I did it to myself. I should have never started following Roy Blunt (R-Missouri), my congressman.

Initially, I got a chuckle out of his ramblings about having ice cream with his grandkids and such. I found it interesting that he was keeping such a low profile considering he’s about to make a run for the Senate. I know that not a lot of people keep up with ‘Ol Roy and I can’t say I blame them. He’s kind of like jello - gelatinous, bland, and a gag-reflex trigger.

Here’s the short story on Blunt: He was the guy who took over for Tom DeLay when he got booted out of the House. He served as Interim Majority Leader until John Boehner jerked the job right out from under his nose, leaving Blunt in the position of Majority Whip. Word on the street was that there was a lot of bad blood over that, but it didn’t keep Blunt and his party from solidifying for the November elections. You might remember seeing him and Boehner and the (new) Minority Whip, Eric Cantor in at least a dozen press conferences regarding the bailouts and the "rudeness" of Barney Frank.

So, I’m just killing time the other day and I get this tweet from Mr. Blunt: "Robin Carnahan says Constitution is a "flexible document." She thinks the Constitution is something liberals can make up as they go along."

 Robin Carnahan (D) will be running against Blunt for Kit Bond’s (R) Senate seat in 2010. She is Missouri’s Secretary of State and is the daughter of Mel Carnahan (D) who was killed in a plane crash in 2000 while campaigning for Senate and still won the election over John Ashcroft. His wife assumed his seat until a special election was held and won by Jim Talent (R) who has since been replaced by Claire McCaskill (D).

Now I’m no Constitutional scholar, but I’m pretty sure that I learned that the United States Constitution is a living, breathing document. Those might even be the exact words. I guess that silly old Bill of Rights really isn’t proof that, from the start, one concrete document wasn’t going to be enough. The Republicans absolutely love telling us what the Founding Fathers "intended" for us hundreds of years ago, and God knows, "they want their country back" just like it was in good ole 1782, but it seems they have forgotten a few details.

But, did they actually forget our history or do they simply not care or do they say things like that, like a dog licking his balls, because they can? To hear Roy Blunt or those dozens of enraged healthcare protestors, our Constitution was enacted to dictate one narrow point of view, but even my teenage daughter knows that was never the intention and that the writing of our Constitution was a negotiation, not a dictate.

I once spoke at the National Press Club with a group of radical Libertarians on civics education. I firmly believe that most of what is wrong with our government and our country today lies in the fact that so few actually know our history. My fellow faculty members from North Carolina happily put posters all over my classroom with a photograph of me that said, "I’m not a Republican, I just play one on television." It was a very serious appointment for me, though – a play to make civics education a requirement (yes, I know … I was into indoctrination way before Obama. Ha!)

I started my speech with this joke:

Me: Knock. Knock.

Crowd: Who’s there?

Me: Article V of the United States Constitution

Crowd: Article V of the United States Constitution who?

It was quiet for a few seconds and then lots and lots of laughs. It was a silly way to start – but the point was quite serious and will continue to become even more serious as we march into the unknown. I believe that the intention of the Founding Fathers is far less critical than their expectation that all American’s would take their citizenship seriously; that being an American didn’t begin and end with Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown on a sunny September day or with that 39^th signature in 1787. 

***** 

Article I The Legislative Branch

Article II The Executive Branch

Article III The Judicial Branch

Article IV The States

Article V Amendment

Article VI Debts, Supremacy, Oaths

Article VII Ratification

 *****

If our Constitution weren’t "flexible", there would be six Articles, not seven. There would have been fifty-five signers, not thirty-nine (one of which was simply a signature confirming that there were 38 signatures) and to state otherwise is to disrespect those who swore to stand together or hang together and whose "intent" Blunt proclaims to know. Roy Blunt and his ilk should be ashamed of themselves. They scream about, "We the people", but fail to qualify that they are really screaming at, "We the people who don’t know the difference."

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Republican Party isn’t he party of, "no". It’s the party of, "We hope you’re too damn stupid to know any better." Their entire platform is based on the first piece of evidence of the Constitution’s original flexibility, The Bill of Rights, and using it to scare American’s into submission. Ironic, huh? It’s no wonder the Republicans can get one hundred percent of their party to tow the line … they’ve increasingly made them too afraid not to – and if the United States Constitution allows THAT, then flexibility is the least of its problems.

Keep on tweeting, Roy Blunt … keep reminding the good folks of Missouri why NOT to vote for you next November.  Trust me, we're not as dumb as we look.