Joe the Plumber Says Your Dead Kids Don’t Trump His Constitutional Rights

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:05 pm

Remember the other day when Richard Martinez, father of 20-year-old Chris Martinez, who was killed by Eliott Rodgers during his shooting rampage in Santa Barbara, California, placed the blame for his son’s death on “craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA”?

Chris died because of craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA. They talk about gun rights. What about Chris’s right to live? When will this insanity stop? When will enough people say ‘stop this madness, we don’t have to live like this?’

Well, conservatism has answered. Their spokesman, none other than Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, founder, we are told, of JoeForAmerica.com. His verdict?

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In An Open Letter to the Parents of the Victims Murdered by Elliot Rodger, Wurzelbacher says,

Your dead kids don’t trump my constitutional rights.

You read that right. Here’s the full quote:

I am sorry you lost your child. I myself have a son and daughter and the one thing I never want to go through, is what you are going through now. But:

As harsh as this sounds – your dead kids don’t trump my Constitutional rights.

He of course lays the blame at Obama’s door:

We still have the Right to Bear Arms and I intend to continue to speak out for that right, and against those who would restrict it – even in the face of this horrible incident by this sad and insane individual. I almost said “Obama Voter” but I’m waiting for it to be official.

I noticed the mainstream media have stopped the practice of immediately reporting the psycho maniac is a conservative Tea Party Republican Christian. Guess they’re sick of having to hide being wrong every time when it comes out the whacko votes Democrat?

Never mind that it never comes out that the “whacko” votes Democrat but then the Constitution wasn’t inspired by the Bible either, or written by God, and Sarah Palin is not Esther reborn.

Wurzelbacher says he cares about Mr. Martinez’s family and that those who want increased gun controls – including Mr. Martinez himself – does not. He tells the grieving Mr. Martinez, “any feelings you have toward my rights being taken away from me, lose those.”

What about Mr. Martinez’s First Amendment rights, you ask?

Sorry folks, it turns out Joe the Plumber’s Second Amendment rights not only trump your right to life, but your First Amendment rights as well. You don’t even have a right to complain about your kids being killed by guns.

I can only imagine the sound of Wurzelbacher’s squealing if he was told to lose any feelings he might have about his Second Amendment rights. He’d be the first to claim his First Amendment rights were under attack.

We have just watched Joe the Plumber re-write the Declaration of Independence to say that,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, which are trumped only by the right of gun owners to take your life, restrain your liberty, and trample your happiness.

Wurzelbacher isn’t alone of course. Right Wing Watch is reporting that disgraced Navy chaplain and professional hypocrite Gordon Klingenschmitt is saying,

“There is a demonic spirit of murder and suicide and abuse” behind gun control efforts, Klingenschmitt said, citing the Book of Judges to proclaim that “the Bible talks against disarming the citizens [and] says all the citizens ought to be armed so they can defend themselves against left wing crazies who go in there to try and assault God’s people.”

No, the Bible doesn’t say that. The last thing Jewish kings wanted was a populace of people armed and capable of challenging their authority. Like other Bronze Age rulers, Jewish kings kept their own well-armed thugs to trample their subjects.

The right wing reaction to the violent killings they bear so much responsibility for is always a wonder to behold.

It’s just a shame their need for reality to be something other than it is trumps, in their minds, our right to live in our shared reality, and, indeed, to live at all.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.