Rewriting the Constitution’s Preamble

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Thoughtful observers of the political bare-knuckled brawl over raising the debt limit recognize that Republicans are not fighting to preserve the principles of balanced budgets and lower deficits. And they are not fighting to preserve the principles enshrined in the Constitution’s Preamble.

Their goal is much more insidious: their goal is to rewrite it by ripping out the founders’ commitment to “establishing justice, ensuring domestic tranquility, and promoting the general welfare”.

Their goal, in the words of Grover Norquist, their high priest of anti-taxation, is “to starve the beast.” The Tea Party Republicans will not be satisfied until the Preamble’s commitment is reduced to “provide for the common defense.”

They might buy into securing “the blessings of liberty” as long as “liberty” means their personal freedom from any government rule, regulation or taxation that benefits others. They also might agree to leave in “establishing justice” as long as justice means retribution for what they declare is wrongdoing. And they might even accept “insure domestic tranquility” as long as it is interpreted as controlling those who oppose them.

There, however, is not a chance that the word “welfare” will survive the Republican purge of ideas that are not their own.

Their plan is to lower taxes while letting deficits continue. The much heralded budget that passed the House slashes the general welfare of Americans by transforming Medicare into a block grant voucher program and decimating other domestic programs (it cuts the federal share of Medicaid, for instance, by nearly $800 billion).  When, under this budget, do we reach balance? Not for at least 30 years.

In arguing on the House floor for this budget Republican speakers continually invoked their patron saint Ronald Reagan. But none of them mentioned that President Reagan raised taxes 11 times in eight years. These people are experts when it comes to revising history and distorting facts, but they are abject failures at serving the best interests of the United States.