Commentary:

 Stupidity among U.S. Senators is usually typified by watching Senator Harry Reid (D) of Nevada make some dumb statement. He has company in Senators Vitter of Louisiana and Bennett of Utah, both Republicans proving that stupidity exists in both Senatorial parties.

 The question is: Shall all persons in the United States be counted in the constitutionally required census every ten years or shall the illegally resident people not be counted?

 What does the Constitution say?

 The Constitution originally contained these words:

 “Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included in this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons.”

 After 600,000 people died due, in part to this language, the Constitution was changed by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which was ratified on July 9, 1868 to read:

 “14th Amendment, Section 2 – Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the WHOLE NUMBER OF PERSONS in each state, excluding Indians not taxed.”

 So, there it is… The wording is clear—“the Whole Number of PERSONS” means everyone “excluding Indians not taxed.” “Persons” means persons, Senators, living breathing people of all ages, races, genders, short people, tall people, skinny people, fat people, legal people and illegally present people for they are all “persons.”

 What part of those words do not senators Vitter and Bennett understand? Are they stupid, or what? Yes, as a matter of fact these two ridiculous Republicans are not only stupid and don’t know the Constitution but they don’t realize that a simple congressional action is not sufficient to change the Constitutional words and prescriptions. Only the amendment process can change those words, senators and your way isn’t that.

 These two dumb Senators are joined by some representatives in the House a fact that proves that Congress has many idiots in it.

 The entire controversy revolves around illegal aliens, most of whom are Mexicans. The arguments by Vitter, Bennett and their idiotic friends and supporters are that illegals inflate a population which results in more representatives in Congress, a fact that denies some states like Bennett’s Utah and Vitters’ Louisiana. In actuality, that may be true, but so what?

 Isn’t the language of section 2 of the 14th Amendment clear enough for these political illiterates? Apparently not…

 The chances of this proposed legislation being paid much attention to by intelligent people who can read are slim. Nonetheless, anti-Mexican groups like the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) and the writers at Vdare.com and others will beat the drums loudly in many places and will draw some support by those who do not believe the words in the Constitution are clear or are even valid. Many of these people maintain that the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments aren’t valid because they weren’t validated by legally elected state governments.

 What they mean is that the Southern states who rebelled against the United States and had a hand in the deaths of the 600,000 soldiers who died between their attack on the United States in 1861 and the inglorious defeat at the hands of the largest and most powerful army in the world, that of President Lincoln and the United States of America, did not have governments voted in by the very rebels themselves.

 One should remember that the United States imposed universal suffrage in those southern states and that “Negroes” were allowed to vote and to run for office. It was those people who ratified the amendments not the rebels themselves, the slave holders and the traitors they were to the United States.

 They even claimed in the Supreme Court that they had a right to secede from the union. That argument was shot down by the Court that ruled the Constitution did not permit states to secede only to join the Union. (Texas v. White, 1869).

 The Constitution is clear. There are no legitimate arguments against counting all “persons” in the upcoming Census.

 Senators Vitter and Bennett should retract their proposed legislation with their heads hanging low. Only then could they be considered to be intelligent representatives of their respective states. If they don’t we should drag their names through the political mud nationally in an effort to bring shame to their states. Maybe then they will realize that the Constitution is the Constitution and it is set in stone when the words of it are clear and concise.