Thursday, August 12, 2010

We Call Do-Over. Do Over, Do Over!

This is all it says. Just read it:

Amendment XIV

"Section 1.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

See how easy that was? It was a five-second Google search for me and a single click for you to find this page and just read a whole existing constitutional amendment right there in the comfort of your own tabbed browser window, between babypandas.com and ladiessteppingoncockroachesinbarefeet.org or whatever it is you do when you're not reading this.

Does this seem safe to you? Having our sacred Constitution out there for public consumption for any-ole-body to, you know, consume? People who read get ideas. People with ideas start to do shit, like agitate for the vote or escape slavery. Now we have activist judges WITH THE SAME WIDE OPEN ACCESS TO THE CONSTITUTION THAT YOU HAVE JUST EXPERIENCED and using that access to coddle the usurping brown man in his reconquista crusade to reclaim Aztlan. It's worse than dangerous. Reading the Constitution and doing exactly as it says? That's practically treason.

People talk about the Constitution applying to everyone when we know all that stuff about "all men created equal" in the Declaration of Independence was specifically directed to remedy the injustices of aristocratic and monarchical 18th century British society, not to let the gardener send his daughter to a junior college on my dime. It's like people take no time to understand historical context.

The right answer, of course, is to simply change the Constitution. A black Sharpie should do it and when we're done, it should look like the military censor got hold of something posted on WikiLeaks.

This is a tried and true tactic: whenever the politics of the moment do not suit your tastes, the best plan is to fundamentally alter the legal underpinnings of an entire civilization. Usually it's a Republican thing. Nothing fires up the GOP faithful coming at a foundational document with some Liquid Paper and a ballpoint pen. Well, almost nothing...

6 comments:

Kraymo said...

Pops:

As someone in similar circumstances (marriage kaput, part-time dad, etc.), I kept waiting for the tie-in to post-divorce misery.

Instead, straight up political commentary? Albeit with your usual barbed complement of broad pop cultural and obscure historical references.

I guess that has its place.

Poplicola said...

Sorry Kraymo. I'll be back to Downer Theatre in no time, I'm sure of it. I've got a little bit less of the misery going on, at least in relation to the Separation Event Blowout!! of early January. I hope the occasional pep doesn't drive you off.

kittens not kids said...

i dream of the day when this blog becomes a gathering site for disillusioned, still fairly young men with low self-esteem occasioned by relationship failures. Because then, and probably ONLY then, will I be able to find a single guy willing to at least attempt dating me. There, or at some local, off-brand version of Comic-con. but at least I'd know with readers here that they are literate.

The conservative crew is going to get their knickers in a major and serious twist in their desperation to choose different interpretive strategies for various parts of the constitution, and somehow make that all into a single monolithic Reading of the Constitution. Because nuance and complexity is not their strong suit, this may well kill them all off.

I'm glad your post-divorce woes are, at least temporarily, somewhat abated. and i mean that in total sincerity.

Poplicola said...

The only problem I foresee is that we don't quite have the reader base to support a dating service as yet and certainly not a national one. We may be able to line you up with someone, but I'm sure you'd have to pay his travel expenses and then we're approaching the uncomfortable "gigolo" line, which would in some ways make me a pimp, which in some ways would be the awesomest thing ever.

mrgumby2u said...

If more of your lurkers would step up it would increase the base for your dating service.

I didn't say anything about quality.

Poplicola said...

Yeah, I don't know if "lurker" is something you want on your dating résumé.

Also: don't date people who ask you for a résumé.