Quote Of The Day: Gun Control And Political Values
June 29th, 2008 by JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief
Dick Polman has a MUST READ post on the Supreme Court’s decision on nixing Washington D.C.’s handgun ban. The first part deals with the McCain camp’s reaction but the broad and specific points he makes at the end is our Quote of the Day:
Have you noticed that, whenever Republicans don’t like a judicial decree, they complain about how “unelected judges” are “legislating from the bench” by ignoring the literal wording of the Constitution, thus imposing “judicial tyranny” on the people’s elected officials, who should be free to enact policy as they see fit without any meddling from the robed brethren?
Well, take a look at the ruling that overturns the D.C. handgun ban. The majority, led by Antonin Scalia, ignored the literal meaning of the Constitution. The Second Amendment has no wording whatsoever about an individual right to bear arms, or individual home-defense; the amendment talks only about the collective security of “the people,” led by “a well-regulated militia.” Having thus legislated from the bench, the Scalia majority threw out a law enacted by the people’s elected officials.
But since McCain and his surrogates got the policy outcome they desired, suddenly they have no qualms about unelected judges who stray from the literal meaning of the Constitution and appear to legislate from the bench.
Conservatives are also supposed to respect legal precedent, not topple it. Yet, in this ruling, the Scalia majority ignored legal precedent; dating back to 1939, the high court had never unearthed an individual’s right to bear arms in the Second Amendment language. Yet now it has. Again, not a peep yesterday or today from the right-leaning advocates of “strict constructionism.”
And he sees a side benefit for Obama:
In the end, however, Barack Obama might actually benefit from this hypocrisy. The Scalia majority has provided him with political cover. From this point forward, whenever anybody charges that Obama intends to take people’s guns away, he can merely reply, “Nobody can take your guns away. The Supreme Court has now ruled that it can’t happen.”
Polman is correct in pointing out the short shelf life of passionate principles in 21s century America. Positions painted as vital and sometimes “finessed” to advance specific political agendas now all the time. This is one reason why for several years independent voters have been the fastest growing segment of the electorate.
Some dismiss independent voters as wishy-washy, or unable to make decisions. NOT. Some independent voters, in fact, had belonged to one party or both parties and gotten all worked up about issues and principles — and then concluded that key core values become expedient to win elections and advance agendas. So they step out of the parties, concluding that the parties have become political branding organizations rather than serious ideological guardians.
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 29th, 2008 at 7:01 am and is filed under Gun Control, Ideologies, Conservatism, Republican Party, Newsweek Blogitics, Quote of the Day, Elections, John McCain, Conservatives, 2008 Elections, Supreme Court, Democrats, Barack Obama, Republicans, Politics. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
