To say Virginia’s attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli, is the only voice in the commonwealth’s political wilderness who speaks of limited government principles and proper constitutional authorities would be an overstatement. There are, after all, a few others, namely Del. Bob Marshall, a Republican who often bucks his own party to pursue priorities that lead his detractors to label him right-wing, and his less courageous or outspoken supporters to watch from the wings and wait for some constituent wave to point the way.
But Cuccinelli is at the forefront of the media right now – and for good reason. He’s suing the federal government over the federal government’s requirement that all individuals purchase health care insurance. He’s battling the Environmental Protection Agency over that agency’s insistence at regulating greenhouse gases – something Cuccinelli dares to publicly characterize as based on unsound science. And in the meantime, he’s opining away on issues like immigration and abortion clinics and religious displays, almost always to the consternation of those of leftist and progressive political bent. But for conservatives, traditionalists and others schooled in the untarnished history of the Constitution and Founding Father intent, Cuccinelli is a breath of fresh air.
His whole agenda, if it can be called an agenda, is to uphold the Constitution, he says. And not any old interpretation of the Constitution – not the kind that bends law to push through some partisan viewpoint, or the kind that traipses on honest, logical precedent in favor of special interest ruling. Rather, Cuccinelli speaks about states’ rights and individual authorities, the kind illuminated in the 9th and 10th Amendments. The very kind, he says, the federal government is encroaching at dangerous levels and speed.
“I believe we have reached a point with our federal government where they are so badly overreaching their federal powers,” Cuccinelli said, to a Chamber of Commerce crowd during Thursday morning remarks in Prince William County, Va.
The overreach, he added, actually began 10 years ago and continued under a Republican president who refused to “veto a single spending bill,” which led to more money and power in centralized hands. But the past couple years have seen an escalation in federal intrusions, he continued.
“The EPA is becoming a tool of economic transformation instead of environmental protectionism,” he said, of Virginia’s lawsuit against the federal agency. “Make no mistake about it. The lawsuit we’re conducting is really about liberty and not about health care,” he said, of Virginia’s suit against the federal government’s health reform package.
Take a deep breath. Refreshing, isn’t it? It’s nice to hear someone in leadership speak so plainly, so simply, and finally, with more regard for truth than for political backlash. Even Cuccinelli’s detractors, though they may disagree over legal interpretation, ought to give him points for principle and applaud his steadfastness of belief — in much the same spirit, perhaps, as pacifists support the soldier but not the war.
