Beto O’Rourke, wannabe tyrant

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Beto O’Rourke’s campaign strategy seems to be this: endorse policies most Democratic candidates won’t touch, refuse to back down, hope the voters will agree — wash, rinse, repeat.

Time and time again, O’Rourke has proven he’s willing to go where no other Democrat wants to (or should want to) go. Last month he endorsed mandatory confiscation of all assault-style rifles. Now, he’s calling for the removal of tax exempt status from any church or other organization that refuses to recognize gay marriage.

Both are clear violations of the Constitution, but O’Rourke doesn’t care. He’s dedicated to his aggressive culture-war platform, which is nothing more than veiled attempt to derail the Bill of Rights. Perhaps he thinks voters won’t bother to read the fine print, but he’s doing a pretty good job of making sure they do.

When asked during a CNN town hall last night if he’d support revoking the tax-exempt status of religious institutions that don’t support gay marriage, O’Rourke responded without hesitation: “Yes. There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break, for anyone or any institution, any organization in America that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us.” (Interestingly, in his quest to resurrect his near-zero polling by antagonzing Christians and gun owners, he seems unaware that this would revoke the tax-exempt status of all organizations supporting gun control. But anyway).

“And so, as president, we’re going to make that a priority, and we are going to stop those who are infringing upon the human rights of our fellow Americans.”

What about the human rights of religious persons? Do Christians, Muslims, Mormons, Jews, etc. now have to pay double taxes just to practice the teachings of their respective faiths? Are we going to embrace viewpoint discrimination against particular religions we don’t like? Is this Beto’s Muslim ban?

O’Rourke’s suggestion is plainly unconstitutional. The government has no right to tell a religious organization what it can and cannot believe, just as it cannot tell a church or mosque or temple which rituals it can and cannot perform. This is the very first thing mentioned in our Bill of Rights.

It’s a good thing O’Rourke will never get near the White House. His campaign is imploding, likely because he’s scorned just about every civil institution in the U.S. that isn’t bureaucratic. But will other Democrats agree to this? Will they step forward and condemn it?

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