Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4 of the United States Constitution states, “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law…, shall not be questioned.”

In other words, the question of raising – or not raising – the debt ceiling is a constitutional one, and not a political one; thus the Republican Tea Party (GOTP) members of the House who are holding the nation’s credit hostage to force draconian budget cuts are actually violating the very document they claim to love and revere.

But of course to the GOTP the 14^th Amendment is also one of the most hated and vilified amendments to the Constitution because it also protects the rights of citizenship of anyone born in the United States, a thorn in the side of conservatives who want to send all “illegal” immigrants and their children – to include the ones born here – packing. Now we know two reasons why the far-right wants to repeal the 14 Amendment.

Regarding the debt however the conservatives need to either follow the Constitution, or not follow it, but they need to stop acting as though it’s a buffet from which you pick and choose what you want, and ignore the rest when it suits you. To coin a well-used conservative phrase, “Love it, or leave it”.