A Republican – Tea Party Rally attendant wears her “I love Sarah Palin” button beside the one that says “I love the Constitution.”

Republican / Tea Party candidate Sharon Angle says, “We’re at war in this country, for our freedom, our culture, for our liberty, our Constitution.”

In addition to his “libertarian principles of limited government and self-reliance” Kentucky Republican / Tea Party candidate Rand Paul emphasizes his respect for the Constitution” as the basis for his “constitutional conservatism”.

Yet many Republican voices seem to have something of a love-hate relationship going with the US Constitution. For example, some were advocating the repeal of the Fourteenth Amendment, but then thought better of it, now emphasizing that what they really meant was the reinterpreting of the Fourteenth amendment. Then once reinterpreted, some would even call for the stripping of citizenship from any USAmerican citizen who has undocumented parents.

So after assaulting the Fourteenth Amendment, these lovers of the Constitution have now moved to the First Amendment. A very interesting quote appeared recently from Baltimore County Republican state Sen. Andy Harris, who felt the need to state his “position” on the New York City mosque’s project as well as the President’s advocacy for the First Amendment. Citing the loss of a very close friend on Sept 11, state Senator Harris added:

He is thinking like a lawyer and not like an American, making declarations without America’s best interest in mind.

The area around Ground Zero is a special place where Americans should feel comfortable to visit, mourn, and remember what happened on 9/11 … That will be impossible if this project is allowed to continue. One of America’s founding principles is freedom of religion, but that does not mean you should practice your religion without a sense of respect for others.

So the project’s alleged disrespect for others somehow should trump the Constitution. Has it occurred to anyone that the reason for the Bill of Rights is that at times some individuals, for whatever reason or emotion, might seek to deny others their rights under the law?

So where is this oft repeated refrain that we are a nation of laws. So President Obama is just thinking like a lawyer, Mr. Harris would tell us. Yes, Mr. Harris, and a professor of constitutional law to boot.

Or is love for the Constitution just a Republican political token, a button with no real meaning?