Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Joy Behar and the Constitution

Joy Behar has a problem with lawmakers respecting the Constitution of the United States.

Video, from NewsBusters.


JOY BEHAR: Do you think this Constitution-loving is getting out of hand? I mean, is it a nod to the Tea Party?

Yikes.

Enough said.

1 comment:

Mike said...

No, hardly enough has been said (and if you actually listened to the packaged sound bite Behar had very little to say about the Constitution - she was basically posing a thought for her guests to comment upon). Unfortunately some of the people speaking out (like Joy of The View) are not very clear in their thinking and/or are ineffective expressing the opinions many Americans have on the subject. Paramount is the notion that the GOP does not OWN exclusive rights with respect to the US Constitution. I think this reading of text from our founding fathers should be done at the beginning of each new Congress regardless who has the majority.

In doing so perhaps more citizens would come to appreciate that the Constitution is a liberal document that does not restrict free speech, does not restrict who anyone marries, does not allow the government to randomly keep files on private citizens. The radical right-wing agenda of controlling "family values" and how we choose to live our personal lives is unconstitutional - and has been adjudicated by the courts. If the Constitution were a static document that did not require interpretation it would not be necessary to have an Amendment that "allows" women the right to choose their own reproductive path. No one has a right to subject those of us who do not identify with a particular faith to the litany of "Christian values". There is no provision that prohibits anyone from marrying anyone else, regardless of race, religion, or gender. The hypocrisy of this exercise as it has been presented by the radical right and the ensuing debate is epic in proportion, likely beyond the time restraints of a TV show (The View) that is the equivalent of a supermarket tabloid.

Especially when we have these hypocritical "spend and spend" Republicans waving the flag as they cater to wealthy special interest groups lining up at their offices. Among the first acts by Republicans: rule changes strip voting rights of delegates who represent taxpayers, and eliminate "pay go" - a logical step for a group so focused like a laser on the deficit. (Not.) Instead, we have hypocrites with flag pins who've wrapped themselves and their agenda in a document that is not the fixed immutable document that they seem to think it is & tells them what to do.