Wrong and Dangerous: Ten Right Wing Myths about Our Constitution

by Garrett Epps

The primary purpose of the United States Constitution is to limit Congress. There is no separation of church and state. The Second Amendment allows citizens to threaten the government. These are just a few of the myths about our constitution peddled by the Far Right—a toxic coalition of Fox News talking heads, radio hosts, angry “patriot” groups, and power-hungry Tea Party politicians. Well-funded, loud, and unscrupulous, they are trying to do to America’s founding document what they have done to global warming and evolution—wipe out the facts and substitute partisan myth. In the process, they seek to cripple the right of We the People to govern ourselves. In Wrong and Dangerous, legal scholar Garrett Epps provides the tools needed to fight back against the flood of constitutional nonsense. In terms every citizen can understand, he tackles ten of the most prevalent myths, providing a clear grasp of the Constitution and the government it established.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Law

232 pages, ebook

First published September 16, 2012

About the author

Garrett Epps (born in 1950 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American legal scholar, novelist, and journalist. He is Professor of Law at the University of Baltimore; previously he was the Orlando J. and Marian H. Hollis Professor of Law at the University of Oregon.

Epps attended St. Christopher's School and Harvard College, where he was the President of The Harvard Crimson. He later received an M.A. in Creative Writing from Hollins University, and a law degree from Duke University, where he was first in his class. After graduation from Harvard, he was a co-founder of The Richmond Mercury, a short-lived alternative weekly whose alumni include Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Frank Rich and Glenn Frankel. He also worked as an editor or reporter for The Richmond Afro-American, The Virginia Churchman, The Free-Lance Star, and The Washington Post. From 1983 until 1988, he was a columnist for Independent Weekly (then a bi-weekly). Immediately before coming to the University of Oregon, he spent a year clerking for the Honorable John D. Butzner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Epps has written two novels, including The Shad Treatment, which won the Lillian Smith Book Award, as well as the nonfiction books To An Unknown God: Religious Freedom on Trial, which was published in 2001 and was a finalist for the ABA's Silver Gavel Award, and Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Civil Rights in Post-Civil War America, which was published in 2006 and is the first comprehensive history of the framing of the Fourteenth Amendment. Democracy Reborn won the 2007 Oregon Book Award for non-fiction, and also was a finalist for the ABA Silver Gavel Award. He has also written numerous articles and editorials in newspapers including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic.

Reviews

[Michael Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wrong and Dangerous is a necessary book in the current political environment--one in which reverence for the Constitution is at an all-time high while Constitutional literacy near its all-time low. Epps faces the problem head-on: a whole lot of people--from politicians to preachers to right-wing radio hosts--have built very lucrative careers by making up a bunch of nonsense about the Constitution. A full survey of this Constitutional lunacy would take many volumes, but Epps takes on ten of the silliest claims from the radical fringe--such as the notion (popular with Tea Party types) that the Progressive movement destroyed states' rights by amending the Constitution to allow for the direct election of senators (Chapter 9), or the almost incomprehensible canard that, by mentioning foreign or international laws in a decision, Supreme Court justices have betrayed their country to marauding Turks (Chapter 10).

In reality, these opinions are held by a tiny minority of poorly informed, but supremely confident, individuals who have much to gain by distorting the Constitution. But their voices are growing louder by the minute, and a large number of us are letting them get away with it by failing to call them out when the misrepresent the Constitution. The major point that Epps makes is that we (moderate, reasonably well informed citizens) bear some culpability for this. The Constitution, and the democracy it created, belong to all of us. "If we stand by and let them wreck it," Epps concludes, "shame on us." He is quite correct.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books was written largely in response to a lot of the points brought up during the Republican primaries, so I already think it is a little out-dated. While I think the author tends to oversimplify the points of the right, his answers show that a lot of the left's responses are equally unconstitutional. He goes into the background well and really explains a lot of the foundations the laws that are common today, trying to show how people (on both sides) misinterpreting one phrase of the law are trying to change its entire historical context.

I wasn't really enthralled with this book and planned to give it two stars, but his chapter about citizens united was amazing. Apparently, corporations are 'fictive people' and thus have some of the same rights as a normal citizen - and making a amendment stripping corporations of their personhood would not affect the ruling of citizens united at all. I would say that chapter is worth reading even if you're not really into politics.

[Susan Paxton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ably written in a conversational style, Epps succinctly demolishes ten myths fondly held by the wingnuts and endlessly regurgitated by their enablers in the press. Excellent ammunition for those of us who don't believe our Constitution should enable the wealthy and demented, his scholarship and historical analysis make solid reading. Thorough coverage of the Second Amendment is especially timely. Epps' suggestions for further reading are helpful; as an extra bonus, both the Constitution and the too-rarely-read Articles of Confederation are included as appendices.

[Dan Call · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read, thought provoking. I've been on "revisit the U.S. Constitution" kick this summer ever since Khizr Khan challenged us to read it (when I last read it as a Boy Scout, I really didn't take the time to weigh it). Although there are a few sections where the author went a little overboard in his assertions about the right, I found myself almost always agreeing with his assessment and interpretation of our framing document and its abuse and misapplication.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

For liberals. Talking points for social media arguments over constitutional issues.

[Wesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Epps’ call to arms has not aged well with changing right-wing Constitutional thought, in addition to a lack of sensitivities after the 2016 election.
He picks 10 right wing Constitutional myths to debunk, but picks the 10 most extreme examples. Some myths are widely used and circulated. Others have the feel of straw man arguments that enables Epps to make less than convincing critiques of conservatives.

Does Epps disprove the 10 Myths? Sure.
Does Epps choose to address the argument and not the character of the person making the argument? No. Get ready for the name calling.

[Edward ott · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent look at what the constitution actually says.

[Elizabeth Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those who embrace without question Tea Party rhetoric, don't bother reading this book. It will just raise your blood pressure and maybe cause a stroke or something.

For the rest of us, the ones who see our country being driven back to the age of feudalism, this is a must-read if you're constantly frustrated by declarations from the Right that the Constitution doesn't mean what it says. It's not comprehensive; rather, it focuses on those portions of the document that most come under fire, like free speech, and the separation of church and state, and the much-detested-by-the-Right 14th Amendment. However, given those are the battles one most often faces, that's all to the good.

Combining his comprehensive understanding of both the Constitution itself and the history thereof, Mr. Epps provides us with both a rendering of the half-truths and outright lies that are being presented to justify the destruction of our basic rights as US citizens. He does so in an easy-to-read and entertaining manner that doesn't, however, distract from his real fear of the damage being done and his conviction we can put a stop to it.

However, as he notes in the last chapter, it won't happen unless we gather our courage and start speaking out to counter the propaganda.

"The audience we need to reach," he writes, "is not those on the other side whose minds are made up; it is those whose voices are not heard, who haven't made up their minds, who genuinely don't know whether the nonsense they are hearing is true or not."

As a writer and a retired journalist disgusted with the way my tools—words and ideas—are being corrupted to brainwash people into believing whatever serves to bolster the right-wing agenda, I opted a bit more than a year ago to do what I can to counter it. As a result, I've had to take crash courses in economics, government and other subjects once foreign to my to-be-read pile. If you're willing to join the good fight, a copy of this book will be an invaluable help.

[Daniel Weir · Rating 5 out of 5]

A straightforward explanation of how some on the Right have dangerously misinterpreted the US Constitution. One of the most common wrong ideas about the Constitution is that its "purpose" was to limit Congress. Drawing on statements of some of the Founders, as well as comparisons of the provisions in the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation, Epps makes a convincing argument that the Constitution was intended to strengthen the Congress, which under the Articles was far too weak. Epps includes in the Afterword: The Battle Ahead suggestions on how citizens can educate themselves and respond to these misrepresentations of the Constitution. Particularly helpful is the inclusion of the texts of both the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation in the appendices.

[Mark Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Acerbic, trenchant, precise, vociferous, determined, bold, sincere, perspicacious, analytical, empassioned--all come to mind in describing Epps sorely-needed defense of the U. S. Constitution against right-wing-ed ideologues and Tea Party hacks. "Throughout history," he writes on p. 141, "fools have probably done more damage than have knaves." We have bookshelves and documentaries about the Totalitarians and this is good, but we need more books like Epps' to defend against the fools and delusionists.

Epps has identified 10 misguided notions about the Constitution and knocks each pin down. Better still, in his final chapter, he provides attainable solutions on how to counter the folly of the fanatics.

[Fred Kohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was good information in this book, and overall I recommend it, but I did find the author's condescending attitude towards conservatives annoying. Many times he overstates his case. However each of the ten points that he makes could be made into a book in itself, and as a concise liberal response to common conservative claims the book does have value. I was particularly impressed that the text of the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation was included in the appendices.

[harrie kd · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent book that dissects the current trend on the right for saying "it's unconstitutional!" while clearly never having read the constitution. it's a left leaning book but is also fair and not shrieky or hysterical. its written so anyone can understand even the less simple issues and definitely worth reading - and acting on.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just had this book sent to my Nook after hearing Mr. Epps on WYPR. I suggest that anyone making claims about The United States Constitution read this book. His interview can be accessed through WYPR, Midday With Dan Rodericks.

[Betsy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm giving up on this one. I really wanted to like it, but I keep picking it up and putting it down because it isn't grabbing me. If I owned it, I'd probably get through it eventually, but I've now had it from the library for 2 additional renewals and I'm ready to move on to something else.

[Giuseppe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pretty thorough demolition of Right Wing myths about constitutional law. I like that voters are not excused, and are rightly, if subtlety, positioned as enablers to the factually challenged promoters of these mythologies.

[Mills College Library]

342.7302 E644 2012