If Republicans Abandon Tentherism, Then That Would Be Progress

Charles P. Pierce would like for the Republicans who are suddenly aware of the moral implications of flying the flag of slavery and treason to be held accountable for their antebellum views on the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution (i.e., the misconception that the slavery flag also represented -- nullification!):

Tentherism is the basis of almost all the retrograde ideas filtering around the conservative moonscape -- from creationism in the public schools, to armed freeloaders on federal lands, to the mindless resistance to health-care reform, to the awful Citizens United and Shelby County decisions at the Supreme Court. Let these suddenly enlightened citizens abandon what the flag represents as quickly as they abandoned the flag itself, and then we can have ourselves a Day of Jubilee.

To imagine that the fight for a modern, pluralistic, egalitarian society is over now that the American swastika may be coming down in some of the yahoo precincts of the South is naive.  In the wake of the Charleston massacre, the flag issue just became too indefensible even for the moral cowards of the Republican Party.  But we'll bet they'll be sticking to their position on nullifying Federal laws as long as there's a Democrat in the White House.

BONUS:  To get a sense of the States rights dystopia Republican tenthers would like to return to (via the Republican Supreme Court's Shelby County decision gutting voting rights, for example), blog pal P.E.C. sends us this reminder of what a "literacy test" designed to keep blacks from voting looked like in Louisiana in the 1960's.

Wingnuttery In Wisconsin

We saw this story about nine teabagger-connected state legislators in Wisconsin who signed a pledge to support a state law that would arrest Federal officials for implementing the Affordable Care Act, i.e. Obamacare. Although the ACA is the law of the land, some wing nuts think that they can pick and choose which Federal laws they can obey. This is the so-called "tenther" movement, which holds that the tenth Amendment to the Constitution gives states powers not reserved to the Federal Government. It's also the basis for the loony secession movement that's been revived (save your Confederate money boys!) since the reelection of President Obama.

Thankfully, this radical crowd is becoming a political minority, as it dawns on most Rethugs that it's past time to deal with reality and with the President. Sadly, the people that elected the nine clowns that signed on to that pledge are still living on another planet.