The same inconsistency is there when it comes to the relative power between federal and local governments. Right wing activists say that local governments should have power above the federal government’s power, when local governments want to deny people rights. When local governments seek to protect constitutional rights, however, the same right wing activists show no respect for local decisions.

It is in this spirit that yesterday, the following 39 Republican members of Congress signed their name to a legal brief urging a court to block D.C.’s legalization of same-sex marriage.

In June, Republican Representative Thaddeus McCotter was noticeably upset at the possibility that an accused criminal would be given the right to a trial:
“The Manhattan federal trial of Ahmed Ghailani again proves the Obama administration’s ideological refusal to face the reality that terrorism is a global martial threat; not a domestic criminal matter. The [...]

Tax deductions in the United States exist for two significant purposes: to reward socially positive behavior (such as weatherizing a house) and to account the burdens associated with socially positive behavior (such as student loan interest). I struggle to place pet care expenses in either category.
There’s no doubt that pet owners find [...]

Texas Representative (and repeated presidential candidate) Ron Paul asserts his principled approach to politics on a regular basis. When Congressman Paul declines to vote for a congressional medal of honor for Rosa Parks, he says it has nothing to do with disrespecting the civil rights movement. No, no, says Ron Paul, he opposes [...]

The Larochelles were seeking to separate the flag from the Constitution, and to make it a symbol of religious belief – and officially recognized by Congress as such. Congressman Mike Turner was more than happy to help them do this – and to try to use the boy scout as a tool to push religion as a wedge issue – when he introduced H.R. 3779.

If an oil company isn’t even using the leases of public lands they already have, why should they take on yet more leases… unless what those oil companies really want to do is just squat on their leases of public lands with oil under them only in order to prevent the oil from being drilled, thus decreasing supply and artificially driving up the cost of petroleum products so that they can make a bigger profit without doing any more work.

To vote for this bill was to insult the Constitution of the United States of America, and in doing so, to insult the USA itself. A vote in favor of this bill is a betrayal of the Oath of Office every member of Congress has taken. It is unpatriotic, and a grave breach of trust.

The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008, as its name implies, would begin a transition from reliance on out-of-date fossil fuels for transportation toward more efficient transportation by train. It’s exactly what we need to deal with America’s current economic and environmental problems. For some bizarre reason, almost all of the Republicans in the House of Representatives oppose it.

This legislation does exactly what Republicans say they want to do. It makes public schools more efficient. In fact, the bill makes such plain sense that 27 Republican members of the House of Representatives crossed the aisle yesterday to vote in favor of it. Thanks to them, the bill passed, and will become law if passed by the Senate.

When Congressman Broun’s amendment to forbids some Americans from getting married, it undermines the 14th amendment to the Constitution. Congressman Broun’s constitutional amendment says that equality in America is only for some people. Within Congressman Broun’s new vision for America, equality will be traded in for inequality. Paul Broun’s constitutional amendment is anti-equality, and it’s anti-marriage.