Puget Sound Patriots

Happy Constitution Day from the Kitsap Patriots Tea Party, where conservatives in Kitsap County rally to advance constitutional principles affecting positive change in local government!

Is the Constitution still relevant in presidential politics?  With the presidential campaigns in full force jockeying for position, we thought it’d be fun to explore what the candidates have to say about the U.S. Constitution.  According to the candidates’ websites:

DEMOCRATS and SOCIALISTS

• Lincoln Chaffee: “I will always fight to protect personal liberties guaranteed in the Constitution.”
• Hillary Clinton: nada
• Gloria LaRiva: “Make a job a Constitutional right.” … “Make free health care, free education & affordable housing Constitutional rights.”
• Martin O’Malley: nada
• Bernie Sanders: “Workers have the constitutional right to form unions, to collectively bargain and to participate in the political process.” (Noteworthy: Sanders recently said the United States was founded on “racist principles”.)
• Jim Webb: nada

REPUBLICANS

• Jeb Bush: nada
• Ben Carson: nada
• Chris Christie: nada
• Ted Cruz: “Ted Cruz has spent a lifetime fighting to defend the Constitution — our nation’s founding document and the supreme law of the land — which was crafted by our founding fathers to act as chains to bind the mischief of government and to protect the liberties endowed to us by our Creator.” … “It’ll take a new generation of courageous conservatives to reignite the promise of America, restore our Constitution, and bring back morning in America.” … “The Constitution designs a system of checks and balances for our nation, and executive amnesty for immigrants here illegally unilaterally decreed from the White House would seriously undermine the rule of law.”
• Carly Fiorina: nada
• Jim Gilmore: “As the Constitution says, our Second Amendment rights shall not be infringed.”
• Lindsey Graham: “Strong families, constitutional liberties, and the sanctity of life form the bedrock on which our nation was founded.” … “America was built upon the fundamental notions that life and liberty are sacred and inalienable rights. Our limited, constitutional government was designed to protect these rights.”
• Mike Huckabee: “Our Constitution guarantees a right to life – not a right to kill babies.” … “The Supreme Court is one of three co-equal branches of government under our Constitution. It is no more the “Supreme Branch” than it is the “Supreme Being” with the authority to redefine the laws of nature or of nature’s God!” … “As a governor for ten and a half years, I followed the Constitution of my state and of the United States.” … “But the reason why our laws are respected by the American people is because our Constitution guarantees reasonable safeguards to protect the rights of dissenters.  I refuse to sit silently as our Constitution is torched and the courts violate our fundamental rights.  We did not fight a revolution against the tyranny of one unelected monarch so we could surrender our freedoms and abandon our Constitution to the tyranny of five unaccountable, unelected lawyers.” … “The creation of the IRS reversed the Constitutional role of government as the servant of the people, and put the people at the mercy of unelected bureaucrats.”
• Bobby Jindal: “[Gov. Jindal] passed a constitutional amendment [in La.] in 2012 that specified that the right to keep and bear arms is fundamental and shall not be infringed and any restrictions on this right shall be subject to a “strict scrutiny” standard by courts in determining any violation of the right.”
• John Kasich: nada
• George Pataki: nada
• Rand Paul: “Rand Paul is fighting to take back our country and restore the Constitution.” … “The founding fathers would be ashamed if they could see the massive growth of government that has taken place at the expense of our constitutional liberties.” … “I strongly believe in the sanctity of life. I believe that life begins at conception and that abortion takes the life of an innocent human being. Under the 14th Amendment, it is the government’s duty to protect life as defined in our Constitution.” … “Dr. Paul has proven to be an outspoken champion for constitutional liberties and fiscal responsibility. As a fierce advocate against government overreach, Rand has fought tirelessly to return government to its limited, constitutional scope.”
• Marco Rubio: nada
• Rick Santorum: nada
• Donald Trump: nada
• Scott Walker: nada

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter