Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Paul Broun is Ridiculous

Representative Paul Broun engages in the sort of activity which has nothing to do with solving problems and everything to do with riling up supporters. While listening to the State of the Union, he tweeted the following: “Mr. President, you don't believe in the Constitution. You believe in socialism." He later explained this by saying: “Mr. Obama believes in central government where the federal government controls everything in our lives.”

There are many problems with these assertions.

First, tweeting during the State of the Union is disrespectful. It certainly does not seem like the sort of behavior that the Founders, with whom Rep. Brown seems very concerned, would have approved of.

Second, he asserted that the President doesn’t believe in the Constitution. It is a shame that a Representative in Congress thinks, or says out loud, that someone who has a different interpretation of the Constitution then he does doesn’t believe in it. There is very little evidence that the President doesn’t believe in the Constitution.

Third, this view of the Constitution, that it is a limited document not subject to interpretation in light of the times, is far from a universally accepted one. Thomas Jefferson, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Louis D. Brandeis, and Woodrow Wilson are among the people who have expressed a less restricted view of the Constitution.

Fourth, Socialism is not “where the federal government controls everything in our lives.” It is almost guaranteed that someone who calls someone else a socialism, doesn’t know what it is or doesn’t care.

Fifth, President Obama is not a socialist and does not want the federal government to control “everything in our lives.”

This behavior is reprehensible. It is not the behavior of serious adults who are trying to solve problems. It is either ignorance or manipulation and lying, and neither is acceptable. If this is the best that Paul Broun can do, the people of Georgia can do better.

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