What kind of country?

So I am still trying to wrap my head around conservative/Republican ideas. I mean, unless they get sixty Senate seats, then getting the House will do them little good, except to render government inert. But suppose in 2012 the Republicans/Tea Party took the White House (Palin/O'Donnell?) and Congress. We see now that the Tea Party is evaluating candidates and proposed legislation based on their particular ideological standards. I have read that they are fanatical about following the constitution. Now, I respect the constitution a whole lot. The greatest system of government put into real practice (as opposed to the elegance but impracticality of Marxist-Leninism). A system with good checks and balances between the executive, the legislature and a court system that not only issues practical and workable justice, but is the final arbiter of the constitutionality of either the laws written or the action taken by the executive. And rights for individuals that are enshrined in the first set of amendments to the document.

But still, I know the founders struggled with the balance to set (Hamilton versus Jefferson). I can't help but wonder what they would think of how the world has changed. Millions of Americans. Slavery resolved after a bloody civil war, and yet blacks still seem to be struggling in our society for the (overwhelming) most part. And then there are the financial issues, the role of technology in the economy that have increased the speed and complexity of transactions (like for example, you are reading my blog). And the penultimate, at least for me. Guns and the Second Amendment. When the second amendment was written, handguns had one bullet, were enormous and used a flint scrapping on a piece of metal to ignite a little pile of powder to ignite a bigger pile of powder to move the bullet. Misfires were frequent, guns were inaccurate and it was hard to shoot more than one person at a time. Now of course it is fairly easily to carry a concealable weapon that could shoot literally dozens of people, or you can buy military-type rifles with bullets that can penetrate the sorts of body armor the police generally wear, and shoot a lot of them. Now, I think we need tighter controls on guns, and I think most if not all of the founders would agree. But not the Republicans.

But I think there's more. Apparently the Tea Party also connects religion to the constitution. So I guess not only would there be some new constitutional standard for new legislation, but apparently there would be other rules or laws or whatever, based on biblical standards for behavior. We would lose out (supposed) tolerance of other religions, and all have to follow others interpretations of Christianity. It wouldn't matter what my own interpretation might be, I would have to follow someone else's. Which is to say I have to wonder if the tea Party wants to create a theocracy. I expect the Tea Party wonders why someone like me, or everyone else, would not want to live in a better (more moral) country.

Not that any of this is likely. But it is frankly disturbing to me that people who might serve in the Senate who think this way.