Inalienable Gasbags
by digby
Rush Limbaugh says Elena Kagan wants to flush the Declaration of Independence down the toilet:
KAGAN: Senator Coburn, I believe that the Constitution is an extraordinary document, and I'm not saying I do not believe that there are rights pre-existing the Constitution and the laws, but my job as a justice is to enforce the Constitution and the laws.
RUSH: And to hell with the Declaration of Independence. She is basically just throwing the whole concept of natural law down the toilet and flushing it. She is throwing the Declaration of Independence down the toilet.
I wonder how he explains the arch conservative Texas School Board's decision to downgrade Jefferson in their schoolbooks because they've traced "separation of church and state" to him.
Conservatives have a very hard time with the founding documents because they really don't believe in human rights --- they believe in property rights, which they confuse with freedom. Glenn Beck even changes the terms of the Declaration by making up a story out of whole cloth about how Jefferson originally wrote "life, liberty and property," but it was changed to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" by northerners in the Continental congress because of slavery. It didn't happen.
I just have to share this extended comment by Rush about inalienable rights. It's hilarious:
Rush: Now, I know the Declaration of Independence is not law, but the Declaration of Independence defines us as a people. One of the reasons why this is one of the greatest countries on earth is the Constitution and the founding documents -- all of them, including the Declaration. "We are all endowed by our Creator, certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. If the government, whatever branch, will not stand for those things, who will? Abraham Lincoln, who freed the slaves, held the Declaration above even the Constitution, its ideals at least.
So it makes sense that those who seek to re-enslave us, loosely defined, would feel the opposite way. They've convinced themselves that there is a "living, breathing Constitution," which means there's no Constitution at all. The Constitution is what they want it to be at any given moment. So inalienable rights -- an absolute guaranteed by God no less -- they find threatening. And we're about to put somebody who obviously holds this view on the United States Supreme Court. I wonder if Elena Kagan would agree that all human beings have an alien right to live in the United States and become US citizens. Obama clearly does. Obama vomited the cliche line: "These people are only seeking a better life." The implication was, "They're only seeking a better life! Who are we to tell 'em they can't have a better life?" So I guess the people coming here illegally, they got all kinds of rights and we're going to make sure that they are enshrined somewhere. In the process, the natural rights and conferred rights of American citizens are going to take a hit administered by this administration.
I guess Rush thinks our "Creator" didn't mean for all those aliens to have inalienable rights -- indeed, those "natural rights" are reserved for Americans. Like I said, very confused.
If you haven't read the Declaration recently, it's worth looking at today. It, along with Bill of Rights, is the best realization of the founders' idealistic vision.
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