and through the tenth amendment in the bill of rights reserves to “we the people” control of our own lives through our local government.

The patriot in me asks why it is so hard for progressives to just leave the citizens of this country alone to live our lives as we choose. Stop telling me that I can’t drink a big sugary soda or that I can’t petition my government to quit infringing on my constitutional rights. I am a conservative and I believe that all people including Indians are equal. I believe in the rule of law and that the government that governs best governs least.