Why do conservatives not love the Constitution as much as liberals?

[kentuck]

And it is difficult to believe that they do. One might think that at least half of them would be up in arms about this spying and abuse of the laws and the Constitution. But, so far, the only big name that I have read about that disagrees with the new FISA bill is Arlen Specter of PA. And his main opposition is to the lack of accountability.

Traditionally, Republicans and conservatives have been vocal guardians of our Constitution. What happened to them? If you ask them about it, they say they are willing to give up a few freedoms if it helps to keep them safe. And it is this lack of unity from the conservatives that permit the politicians to ignore our Constitution and our basic rights as Americans. If only a small percentage of conservatives would join the liberals in this cause, it would make it much more difficult to Congress to pass such laws as the FISA bill. But, unfortunately, conservatives do not seem to be very concerned about protecting our Constitution or they do not believe it is happening. They have much more faith in their Congressmen and Senators than do liberals. And their blind faith is hurting us all.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. They like authoritarian power, and the consitution gets in the way of that

[EFerrari]

4. That's the broadest correct answer, imho. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Yeah. Can't get much broader than that. :^)

[ihavenobias]

2. Because progressives are more patriotic

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3380610

[EFerrari]

3. Because the wingers have demonized literacy, let alone education.

You can't love what you don't know.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Because they're not conservatives,

any more than I would describe myself as a liberal. Those terms no longer have any meaning.

Read up on what true conservatism is about, and you'll find that the Constitution is of paramount importance to true conservatives.

[gateley]

6. Money. nt

[newmajority]

8. Because they don't have a high enough IQ to actually read it?

All they understand is "freedom of religion" (as defined by Pat Robertson) and "freedom of owning as many goddamn guns that I want to" (as defined by the NRA).

[Stargleamer]

9. They like parts of it. . .

They're HUGE second Amendment fans. They also appreciate how hard it is to change the Constitution, a difficulty that helps prevent the status quo from every being satisfactorily challenged. The fact that presidents are decided by electoral vote counts rather than by popular vote appeals to them as it gives their constituencies more power at the ballot box. Also the fact that the Supreme Court gives Constitutional rights to corporations also appeals to them.

They prefer inequality. Freedom typically means freedom to exploit for them.

[leftofthedial]

10. it is an impediment to their personal aggrandizement

[ladjf]

11. My theory is that the conservatives have a concept of their ability

to achieve dominion over everything and everyone and they feel that the Constitution is a threat to their being about to achieve that desired dominion. They don't worry about the Bible getting in their way since they simply interprete the Bible to suit their needs.

[LeftishBrit]

12. It seems to be mainly the Bill of Rights that they don't like..

and the Bill of Rights is a fundamentally liberal document: all about protecting people's rights from abuse by the powerful. It's not surprising that the Right don't value it. It's not something that would appeal to either the supporters of an 18th-century British Mad King George, or those of a 21st-century American Mad King George.

[freesqueeze]

13. excellent question

It seems their conservative inclination to go back in time takes them back beyond the founding fathers.



http://www.freesqueeze.com/nctt.htm