STAFF EDIT: First Amendment flub

Tea Party member and Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell continued to give opponents reason to criticize her in her most alarming political misstep to date. In a debate at Widener University Law School on Tuesday, O’Donnell proved her own ignorance when she questioned her Democratic opponent Chris Coons’ assertion that the First Amendment to the Constitution dictates a separation of church and state.

While discussing whether or not public schools should be allowed to teach creationism and intelligent design, O’Donnell (who argued that they should be able to) responded to Coons’ statement that the Constitution prohibits public schools from teaching religious doctrine by asking, “Where in the Constitution is the separation of church and state?”

When Coons responded by paraphrasing the First Amendment, saying, “government shall make no establishment of religion,” O’Donnell appeared highly skeptical. Although he was a few words off with his quotation, Coons had the meaning right, while O’Donnell’s confusion showed her remarkable lack of knowledge of one of the basic principles of American government.

Tuesday’s incident is the latest in a series of O’Donnell’s gaffes that have come to light. Shortly after her victory in the Delaware primary election, a video from 1996 surfaced in which a young O’Donnell preached that masturbation is sinful, while another video showed her saying that she “dabbled into witchcraft” as a teenager. But while those incidents reflected poorly on O’Donnell, this latest misstep should provide voters with legitimate cause for alarm.

The prospect that someone who is so blatantly ignorant of the basic doctrines that make up the foundation of American politics could potentially become a U.S. senator should be terrifying to voters. This is knowledge that O’Donnell should have, not just as a candidate for office, but as a citizen of the U.S.

Unfortunately, she is not alone. Accompanying O’Donnell this election season are other Tea Partiers who display similar signs of ignorance and close-mindedness. New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino has been in the spotlight for a series of bigoted comments insulting a wide variety of minority groups, while Senate candidate Sharron Angle of Nevada caused controversy for confusing Latinos with Asians. How can the Tea Party candidates expect anyone to take their policies seriously when the most vocal among them cannot even articulate factual, non-bigoted arguments?

The Republican Party is in the midst of a serious image crisis. With candidates like O’Donnell in the spotlight, the Republicans have given voters no reason to trust them. It is very likely that they will gain seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate as a result of the election, possibly even making large enough gains for a majority. If so, one can hope that in the future voters will put their faith in worthier candidates, preferably those with basic knowledge of American politics.