Monday, August 24, 2015

Ron Paul versus the Constitution, Again

In his latest commentary, Ron Paul claims that "Congress has within its power the authority to clarify the 14th Amendment’s definition of citizenship by making it clear that it does not grant citizenship by birthright."

The 14th Amendment's definition of citizenship clearly, unambiguously and irrefutably grants citizenship by birthright. What Paul is actually saying is that the Constitution is a "living document" which can be "clarified" to mean anything his social conservative friends want it to mean.

Paul's tack on this is sort of like his old "Marriage Protection Act" dodge, in which he proposed to amend the Constitution's full faith and credit clause and its 14th Amendment equal protection clause, with simple majority congressional action instead of the required 2/3 of each house of Congress and ratification by 3/4 of the state legislatures, all for the purpose of protecting state-level marriage apartheid.

And yet many of his supporters call him, with straight faces, a "constitutionalist."

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