The woke right just proved the Constitution is alive and well (part 2)
When last we checked in with the woke right Christian nationalists at American Reformer, contributing editor Mike Sabo was arguing that the U.S. Constitution is "a dead letter" and chastising the (null set of) people who are claiming it is "Holy Writ."
This, of course, is ridiculous on both counts. But what's even more ridiculous is that the woke right articulates this argument while simultaneously disproving it.
Exhibit A: Satan display-destroyer Michael Cassidy. He is the former congressional candidate from Mississippi who traveled to the Iowa State Capitol in December and tore down a Satanic Temple of Iowa statue of Baphomet.
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Cassidy was facing a felony hate-crime charge and up to five years in jail for his actions. But Christian nationalist Ben Zeisloft, editor of The Republic Sentinel, recently reported that Cassidy instead pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal mischief "in exchange for the dismissal of the hate-crime enhancements and the payment of a fine."
Zeisloft reported that Polk County Democratic Attorney Kimberly Graham, whom he stated "indirectly received some $300,000 in campaign contributions from an entity funded by George Soros," had filed the hate-crime enhancements against Cassidy. Cassidy's attorney, R. Davis Younts, celebrated the deal: "It is because of the people that came to his aid and an outstanding legal team that we were able to back the prosecutors into a corner and get this resolution."
What's more, Younts said, "Forcing the prosecutors to drop the hate crime is a huge victory for Cassidy and for religious freedom.”
On the one hand, that's a great outcome for Cassidy. On the other hand, what incredible irony.
Zeisloft has stated online: "I have seen a handful observe that we are not living under the letter of the Constitution as written ... I happen to agree." In saying so, Zeisloft seems to be echoing the claims of Sabo that the constitution is effectively "a dead letter."
Yet Zeisloft's story about Cassidy clearly shows the opposite is true. The left didn't prevail on the draconian charge of a hate crime, free American Christians rose up to help Cassidy get the charge dropped in his hour of need (by contributing to his legal fund), and the entire episode was, according to Cassidy's attorney, a "huge victory for Cassidy and for religious freedom."
The Constitution's First Amendment turns out to be alive and well, after all.
But Sabo and Zeisloft aren't the only ones on the woke right declaring the extinction of the Constitution. Controversial pastor Doug Wilson's Canon Plus streaming platform also has jumped into promoting its alleged demise.
A recently released video clip from the platform's "The Wade Show with Wade" was titled, oh-so-subtly: "Yes, the Constitution is Dead." It makes sense that such a claim would appear on a Wilson media platform. Wilson is pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, and Canon Press — founded by his church — was the publisher that released Stephen Wolfe's manifesto, Case for Christian Nationalism, in 2022.
Wilson reposted the "Yes, the Constitution is Dead" clip on X, commenting, "The Constitution is dead. Long live the Constitution." But Wade's monologue was far from a rational argument proving the Constitution is dead. Rather, he delivered a mangled cornucopia of unsound premises and conclusions that didn't follow from them, punctuated by a dizzying spasm of graphics, all delivered at the pace of a caffeine-fueled auctioneer. Hardly the payoff that the catchy title promised.
Not only that, but proclaiming "the constitution is dead" is a rather odd pronouncement for anyone in Wilson's world to be making. Just last year, three people who attended Christ Church's 2020 pandemic Psalm Sing — protesting the city of Moscow's COVID-19 restrictions — won a $30,000 settlement from the city after suing over the violation of their First Amendment rights.
One of the victors in that legal showdown was podcaster Gabriel Rench, who — curiously enough — also represents both Michael Cassidy and his attorney, R. Davis Younts, as his "media speaker" clients at Pengo Media.
That "dead" constitution certainly has a way of roaring back to life right when woke right Christian nationalists need it.
Yet another woke right figure also demonstrates the hypocrisy of this movement on claims of the constitution's death. Nate Fischer, a co-founder of American Reformer, proclaimed on X that the constitution and its principles are "long gone," but he later posted a news story about Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor hinting at more upcoming "right-wing bombshell" rulings from the bench. Fischer's response? "The administrative state is facing an inevitable demise."
But wait. The woke right consistently says that all is lost. There's no more hope for the Constitution. It's dead, and the left has won. So how can the Supreme Court threaten the administrative state — and even hasten its "inevitable demise" — if the Constitution, as Fischer claimed days earlier, is "long gone?"
It just goes to show that woke right are perfectly willing to claim that the Constitution is dead even as they demonstrate, in both their lives and by their own words, that it really isn't dead at all.
And there is plenty of other evidence to show that the Constitution, though often under siege or wounded, hasn't yet suffered any fatal blows.
The Supreme Court’s rulings on religious liberty in the last few years alone show that the Constitution continues to win the day on this fundamental freedom:
The Supreme Court in 2023 unanimously upheld the right of Christian postal worker Gerald Groff to refuse to work on the Sabbath, strengthening the rights of workers who seek religious accommodation from their employers.
That same year, the Supreme Court also backed football coach Joseph Kennedy's right to pray on the field after games, saying his school district violated his First Amendment rights by telling him he couldn't do so.
In 2022, the Supreme Court found that the state of Maine violated the Constitution by refusing to make tuition assistance available to students who attend religious schools.
In 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that Philadelphia violated the First Amendment when it refused to use Catholic Social Services for foster care unless the agency allowed homosexuals to become foster parents.
Furthermore, the daily activities of the woke right prove just how well the Constitution still works for all of us. Our churches are open and legal, we can proclaim the Gospel, we can petition our government, we still have trials by jury, and we are not subject to cruel or unusual punishment, among myriad constitutional protections.
That's why I answered Doug Wilson the way I did a few days ago when he contacted me on X and asked, "Janet, are we living under a dictatorial regime now?" I responded: "No, we're living in a humanly corrupted constitutional republic. But when you can preach freely, speak freely and own guns, you're not in a dictatorial regime."
Announcing the death of the Constitution may help to draw views on woke right streaming platforms and websites, but it's useless to keep shouting such an absurd falsehood at the top of their lungs when the music of their own freedoms keeps drowning it out.
Janet Mefferd is a longtime Christian radio broadcaster whose nationally syndicated talk shows aired on more than 450 stations nationwide. She is a former news and religion reporter and editor for newspapers including The Dallas Morning News and the Daily Herald in suburban Chicago, She now writes at Substack: www.substack.com/@janetmefferd
