Strict Constitutionalists...we know your game.

For years, the right wing of the Republican party has enveloped itself in the constitution...so far they have gone as to call the document "sacred". They even carry it with them everywhere they go, this is only for show, but when it comes to recite it or refer to it they get it wrong most of the time.

So, what is strict constitutionalism. Strict constitutionalism leaves no room for ideas. Everything must adhere to it--thus making amendments in the constitution moot. It is well known that Supreme Court justices who practice strict constitutionalist theory will typically legislate from the bench--citing the constitution to overturn Congress. However, justices who are not strict constitutionalists will typically defer to Congress unless it violates any of it's articles or amendments. However, the articles are the most important in regards to how the government is supposed to govern and how federal law supersedes state law. Plus it also provides guidelines on how states are to interact with each other.

So, don't be fooled when you run across a politician that criticizes Supreme Court rulings or rulings from the judicial as not being what the founding fathers intended. The reality is that the founding fathers left room for change and even anticipated amendments to the constitution to be added. The founding fathers had no inkling of what society would be like three or four hundred years later but they were progressives that knew change was coming and they designed a government that was willing to adapt. Those conservatives or strict constitutionalists want to turn back the clock and stick to original document so much that they are willing to erode the freedoms earned in the last 300 years. They want things to be like they were in simpler time, when only those with property voted and anyone of color was subjugated and oppressed...a time when a huge industry was...slavery.

Strict constitutionalists are not only throwbacks to that way of life...but they are people who disguise themselves as reasonable, when in reality they want to bring back a time when only the elite ruled and everyone else served them. They want to go totally against what the founding fathers wanted...they are only interested in destroying the progressive movement that has propelled us forward.