Remembering Joe Biden's Haunting Threat Against Bill of Rights
No amendment is 'absolute,' according to the former vice president
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The current economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic has seemingly strengthened former Vice President Joe Biden's view of constitutional amendments.
Biden told Wired during an interview earlier this year that no amendment is “absolute,” suggesting something as protected as the freedoms guaranteed under the Bill of Rights are not unchangeable.
Biden, at the time, was responding to concerns about his gun control platform, where he explained why he felt about the Second Amendment, but all of the similarly vital constitutional amendments as well.
“From the very beginning, you weren’t allowed to have certain weapons,” Biden said.
“You weren’t allowed to own a cannon during the Revolutionary War as an individual.”
“Anybody think you should be able to go out and have a machine gun these days?” Biden asked.
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“The answer is no, we have a rational policy. No amendment to the Constitution is absolute,” he added.
Though Biden's statement is technically true, it should not be a fact used to advance an agenda.
Americans' rights to speak and worship freely, defend themselves, and even to have a trial by a jury of our peers all hinge on constitutional amendments that can be repealed by a difficult (but feasible) process.
If you take Biden’s reasoning and logic, even the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, is fair game.
But it, of course, won't win him votes from the African-American community.
Constitutional amendments are there for a reason, and it is worrying that leftists like Biden running for office are keen to strip away the rights guaranteed under the Constitution in order to push an agenda.
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This is Biden's first attempt at highlighting that constitutional amendments are not set in stone.
Biden claimed in 2019 that “no amendment is in fact absolute” during a speech about gun control.
“These guys will tell you, the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots,” Biden said then, according to the Washington Examiner.
“Give me a break.”
But altering the framework of the Constitution is a daunting task.
Additional amendments must be passed to change other ones.
Article V of the Constitution outlines the process for passing such a serious measure.
Firstly, either a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress called by legislatures in two-thirds of the states would be required just for an amendment to be proposed.
Three-quarters of state legislatures must then ratify the amendment for it to go into effect.
Regardless, Biden’s remarks are still a haunting threat to hear from a presidential candidate.
Scoffing at such rights that saw people die to obtain, places Biden in a position that is dangerously close to putting nation's most important document at risk.
