Here’s how the events of the past few months have challenged my own understanding of the term “Constitutional conservative.”

Full disclosure: I used to call myself a Constitutional conservative. I stopped when it became associated with Trump, who, for the record, isn’t one. 1/ https://twitter.com/MelissaAmour72/status/1285600593063677952

First, the coronavirus. My interpretation of what it meant to be a CC was the belief in government at the smallest level possible. Not “no government,” but “small government.” In other words, when possible, local is preferable to state. State is preferable to federal. 2/

And the best government of all is self-government. But that doesn’t mean a free-for-all. Far from it. It means discipline and responsibility. I’ve seen far too many CCs who claim to be against gov’t intervention making it necessary in the first place. 3/

We wouldn’t need mask mandates if people were self-governing. The CCs by and large railed against the pandemic lockdowns, but then refused to self-govern (masks, distancing, etc.) in order to prevent a case surge and, you guessed it, more gov’t intervention. It makes no sense. 4/

Second, the protests. Again, this comes back to small government. The entire time President Obama was in office, CCs (myself among them) railed against power being further centralized in DC and, especially, the executive branch. 5/

The fringe types worried about encroaching federal control. “Come and take it,” they said. So where are they? How come they sit silent as POTUS orders unidentified federal officials to crack down on even peaceful protesters practicing their 1st Amendment rights? 6/

It’s all very disheartening. And it makes me wonder how many are simply “fair-weather” Constitutionalists, who only care about rights and liberties as they apply to them and their own narrow views. Sadly, I think the number is far higher than I ever would have expected. 7/7