In March 2004, U.S. Representative Tom Feeney (R-FL) announced his proposed “Reaffirmation of American Independence Resolution.”  Co-sponsored by dozens of U.S. representatives, the aim of this resolution was to keep our federal judges from considering any “foreign” laws, court decisions, or pronouncements of foreign governments unless they “are expressly approved by Congress.”

This resolution has now apparently spurred death threats directed toward Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and recently retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

Rep. Feeney’s website is concerned that our federal judges might rely upon the judicial wisdom of “India, Zimbabwe or the European Union.” According to Feeney’s site, this resolution “Is Congress’s way of saying NO!” 

It would seem that Rep. Feeney is convinced that foreigners have nothing of intellectual or legal value to offer to Americans.   If this resolution passes, the next logical step would be to place warning stickers on books by and about “foreigners” so that our children can avoid them.   This will require lots of stickers, of course, but it’s apparently worth it to keep America’s thoughts pure and wholesome.   If this purification campaign is successful, we can move on to book burning.  Let’s see how big a pile can we make of the books of John Locke, Plato, Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Ben Franklin and Thomas Paine (both of whom spent a little too much time in France), Gandhi, Ann Frank, Nelson Mandela and Shakespeare.   I don’t really know what to do about the Bible-I don’t remember reading whether God ever became an American citizenship.

I almost got through this entire post without saying xenophobia.