Open thread: Let’s celebrate New Year’s by giving up on the Constitution

posted at 8:31 pm on December 31, 2012 by Allahpundit

There may or may not be fiscal-cliff action tonight — a Senate vote of some sort is likely, a House vote is not — so here’s your thread for Congress-watching and/or holiday revelry. Either way, drinking is mandatory.

In lieu of a QOTD, let me leave you with an excerpt from the op-ed page of the liberal establishment’s flagship paper. 2012 was a banner year for them: The Supreme Court upheld ObamaCare and a younger, more diverse electorate delivered four more years to The One. The tectonic political realignment that they thought had happened four years ago might actually have happened this year. What’s left for a leftist to dream about after two victories as momentous as that? Jettisoning the final check on their power, I guess:

As the nation teeters at the edge of fiscal chaos, observers are reaching the conclusion that the American system of government is broken. But almost no one blames the culprit: our insistence on obedience to the Constitution, with all its archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions…

Our obsession with the Constitution has saddled us with a dysfunctional political system, kept us from debating the merits of divisive issues and inflamed our public discourse. Instead of arguing about what is to be done, we argue about what James Madison might have wanted done 225 years ago.

As someone who has taught constitutional law for almost 40 years, I am ashamed it took me so long to see how bizarre all this is. Imagine that after careful study a government official — say, the president or one of the party leaders in Congress — reaches a considered judgment that a particular course of action is best for the country. Suddenly, someone bursts into the room with new information: a group of white propertied men who have been dead for two centuries, knew nothing of our present situation, acted illegally under existing law and thought it was fine to own slaves might have disagreed with this course of action. Is it even remotely rational that the official should change his or her mind because of this divination?

And that, my friends, is how America is finally Perfected. Let a thousand Wilsonian flowers bloom.

Thanks to all of you for reading these past 12 months. See you next year!

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But the explicitly stated right to own a gun? That’s just poppycock.

Washington Nearsider on May 7, 2013 at 3:41 PM

And that it’s our right to use arms to protect “our pursuit of happiness” against the likes of Sheila…

kirkill on May 7, 2013 at 4:35 PM

It’s kinda cute when socialists pretend they care about the Constitution.

John the Libertarian on May 7, 2013 at 4:31 PM

Or the People.

OhEssYouCowboys on May 7, 2013 at 4:35 PM

I live in the Houston area. No doubt, SJL is pound for pound the dumbest politician sent to DC. And that’s a lot of pounds. Soooo much stupid.

Sugar Land on May 7, 2013 at 4:37 PM

DanMan on May 7, 2013 at 4:26 PM

Now we talkin’!

OhEssYouCowboys on May 7, 2013 at 4:40 PM

There’s a problem here…

Speaking on the House floor, Jackson Lee said the right to these services can be read into the Declaration of Independence, which preserves the rights of Americans to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

So we’re positing that I should have a “right” to the goods/services of educators and or health professionals without a requirement to pay them anything?

Now I might be mistaken, but I think Abraham Lincoln had an Amendment passed during his Presidency that would affect my “right” to force others to work for me for my benefit without having to pay them…

Perhaps she could go looking to see if anything of any importance happened during that time?

gekkobear on May 7, 2013 at 4:43 PM

The Common household Cat has the edge on this woman.

ToddPA on May 7, 2013 at 4:43 PM

Who told her that? Certainly she didn’t come up with this idea by herself.

jake49 on May 7, 2013 at 4:48 PM

I can’t find video of Jackson Lee’s speech last night so here’s the video from 2011. The idea that “rights,” once granted by statute, can’t be removed constitutionally even by another duly-passed statute is true, at least, to the spirit of the Democrats’ one-way ratchet for the welfare state.

Yeah – the Constitution is a living and breathing document.
Except when it isn’t convenient for the progressive cause.

gwelf on May 7, 2013 at 4:51 PM

although healthcare was not listed per se in the Constitution, it should be a constitutional right

You know what “should be” a Constitutional right? The right to limit government so that it doesn’t interfere in my life without my express consent. The right to expect government solvency to be realized. The right to have politicians like Sheila Jackson Lee be elsewhere and not in Congress.

MTF on May 7, 2013 at 4:53 PM

Yes, we have natural and Constitutionals rights to most things. However, a right is different than an entitlement.

I have a right to own guns, but I am not entitled to a government supplied gun.

I have a right to freedom of speech, but I am not entitled to my very own government provided newspaper or TV station.

A right is something that the government is not allowed to deny me. It is also not something that the government is obligated to give me.

I have a right to receive health care. However, I am not entitled by the Constitution to demand that anyone, including the government, provide it for me.

strickler on May 7, 2013 at 4:55 PM

Too bad the constitution does not specify a minimum IQ for those elected to Congress!

Framers of the Constitution would not have sent the Mars Rover over on the moon to retrieve the American Flag planted by Neal Armstrong, and I am sure they lost no sleep worrying about the Island of Guam Capsizing if too many people go to one side!

AND THESE PEOPLE MAKE OUR LAWS? Proof again that Ronald Reagan screwed up when he let the NUT CASES roam freely on the streets!

PhillupSpace on May 7, 2013 at 4:57 PM

Jackson Lee’s been consistent on this

Oh, she’s been consistent alright. Consistently stupid.

Moose Drool on May 7, 2013 at 4:58 PM

If you got an Obamafone, you is eligible for everything, all the time.

Lincoln Cadillac on May 7, 2013 at 5:00 PM

The constituion does not imply a right to anything. People imply.

paulsur on May 7, 2013 at 5:04 PM

Which amendment protects her right to be a total dumbs–t?

Demonized on May 7, 2013 at 5:05 PM

Jackson Lee’s been consistent on this
Oh, she’s been consistent alright. Consistently stupid.

Does the constitution imply her stupidity as well?

paulsur on May 7, 2013 at 5:07 PM

On behalf of every Texan, and every non-Texan who is a patriotic, non-racist, pro-capitalist, pro-American, good-person, law-abiding citizen, I apologize for this racist anti-american hypocrite holding office.

TX-96 on May 7, 2013 at 5:08 PM

Sheila Jackson Imbecile

dpduq on May 7, 2013 at 5:13 PM

Sheila Jackson is from a district that’s probs about 99% black in inner Houston.

Never a dumber broad have I heard of. As a Texan, I’m ashamed of her stupidity for her…

avagreen on May 7, 2013 at 5:30 PM

So what does that mean for the overwhelming majority of Americans who received insufficient education, or the unanimous body of them who died from a lack of health care, since the founding of the Republic?

Their descendants should sue.

HitNRun on May 7, 2013 at 5:31 PM

Ermmm…….didn’t get posted. Try again, third time. Oh…….I get it. It’s her language.

Here is an example of her Southern hospitality.
*wince*

“Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas also hands out nicknames to the people who work for her. The Houston Democrat addressed one of her employees as “you stupid motherf**ker.” And not just once, but “constantly,” recalls the staffer, “like, all the time.”….

Link here.

avagreen on May 7, 2013 at 5:36 PM

“I think that what should be continuously emphasized is the President’s leadership on one single point: that although healthcare was not listed per se in the Constitution, it should be a constitutional right,” she said.

I’m more than willing to meet her more than halfway at this point. All she has to do is amend the Constitution to add what she thinks “should be a constitutional right,” and I’ll agree it’s a constitutional right.

There Goes the Neighborhood on May 7, 2013 at 5:47 PM

Ms. Jackson is a perfect candidate for lead paint studies.

DDay on May 7, 2013 at 5:49 PM

Sheila Jackson Imbecile

dpduq on May 7, 2013 at 5:13 PM

She certainly qualifies as one of the dumbest socialist ever to hold power.

Zorro on May 7, 2013 at 5:49 PM

How does she get her hair like that….and why?

dirtseller on May 7, 2013 at 6:02 PM

“… conveniently just as the media’s filling up with stories about ObamaCare’s implementation maybe turning into a “train wreck.”

Yeppers…

… Own it. Embrace it. It has ‘Obowma’ and the ‘Democrats’ stink all over it. No running away from this one. The only thing to do is retire from office before 2014.

The backlash has already started and it is only going to get worse…

… No doubt Ms. Lee will be singing her praises to the very end.

No doubt…

Seven Percent Solution on May 7, 2013 at 6:05 PM

If you got an Obamafone, you is eligible for everything, all the time.

Lincoln Cadillac on May 7, 2013 at 5:00 PM

I see what you did there.

davidk on May 7, 2013 at 6:12 PM

So basically, anything that makes me happy is my constitutional right. Okay then.

mbs on May 7, 2013 at 6:13 PM

Sheila Jackson is from a district that’s probs about 99% black in inner Houston.

I believe its rather normal to carve up districts to ensure such representation. Jackson can be all the idiot she wants to be as long as her people cash in and are sold on her worth to them, and in return they keep re-electing her.

hawkeye54 on May 7, 2013 at 6:30 PM

Let’s not exclude Dallas. They have an equal in Eddie Bernice Johnson. I think Tom Delay must have created impenetrable regions of dumbassery in his efforts in the 90′s to create district lines.

There must be a joke about them…Eddie Bern, Maxine and Sheila walk into a bar…all three sustained head wounds but remain unhurt.

DanMan on May 7, 2013 at 6:30 PM

God save us from our Overlord wannabes in DC!

Amen.

PappyD61 on May 7, 2013 at 6:32 PM

Given that there are people that actually believe and repeat this nonsense, we are well and truly f*cked.

rightmind on May 7, 2013 at 6:34 PM

You know, if, if, if you look at, um, the, the victories and failures of the civil rights movement, um, and its litigation strategy in the court… I think where it succeeded was to invest formal rights, uh, in, uh, previously dispossessed peoples, so that, uh, I would now have the right to vote, I would now be able to sit at a lunch counter and, and order and as long as I could pay for it I’d be OK.

Uh, but, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, uh, and sort of more basic issues such as political and, and, and, uh, economic justice in this society. And, uh, to that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, uh, it wasn’t that radical. It didn’t break free from the essential constraints that were placed uh, uh, by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as its been interpreted and the Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can’t do to you. Says what the Federal government can’t do to you, but doesn’t say what the Federal government or State government must do on your behalf, uh, and that hasn’t shifted and one of the, uh, I think, uh, the tragedies of the civil rights movement was, um, because the civil rights movement became so court-focused, uh, I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and, and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive, uh, change. Uh, and, uh, in some ways we still suffer from that.

– Barack Hussein Obama, 2001

ITguy on May 7, 2013 at 6:41 PM

She’s smarter than Hank Johnson.

justltl on May 7, 2013 at 6:48 PM

When tree stumps want to insult each other’s intelligence, they make Sheila Jackson-Lee references.

Bruce MacMahon on May 7, 2013 at 6:56 PM

This woman gives that Virginia Principal a run for her money for most stupid human being to still be able to breathe on their own.

Houston, you really do have a problem.

AZfederalist on May 7, 2013 at 6:57 PM

Who told her that? Certainly she didn’t come up with this idea by herself.

jake49 on May 7, 2013 at 4:48 PM

Nancy Pelosi told her that and she says whatever Massa Pelosi tells her to say, or it is out of the house and back to the fields. Look it up. I think the quote is somewhere here on HA.

A word of advice to Ms. Jackson Lee: If you can’t think for yourself you are on the first step to servitude; nothing racist about it.

Old Country Boy on May 7, 2013 at 6:59 PM

It’s kinda cute when socialists pretend they care about the Constitution.

John the Libertarian on May 7, 2013 at 4:31 PM

Or when they pretend to have any understanding of our form of government. But it’s only cute for about a millisecond and then “cute” turns into feelings of utter contempt.

Wendya on May 7, 2013 at 6:59 PM

Let’s face it – Ms. Lee would be quoting Mein Kampf if she thought it would help keep Obamacare in force.

Marcola on May 7, 2013 at 7:07 PM

She is probably the most ignorant member of Congress and probably has trouble reading the constitution

HAGGS99 on May 7, 2013 at 7:17 PM

Another uppity, racist black woman.

SouthernGent on May 7, 2013 at 7:51 PM

Another uppity, racist black woman.

SouthernGent on May 7, 2013 at 7:51 PM

Bet she is insider trading too… ;)

Tilly on May 7, 2013 at 8:19 PM

Late-to-the-dance-gratuitous-comment about a fat-brained idiot Dem pork-sucker:

“Jeee-zus woman, if it IMPLIES something about health care and education, it must SHRIEK gun ownership rights like an F-35 on a low-level bomb run.”

More and more, that underground bunker in Idaho with a scad of firearms and 10,000 rounds of ammunition is looking mighty good to me.

The War Planner on May 7, 2013 at 8:35 PM

So do I have a “right” to live in a country free of illegal aliens from Mexico? No? Anyone?

long_cat on May 7, 2013 at 8:44 PM

Sooo… the Sheila Jackson Lees of our society can drive cars, breed and even get elected as public officials… and the left wonders why anyone would need a gun? Because these people are batsh*t crazy.

ghostwalker1 on May 7, 2013 at 8:50 PM

typical brack person

tom daschle concerned on May 8, 2013 at 12:02 AM

She’s the one that asked if the Mars rover was going to visit the spot where we planted the flag, right?

crrr6 on May 8, 2013 at 12:09 AM

She doesn’t have the brain power to butter a slice of bread.

stop2think on May 8, 2013 at 6:26 AM

Did she learn Constitutional Law from Adjunct Lecturer Obama?

MPan on May 8, 2013 at 7:41 AM

This is straight out of the Program of the Communist Party USA:

Bill of Rights Socialism in the USA

…

A socialist United States will guarantee all the freedoms we have won over centuries of struggle, and also extend the Bill of Rights to include freedom from unemployment, from poverty, from illiteracy, and from discrimination and oppression. Socialism will guarantee the right to vote, to health care, to a job at a living wage, to decent housing.

ITguy on May 7, 2013 at 3:52 PM

It’s amazing that being a communist was really a bad thing in America. Now they are very outspoken & proud of this treasonous mindset.
BTW,as someone said earlier, amazing how we always seem to have a troll-free thread in these cases.
Where are you, you little worthless communists? Where is your defense of yet another Democrat that espouses the wonderful goodies that communism has to offer?

Badger40 on May 8, 2013 at 8:23 AM

coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive, uh, change. Uh, and, uh, in some ways we still suffer from that.

– Barack Hussein Obama, 2001

ITguy on May 7, 2013 at 6:41 PM

This is communism. And the majority of Americans have no clue that this mindset is that.
NO CLUE!
There is a reason the founders made us a Representative Republic.
But bcs people are naturally genetically always trying to get something for nothing, I really am surprised America has lasted this long.
Humans are just like those animals in the wild that end up free loaders on your doorstep forever when you feed them.
Not all animals will do this, but it’s amazingly strange how so many of them can be trained to be dependent when you just give them a little handout on occasion.
Soon they become dependent insistent dangerous monsters that demand the handout to the point of violence.

Badger40 on May 8, 2013 at 8:27 AM

Great beauty aside, what gets me about this woman’s immense intellect is her impeccable logic.

Example: If the government distributes 60 million condoms to starving children and 100 million MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) to oversexed adults, how many days will it take for the polar icecap to melt?

MaiDee on May 8, 2013 at 9:14 AM

No doubt, SJL is pound for pound the dumbest politician sent to DC. And that’s a lot of pounds. Soooo much stupid.

Sugar Land on May 7, 2013 at 4:37 PM

As a fellow area resident I say you are far FAR too kind!!!!!

SJL is an oxygen thief!!!!!!!!!!!!

Katfish on May 8, 2013 at 10:57 AM

TERM LIMITS FOR ALL! We must force all elected officials to implement a two term limit amendment. The voters are going to keep electing idiots like this, because the low income areas will never change. Not to mention the voter fraud, and the longer they stay in office, the more corrupt they become. Every taxpaying citizen needs to call and write their Congressmen and tell them they will be fired if they do not pass a term limit amendment.

F_This on May 8, 2013 at 2:10 PM

Sheila Jackson is about as useless as a flea on a fly on a pile of dung.

F_This on May 8, 2013 at 2:12 PM

Your rights are never somebody else’s financial obligation. If I don’t reach into my wallet to pay for your education and health insurance I’m not violating your “rights.”

CrustyB on May 8, 2013 at 4:42 PM

It’s kinda cute when socialists pretend they care about the Constitution.

John the Libertarian on May 7, 2013 at 4:31 PM

Right. And when they start spout nonsense about their “very-personal” faith. That’s code for “no follow-ups, please, I got nuttin’”.

More interesting is why apparently sane people would gather in a room to listen to Sheila Jackson-Lee talk about anything. There are better-looking and smarter hippos than her.

virgo on May 9, 2013 at 12:47 AM

Gee Sheila, do you also believe that the Constitution guarantees the right to life for the unborn-who left to their ultimate destiny can become nothing other than human beings?

redware on May 9, 2013 at 10:28 AM

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