So, I waded into a Facebook debate about Florida's new law that would mandate a drug test for all welfare applicants. The conservative argument was essentially: "It's OK to test people who work for their money but not for those who don't?" They also noticed that some "liberals" had said such a law could be unconstitutional, and questioned how that could be.
I figured I'd go in on the second question first and then see what I could do about the first.
You asked, so here it is: Remember the part of the Constitution (14th Amendment) that guarantees that all people be treated equally before the law? And the 4th Amendment that says we can't be searched without a warrant and probable cause? So, this law means that being on welfare means you lose the right to be treated equally (since people not on welfare don't have to take a drug test--even if they are seeking government funds--from which, by the way, we all benefit: Did you drive on a public road recently? Not get invaded by a foreign army recently? Hire someone or get a job from someone educated in a public school?), and the right to not be searched without a warrant and probable cause. You asked a good question: how is the law unconstitutional. I think I've given you a good answer. The people doing the bitching are people who care about the Constitution and our liberty as Americans.
More after the jump.
After some more talk about how angry people are that someone on welfare might be on drugs, I replied that our feelings don't trump the Constitution. Having then gotten a respectful reply from the initiator of the discussion, I decided to then try and really change some minds.
I didn't mean to suggest that "feelings don't matter" broadly, just that they don't matter in terms of whether a law is Constitutional. But, since we brought up feelings...forgetting about constitutionality for a moment, let's think about a case where an adult on welfare did fail a drug test, his/her kids are also on welfare with the parent, no? Should the parent failing a drug test make his/her kids not have enough to eat that month? Or lose their apartment b/c they can't pay the rent? How would that make us feel? We can all feel anger about money not being well spent. I'd rather focus my anger on those who have really stolen from us, like the big banks and cheating/lying mortgage companies, but who want to distract us from that by having their politicians (like Rick Scott in FLA) jump up and down screaming about a relative handful people who smoked a joint getting a couple of hundred bucks a month on welfare, while big boys steal billions.
The key is to acknowledge the legitimacy of their emotion, and then turn it toward something they may not have considered-like the children-and then flip it by pivoting toward anger against the real criminals-the banksters. I also was happy to throw in a bit of discussion about all the unseen (by some) ways we all benefit from government. I hope you found this helpful in dealing with conservative friends (whether on Facebook or in real life).