How to Argue the Constitution with a Conservative

My latest book is now available in paperback and hardback, with he kindle version coming soon. If you like reading this blog, you should enjoy the book!

Here’s the copy from the back cover:

Immigrants have no rights!

America is founded on Christianity!

Unlimited guns are my birthright!

These are just a handful of arguments being shouted by vocal conservatives even though the Constitution of the United States–the very laws of our nation–says something quite different.

If liberals are going to counter these erroneous, angry, ill-informed positions with facts, they need to learn for themselves what the Constitution says.

To remedy this knowledge gap, criminal defense attorney and unabashed liberal Michael A. Ventrella teaches the basics with a large amount of humor and snark, all illustrated with more than 40 cartoons by 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial artist Darrin Bell, creator of the syndicated comic strip Candorville.

Here are the opening paragraphs:

Studies show that a majority of Americans know very little about the Constitution, the very document that is the foundation of our government and laws. That doesn’t stop them from having an opinion, of course. We’re Americans; we think we know everything.

This is especially true of many conservatives these days, who proudly hold positions contrary to all facts. (Climate change is a hoax! Evolution is a lie! Trickle-down economics works! Being gay is a choice! Obama was born in Kenya!) You’ll never win a debate with these people because they’re operating on a completely different plane of thought as the rest of us.

However, there really are some reasonable conservatives out there who will respond to actual logic and facts. They may not be in charge of the current Republican party, and they may be few and far between these days, but when you do encounter one, this book may help you.

For that matter, this book may also help you debate well-meaning liberals who don’t understand things like Freedom of Speech. There seems to be an impressive number of them, especially on college campuses.

And it’s really not that complicated to get the basics of the Constitution right.

This book is meant to help. It’s definitely not a textbook; I’m not going to go into great detail about the hundreds of years of case law, and hopefully I’m going to keep it interesting (something my Constitutional Law professors often had trouble accomplishing). It’s short — almost as short as the Constitution itself—because it’s meant to be introductory. Even if you just read this short book, though, you’ll know more about the Constitution than 99% of your fellow Americans, including certain Presidents I could name.

 

Thumbs up

Clay Bennett

If you don’t vote for the Democrat, your vote is for Trump

Look.

For the next election, you’re either voting for the Democrat or you’re voting for Trump. There is no “third choice.” Any other candidate you waste your vote on helps Trump.

Yes, you want to make a point. Yes, if we got rid of the Electoral College and had ranked voting, your third party choice might have a chance. But for now, we have to play with the rules we are given, and if you waste your vote on a third party candidate, you may as well have given your vote to Trump.

If you want to stop Trump, the best possible way to do it is to vote for the only other candidate who can beat him, and that’s the Democrat. If you are voting 3rd party from either side (even as a Republican protesting Trump), you’re not doing that.

These third party votes can lose you an election.

Look at it this way:

When you vote third party instead of Democrat, yes, that’s a vote Trump doesn’t get. But it’s not a vote the Democrat gets.

Here in Pennsylvania in 2016, Trump won by 44,292‬ votes.  49,941 people here voted for Jill Stein.  I’m not saying all of those Stein votes would have gone to Trump, but none of them stopped him.

If a thousand people upset with Trump vote 3rd party as a protest and then the Democrat loses the state by 999 votes to Trump, then what’s the point? Where’s the protest there?  What good did that “protest vote” do?

If you’re not doing everything you can to stop Trump, you’re helping him. If you’re not voting for the only possible choice who can beat Trump, then you might as well vote for Trump, because that’s where you’ll end up anyway.

Mueller Report Simplified

Garry Trudeau

Come see the violence inherent in the system

Trump, who thinks he is a little dictator, today tweeted that all companies are “hereby ordered” to blah blah blah, as if he was giving a Royal Decree  and his will could not be challenged.

“Order, eh?  Who does he think he is.”

“Why, I’m your king!”

“Well, I didn’t vote for you…”

Terrorism Detective!

Ruben Bolling

GOP election strategy: Cheat to win

If we come out and vote, like we did twice for Obama and in 2018 in the “Blue Wave” midterm, then we win. There are more of us than there are of them, and we represent what the majority of Americans want.

They know that. And so they know that the only way they can win is by cheating. And that’s why the Republican party has worked so hard (especially over the past twenty years) to do the following:

  • Purge voting rolls of registered voters for no real reason
  • Make it harder to register
  • Gerrymander districts to allow them to win even when they get less votes overall
  • Fight against mail-in ballots
  • Remove the Voting Rights Act
  • Refuse to pass legislation to prevent Russian hacking of voting machines
  • Refuse to pass legislation requiring paper ballots
  • Removing voting precincts in minority-held districts
  • Pass ID laws that make it more difficult if not impossible for some people to vote
  • Fight against early voting laws
  • Restricting those with criminal records from voting
  • Creating an atmosphere of fear at the precincts (especially for Latinos who worry about being detained for voting, even if they are citizens)
  • Refusing to consider getting rid of the Electoral College

You’d think the most basic right in a democracy would be the right to vote, and you’d think anyone who really supports democracy would want everyone to vote. But the history of America has constantly been one of the people in power doing everything they can to prevent that from happening, starting with the establishment of the Electoral College. Women and non-whites had to fight and die for this very basic right, and the battle continues today.

If it were really just about the law

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Darrin Bell

The problem with those who refuse to assimilate

The main problem in America today are those who refuse to assimilate into society — who insist on keeping their own culture and not becoming part of what makes America great.

These people just don’t understand that America has a specific culture, and when you’re here, you should accept that.

These white straight Christians refuse to acknowledge that we represent the best the world has to offer. That our diversity is our strength, and we were built by immigrants, including some who did not come here voluntarily.  They go on national television and complain that America isn’t great any more, which is their way of saying “white male straight Christians don’t get to do whatever we want any more.” They don’t understand the greatness that is America — that we welcome everyone and everyone can become an American.  And then their words encourage crazy people to go out on killing rampages.

Until these people learn to assimilate into American society, we’ll never achieve the American dream.

 

Don’t call him “Moscow Mitch.” He hates that

moscow mitch

Steve Sack