On Thursday, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) let slip what most Democrats have been thinking for decades: Constitutional rights are problematic. Manchin told Morning Joe, “The problem we have, and really the firewall we have right now is due process. It’s all due process. So we can all say we want the same thing, but how do we get there?”
That dang due process. That silly Second Amendment. This Constitution thing keeps getting in the way of Democratic priorities.
I’m old enough to remember when Democrats protested the PATRIOT Act by claiming that it violated citizens’ rights. Now they want to hone in on citizens’ due process rights – the most fundamental right in the Constitution, given that it is the predicate for the removal of other rights – and do away with them. Dylan Matthews of Vox.com is clearest in his desire: “I’m totally down with letting the prez unilaterally ban people (hopefully everyone!) from buying guns.”
This follows hard on the heels of Democrats claiming that Americans shouldn’t have the First Amendment right to speak freely about climate change, and that Americans shouldn’t have the First Amendment right to label people by their birth sex. It also follows on the heels of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama openly stating that there is no First Amendment right to exercise your religion in your business, and both of them using their government positions to rip exercise of First Amendment rights they deem Islamophobic.
So Democrats don’t like the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, or the Fifth Amendment. Good news: they still like the Third Amendment, which prevents quartering of troops.
For now.