I have to disagree with my learned colleagues on this notion that House Republicans “Huck Finned” the Constitution. Lawmakers take an oath to uphold the Constitution, in its current form. If you’re reading the text to remind them of their responsibilities and the limits on their power, the three-fifths clause and Prohibition are simply not relevant, since that’s not what they took an oath to uphold.
I’m listening to the Federalist Papers (downloaded free from iTunes), and I’d forgotten that Madison devoted the whole of Federalist 54 to the three-fifths issue, where he refers to “the barbarous policy of considering as property a part of their human brethren,” and also writes, “If the laws were to restore the rights which have been taken away, the negroes could no longer be refused an equal share of representation with the other inhabitants.”
Now that they’ve read the Constitution, how about a special order speech each evening reading one of the Federalist Papers? And what are the Dems so upset about anyway? Didn’t Pat Moynihan read Washington’s farewell address aloud in the Senate once a year? These jokers need more of this sort of thing, not less.