Arrogance? No -- Hypocrisy

A rally of conservative Christians, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay as an honored speaker, blasted judges for being arrogant and activists. One idea lofted at the convention: a Constitutional amendment that would prevent the judiciary from overturning laws created by Congress without a unanimous vote.

There are some great quotes, too:

• "The [Supreme] court [sic] is trying to 'take the hearts and souls of our culture.'"


• "The framers of our great nation did not intend for the courts to have absolute and final power over us."


• "Activist justices -- we're trying to find out what we can do to stop that activity. Our laws are based on the Ten Commandments."

A rudimentary knowledge of civics reassures us that, in fact, the framers of our nation provided for a wonderful system of checks and balances, including the power for the judiciary to strike down laws that are unconstitutional. So, in that sense, they certainly do have absolute power -- when it comes to striking down illegal laws.

It's rallies like that -- along with the hate that is common with many of these radical right-wingers -- that besmirch the name of Christians everywhere, myself included. I think that the counter-demonstrations that were set up to coincide with the rally have a legitimate point: these people (and their organizations) want a theocracy, not a democracy.

The scary thing, of course, is that we can elect leaders who can write ourselves into one (Constitutional amendments, etc.) if we so choose. I certainly enjoy the current separation of Church and State, and sincerely hope that it remains so indefinitely here in the US.