Recent Submission to “The Hill” Congress Blog
On the floor of the House of Representatives Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011, I was able to witness, firsthand, perhaps one of the more significant historical events in American history. For the first time in our nation’s history the Constitution of the United States of America was read in its entirety on the floor of the House.
The gentleman from Virginia, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), stood on the shoulders of the Virginians that established this Republic and orchestrated the reading of the “sacred” document. I was filled with pride to be a citizen of the Commonwealth of Virginia. One thing that made this so special to me was that Rep. Goodlatte and I had a brief discussion about the reading of the Constitution on the floor of the house. In October, when we chatted briefly, at the Virginia Tea Party Convention, I thought it was a great idea. I am pleased that Congressman Goodlatte took the lead on behalf of “We The People,” and followed through with the historic reading.
My personal good fortune seemed to be without limits that day. I was able to get a pass to be seated in the gallery for the beginning of the historic reading, and actually was seated directly above the aisle, on the front row behind the clock, and able to see everything. As all entrants to the gallery I had to leave my cell phone, camera, and recording devices at the desk before entering the gallery. The real reason for that became apparent within minutes.
From my perch above the assembled body of representatives I was able to make several observations. The first thing I observed was the large absence of the Democrat minority. The second was that the GOP members in attendance all seemed to have their pocket Constitution opened, in their laps, and reading along. Thirdly was that none of the relatively few attending Democrats were in possession of a pocket constitution. Some were reading the newspapers and others were texting. But, this being mentioned, the most interesting and noteworthy aspect of this exercise was the performance of the gentleman from Washington, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.), who stood to make parliamentary inquiries and discredit the reading. Then Rep. Inslee was followed by Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), who attempted to illustrate racism, sexism, and whatever other hyphenated “isms” that he and other like-minded totalitarian statists of his ilk share with their common delusions about our Constitution.
After the reading of the Constitution, Jesse Jackson, Jr. said, “The 112th Congress’ Republican majority is building its agenda around the 10th Amendment. It is determined to limit the scope of Congress’ activity to legislation ‘reserved’ to the United States. Then, all other rights are in the purview of the states. Under this historic logic, slavery was a state right protected by the Constitution and the 10th Amendment. But slavery by definition is not a human right, and therefore states rights cannot be human rights. That is why for the last five Congresses, I’ve introduced a series of Constitutional amendments that would improve the document for all Americans by guaranteeing essential rights.
“Currently, the right to vote is a state right – subject to local interpretations of who should vote and how. That results in thousands of different systems, all with different rules and different regulations. It means education is a state right, which means a child’s likelihood of success is based on where he or she is born and the quality of schools that happen to be there. It means health care is a right, and God help you if your state, county or city cannot provide access to high quality care.”
Yes, Rep. Jackson. These things were left completely in the hands of the various states. They were deliberately not given to the federal government. The federal government is “limited” by this “sacred” document.
Now I understand why there are no cameras or recording devices allowed into the chamber making in necessary to be present to see the enmity of the left toward the very documents that guarantee our freedom.
Mark Kevin Lloyd is the chairman of the Virginia Tea Party Patriot Federation.
This weekends horrific attacks on Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-Arizona) truly shook the American political landscape. The senseless act by a deranged individual cost the lives of innocent Americans and a truly effective member of congress. Questions from the media are now being directed at the hostile political landscape that unfolded this past mid-term election cycle. Some news outlets are even going so far to suggest that the Tea Party and Sarah Palin have something to do with fractured political arena our nation currently finds itself in. Although I believe that the shootings in Tucson, Arizona, are cowardly and completely regrettable, I do not believe that the notorious Palin flier with targets over certain congressional districts can be blamed for the harmful shooting that took place this past weekend.
Hate, fear, and violence have been embedded into the political fabric of our nation. Avid learners of American History can parse through volumes of campaign literature that provoked fear, hate, and violence. I believe that it was the election of 1824, or what most people describe as the “corrupt bargain” that saw some of the worst acts of attacks from both the eventual winner, John Q. Adams, and the Democrat, Andrew Jackson. As the story goes, the attacks the Adams camp directed towards Rachel Jackson apparently caused her to die broken hearted (heart attack). This strategy of raising fear amongst the American electorate is the same type of material being used in today’s political environment.
A quick run down of more historical examples can point to the election of 1860, where Democrats accused the Republican nominee of being pro-black rights and someone who would grant the enslaved laborers their full political freedoms if elected. It was that type of fear raised by the eventual Confederates that eventually engulfed our nation in the bloodiest war our nation has ever participated in. Less than a hundred years later, It was the Democrats that suggested that Republican candidate Warren G. Harding was 1/8 black. Harding went on to romp Cox in one of the biggest landslides in presidential election history. However, the same point holds true. Fear, hate, and violence were all applied to some of the worst degrees. Let’s also not forget the countless number of blacks who were killed in the South when they attempted to vote. Politics has truly not changed in this nation, and it should be to no ones’ surprise that psychotic individuals are getting hold of weapons and wreaking havoc on our American system.
The dawning of television and the incorporation of it into presidential elections reveals even more horrific examples of campaigns incorporating fear, violence, and hate when it comes to modern day campaigning. The attached 1964 ad created by Lyndon Johnson’s successful presidential campaign broke all barriers when it came to employing the strategy of fear in political campaign. Gone were the days of the “We like Ike” cartoon ads and the dawning of another horrible stage of American politics was upon our nation. Now Americans had to consider, “If we elect crazy Barry Goldwater, he might cause a nuclear outbreak on our nation.” Republicans are not innocent when it comes to these tactics as well. Look no further than the notorious 1988 “Willie Horton” ad that the first President Bush used against the feeble Dukakis campaign. My point here is, politics of hate and fear have always been apart of the American political landscape, and unless something changes the American people can expect to see even more heinous ads in the upcoming 2012 Presidential Election.
My prayers go out to the innocent victims of last Saturday’s shooting. Again, it was a senseless act perpetrated by an individual full of hate and scorn directed at the federal government. This assassin should receive the maximum penalty and sentence the State of Arizona employs in its legal system. As appalling as his actions were in Tucson, the mainstream media is wrong to allege that Sarah Palin and the Tea Party had anything to do with instigating this atrocious act. If she and the Tea Party are to blame then historians need to begin re-writing American history and placing some of our most revered American historical figures into the murderer column.