Connect with us

So, Here’s A Great Example Proving (Some) Conservatives Are Living In A Different World

Published

on

The world has changed, and now many — if not most — Americans have become so partisan that we can no longer even hear or read the same words and walk away with the same understanding of their meaning.

For example, President Barack Obama’s comments this week on gun control:

“You hear some of these quotes: ‘I need a gun to protect myself from the government.’ ‘We can’t do background checks because the government is going to come take my guns away,’ Obama said. “Well, the government is us. These officials are elected by you. They are elected by you. I am elected by you. I am constrained, as they are constrained, by a system that our Founders put in place. It’s a government of and by and for the people.”

What does that mean to you?

To me, it says that President Obama has every intention of working within our democratic (small “d”) system, including trying to convince Congress of the need for gun reforms, to achieve the results he wants.

Not to conservatives.

To conservatives, apparently, President Obama’s words mean exactly the opposite.

Enter radical conservative Ann Althouse:

As a lawprof, I read that to mean that he is not constrained. He’s juggling a few ideas, but what he’s getting at is: The Founders put into place a system that would be populated by elected officials, who are to act for the sake of the people and as the people want. If what the people want our government to do is control guns, then it is within the power of government to do it.

That’s the constitutional argument he has in mind. It’s an idea of constitutional government as a political system, within which rights are only another manifestation of what the people want. And, in the ultimate scary twist on the idea of rights: Government is not to be regarded as in need of limits, because the government is us. Anything we — the government — want to do is never tyranny, but freedom.

And yes, this is a law professor. Regular readers may remember I’ve written about Ann Althouse before, especially her inhumane response to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s blood clot.

Althouse is a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, just as Dr. Ben Carson is a a neurosurgeon and the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. Smart, but totally existing in a different world.

What’s sad is Althuse has a huge following, of perhaps not-so-smart readers.

Take a look at some of their comments on Althouse’s post claiming Obama didn’t say what he said:

  • The Constitution expresses limits on the power of government. Obama is saying that the government can do anything it wants because we elected the 535 members of Congress and the President/Vice President (which make up a miniscule fraction of the government as a whole). In short, he’s saying there are no limits on government. That is the rhetoric of a dictator.
  • We can’t do background checks because the government is going to come take my guns away,’ Obama saidUh, nobody, anywhere, ever, said this.

    What a pathetic piece of shit this man is.

  • He opens his mouth and Uncle Saul (or is it Chairman Mao?) always comes out.Translation:

    I am constrained by this system of checks and balances those WHITE MEN put in place to frustrate me, personally, from achieving my goals of turning this into a People’s Paradise with Me as your All-Knowing, All-Wonderful Messiah For Life.

  • I do not see democrats doing ONE damn thing to prevent criminals and felons from obtaining guns. The democrats are obsessed with chipping away at the second amendment — one crisis at a time.
    Law abiding citizens hardest hit.
  • I’m not sure that Ann has captured the fact that the Dear Leader was making his typical sales pitch. His pitch was, “Look, you can trust me and my pinko pals, because we are constrained by the fact that you can toss us out if we abuse this power we want you to give us”.”…….oh, and I promise to call y’all in the morning after we bone you in your rosy plump rumps”.

    Hitler pretty much made the same pitch. It’s odd how goofy we are as a society when we so quickly forget how tyrants acquired, then abused AND kept their powers through elections. I’m sure that as long as Jimma is around to certify the results, none of us has a single thing about which to worry our little shaggy sheep heads.

  • thankfully, the constitution also limits this turkey to two terms.I wager that a trial balloon will be floated in regard to Obama seeking a third term. It will be suggested. You watch.
  • This is the Marxist argument that Obama is making… He has the ethics and soul of a dictator. The only thing keeping him in check are our traditions and the vestiges of our laws.

And on and on and on.

So, what do you think? Have we become so different we are no longer speaking the same language?

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.
Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

Trump Blasted Federal Prosecutors as ‘Weak’ for Not Targeting His Adversaries: Report

Published

10 minutes ago

on

January 13, 2026

By

President Donald Trump last week reportedly blasted a group of dozens of U.S. Attorneys for what he viewed as a lack of urgency in pursuing his political adversaries.

The federal prosecutors had traveled to the White House for a photo shoot, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, but after Attorney General Pam Bondi introduced them to the president, “Trump criticized them as ineffective, saying the group was making it difficult for Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to do their jobs.”

The exchange between Trump and the U.S. Attorneys “came a day before federal prosecutors sent grand jury subpoenas to the Federal Reserve on Friday, related to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony last summer about the central bank’s building-renovation project.”

READ MORE: Trump Declares Grocery Prices ‘Rapidly Down’ as Cost of Food Surges to 3-Year High

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, was in attendance at the White House event, the Journal reported. The subpoenas reportedly were sought by prosecutors in her office.

One of Trump’s complaints to the U.S. Attorneys was that they were not acting fast enough and had yet to bring a case against U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA), a top Trump adversary.

The DOJ reportedly has been examining whether Schiff engaged in mortgage fraud, which has become a common allegation against other Trump critics, including New York Attorney General Letitia James. That case was dismissed, and subsequent grand juries have refused to indict her.

“The president criticized some specific prosecutors by jurisdiction and said he felt betrayed,” the Journal added.

On Monday, Pirro appeared to be quickly backtracking in her office’s investigation of Powell. The Federal Reserve Chairman announced on Sunday that he was being investigated by the Trump Department of Justice, sending markets — and prominent Republicans — spinning.

The Daily Beast reported that Pirro’s investigation is “an inquiry that even Republican lawmakers have blasted as a revenge plot against one of the president’s adversaries that threatens the independence of America’s central bank.”

READ MORE: Warning Signs Flash for GOP as CNN Analyst Predicts House Flip

 

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

News

Trump Declares Grocery Prices ‘Rapidly Down’ as Cost of Food Surges to 3-Year High

Published

2 hours ago

on

January 13, 2026

By

The price of food in grocery stores and restaurants surged to a three-year high last month, even as President Donald Trump on Tuesday insisted he had “defeated” inflation during what he described as “the greatest first year in history” of any president.

“Grocery prices are starting to go rapidly down,” Trump told an audience in Detroit on Tuesday. CNN’s Daniel Dale noted Trump made the claim “on the same day new Consumer Price Index data shows December had the biggest one-month spike in grocery prices, 0.7%, in more than three years.”

Despite the president’s claims, Axios reported that the cost of food in grocery stores rose “roughly 2.4% in December compared to the prior year.”

READ MORE: Warning Signs Flash for GOP as CNN Analyst Predicts House Flip

“But that masks double-digit price increases for a slew of household staples over the past 12 months, including coffee (+20%), beef (+16%) and candy (+10%).”

Delivering his speech on affordability — which as recently as last month he declared a “hoax” — Trump said on Tuesday, “Under our administration, growth is exploding, productivity is soaring, investment is booming, incomes are rising, inflation is defeated, America is respected again, like never before.”

On tariffs, which experts say could increase prices for American families by nearly $5,000 annually and push nearly one million Americans into poverty, Trump pushed back.

“The evidence shows overwhelmingly that the tariffs are not paid by American consumers,” he said, a claim not supported by experts.

The White House on Monday said that Trump has been “laser-focused on making America affordable” since taking office. Just one month ago, President Trump called affordability a “hoax” perpetrated by Democrats.

READ MORE: ‘Organized Gangs of Wine Moms’ Are Impeding Federal Agents Says Fox Columnist

 

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

News

Warning Signs Flash for GOP as CNN Analyst Predicts House Flip

Published

4 hours ago

on

January 13, 2026

By

As Republicans continue their exodus from the House, a CNN analyst reveals that Democrats hold an advantage in party identification over the GOP, Democrats identifying as liberal just hit a 50-year high, and Democrats — he predicts — will take back the House in the November midterm elections.

CNN analyst Harry Enten reported that “the self identified liberalness of this country is at a 50-year high.” And he noted that “more folks are identifying as liberal than at any point since the Gerald Ford administration.”

In 1976, 30 percent of Democrats said they were liberal, Enten said.

“Look at where we are today: 59 percent — 3 in 5 Democrats — say they are liberal.”

READ MORE: Trump ‘Laser-Focused’ on Affordability Says White House After Calling It a ‘Hoax’

“This Democratic party is a liberal — it is a liberal party. Fifty-nine percent of Democrats now identify as liberal,” he continued. “That is also a 50-year high.”

Enten noted that “that is not the only good news for liberals.”

“The party ID margin, Democrats versus Republicans. Now get this, in the latest reading according to Gallup last quarter, it is an eight-point advantage for Democrats.”

“That looks nothing like what we saw going into the 2022 midterms when Republicans had a five-point advantage, and of course, took back the House. This is even better than what we saw Democrats had back in 2017, in quarter four, when they had a six-point advantage, and, of course, Democrats easily took back the House then.”

READ MORE: Pirro Backtracks as Powell Investigation Rapidly Goes Off the Rails

“Democrats are gonna take back the House,” he said.

Enten also pointed to the prediction markets, which now say there is a 77 percent chance of Democrats taking back the House in November.

READ MORE: ‘Organized Gangs of Wine Moms’ Are Impeding Federal Agents Says Fox Columnist

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.