Posted on 06/29/2012 7:31:50 AM PDT by madprof98
I’ve read all the arguments, some ingenious, for why the Roberts majority opinion is actually “good” in the long run. I don’t buy that at all, and worry that rationalizing defeats is no way to learn from them. From now on, the precedent has been established that U.S. citizens can be forced to buy a product that government deems necessary — period. Who cares what a particular president on occasion deems to call it — tax, mandate, whatever — at any given expedient time, or what a justice does to finesse that definition to protect implementation of the law?
The same is true with the Arizona decision. I don’t see how that decision is such great news either: We now live in a country where a state that tries to follow and enforce federal law is seen as a usurping power, while those government entities, such as the sanctuary cities, which deliberately seek to undermine federal immigration law are, for all practical purposes, exempt. Add that Arizona is now supposedly acting unconstitutionally in trying to close its borders, and the president is apparently acting constitutionally as he sidesteps Congress and implements de facto amnesty by fiat, doing far more damage to the notion of federal law than any conceivable action by Arizona. That is surreal.
As for the culture of the Court, we must accept that when four liberal judges vote in typically liberal fashion they are open-minded, and when conservative judges do the same they are partisan and small-minded, putting enormous pressure, apparently, on the latter to now and then vote in liberal fashion, and none at all on the former to do anything but remain orthodox. There is no conservative majority, but rather a 4/3/2 court, with absolutely predictably liberal justices and those inclined often to join them becoming a reliable majority.
As for the Holder contempt charge, nothing much will come of it. Holder will not release the required documents any time soon; the matter will be manufactured into an illiberal assault on an African-American attorney general who has already shamelessly used the race card in his defense; and there will be, as planned, stalling and stasis until after the election and little knowledge about or justice given to a slain American officer.
Meanwhile, after a “disastrous” May and June, Obama is edging up again in the polls. For all the reports of his fundraising problems or his existential election crises, he seems to have many millions in key swing states to run class-warfare hits against Romney. The serial “Swiss bank accounts” and “shipping jobs overseas” don’t seem to be countered, and so are having some effect. If Obama is where he is after a disastrous 60 days, where will he be after a so-so next two months? Conservatives should not listen to themselves and their ingenious rationalization about how things are “really” swinging their way, and instead accept that the presidency, the courts, and much of Congress are doing all they can, as quickly as they can, with enormous powers at their disposal, to change the fundamental nature of the United States — and so far are mostly winning. All of the above should mobilize conservatives in 2012 as never before and open their eyes to the resources and zealotry pledged against them: November is really a sort of last-ditch effort in a way prior elections were not.
Health insurance isn’t just a product. It’s a contract. What happened to the contracts clause?
You don’t have to enter into a contract, you just pay a tax if you don’t. I think the 14th amendment and the equal protection clause is a better argument.
VDH is absolutely correct - and has a great historical perspective. There was nothing good about yesterday’s ruling.
I was thinking the same thing yesterday as I read all the comments about the silver linings. VA AG’s piece in National Review today is the worst of all.
Roberts’ credibility as a Constitutional Scholar is now on par with that of 0bama.
VDH nails it again. On point and brilliant.
VDH delivered yet again. There is no silver lining.
Not only is this an AWFUL (as in ‘How in the world can Roberts did that’ AWFULNESS) decision on the largest government intrusion into private citizens’ life and rights. The precedence it set will reverberate for a long, long, very long time.
Not only our elected representatives do not listen to us, the people, who should be their boss and not the other way around.
Now we’ve seen the slippery road of ‘meaning and definition’ being twisted to an unrecognizable degree by Roberts’ reasoning. Think on it, law gets passed by our betters, then gets new definition by the court.
What Roberts did is unforgivable, that The Constitution is no longer the last defense against a tyrannical goverment.
Ouch!
VDH just stated (much more elegantly) exactly what I have been saying — point-by-point.
"we're subjects of an Imperial bureaucracy."
As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Daniel 3:5
Some things never change, no matter how much we hope they would.
First good piece I’ve read today. THanks for telling it straight, Victor.
My take on the whole thing is in some short platitudes:
Things have to get worse before they get better.
You have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.
The phoenix will rise from the ashes, but first you need ashes.
Fact is, we are very much going the way of ancient Rome. People have made that comparison for most of my life (I’m 58), but they were perceived as clutching at straws. But no more. The parallels are obvious and hard to ignore. But I am familiar with Bible prophesy. It clearly states that before the return of Christ it will be worse in the world than any time in history.
Everybody needs to man up and realize that there have been few times in history where there was not great suffering. We’ve had a mindbogglingly long run, but the chickens are coming home to roost.
Do you want to see your future, in a fashion? Watch The Pianist. Seriously. The reasons and victims may be different, but it is the world we are living. It is the world many humans are living right now and have been living the whole time we’ve been enjoying our relatively utopian existence.
Frankly, the populations of modern western countries remind me of the “above surface” humans in the distant future in the first version of the movie, “The Time Machine”. Children in so many bad ways.
This is just the next step in a clear march we have been on for a hundred years, albeit one of the larger steps. Mankind is simply doing what he always does: self destruct.
This may really help the R’s this november, but that is really irrelevant too since they have all but removed the mask, exposing them as just the other side of the same coin.
Heads, I win, tails, you lose.
Freedom is dead. I really don't feel like celebrating the 4th next week. To me, it's become a hollow joke.
I honestly wonder if Roberts didn’t just get tired of the country trying to balance itself on the edge of the precipice and finally decided to give it a good boot in the butt just to get things moving to the next phase.
What he did, though, was tell us, “you don’t like it? Then vote for representatives who will destroy it or shut the hell up. I’m not doing your dirty work any more.” In a democracy, not only do we get the government we deserve, but we NEED TO. We need to see that actions have consequences, not that some supreme court judge is going to fly in with his cape flowing in the wind and protect us from ourselves.
There might be an ignition point where the temperature reaches a critical stage required for a conflagration.Then again, it could all fizzle out.
The more outrageous and over the top the administration and their minions behave, the better chance that ignition point is reached.
It’s far worse than Hanson thinks it is.
Here is my take (keep in mind I have only read the first few pages of the decision, more goodies are probably located within)
The libs have been using the commerce clause since roosevelt to push their agenda through... the courts have backed them up.
They have also used the Necessary and General clause to push through their agenda... the courts have backed them up.
They have also slowly eroded states rights... the courts have backed them up.
All 3 of these items were the “sledgehammer” that the commies and socialists used to force their agenda through.
No more. Roberts took that sledgehammer away and gave them back a one ounce tack hammer.
The states were not allowed to opt out of fubocare without incurring a large financial penalty. Roberts tood that penalty away, allowing the individual states the opportunity to opt out. Victory for states rights.
The commerce clause cannot be used to create commerce in order to regulate it. Victory for conservatives and reaffirms the power of the court to rule out legislation that uses this clause ( most if not all the libs premier social programs were passed this way, no more ).
The Necessary and general clause can no longer be interpreted to include any damn social program the libs see fit to pass. Victory once again for conservatives and constitution loving people everywhere.
As for the tax thing, the congress has ALWAYS had this power. They got nothing extra or added because of this ruling.
All this means is that anything they pass from this point forward has to be called a tax. The genie is out of the bottle, and clarity in government will be the result.
Roberts hoodwinked the shit out of the libs, and has restored more constitutional limits on government than any other justice before him.
My guess ( and this is only a guess ) is that the libs wanted this thing so badly that they were willing to do ANYTHING to have it upheld. Roberts saw the opportunity and took it. The disgust of the old bag ginsberg regarding his majority opinion is enough to satisfy me that this was the case.
I firmly believe that you get the government you elect. With a lousy 50% turnout getting called heavy, it turns my stomach. Roberts took the opportunity to slap down the voting public, rightfully telling US that it is our responsibility to elect people that represent our views. He is 100% correct on this count.
In order to change the way this government functions will take at least 80 to 90% turnout at the polls.
Roberts struck a major blow for constitutionalism yesterday. Now, it is our turn.
I believe we will reach “critical mass”. The question for me is not if, but when.
And I strongly believe Obama will not finish his term. It will probably be due to personal meltdown.
I’m looking forward to his “biggest tax increase in US history” becoming a hot election issue. He was already doing very poorly. I figure he’ll lose it.
It’s a continuation of established & accepted tax law:
You pay $X unless you can demonstrate a qualifying deduction.
Go thru your 1040 form and notice there’s a bunch of such cases: sometimes X is a fixed amount, sometimes it varies, usually it’s veiled by some indirection but upshot is you pay that amount unless you can demonstrate a qualifying deduction.
Now one of the qualifying deductions is gov’t-approved health insurance, and X = $3000.
For 47% of “taxpayers”, the small fraction thereof who don’t have that qualifying deduction will have other deductions which will reduce that amount to $0.
It’s like current taxation:
You pay $1000 unless you have a dependent child with a Social Security Number.
You pay $500 unless you purchased a home-energy-reduction product (insulation, solar panels, etc.).
You pay $1000 (or whatever) unless you purchased an electric car.
There’s a whole bunch of products for which you, in effect, pay a tax if you don’t buy (flip side of getting a deduction if you do).
Just a new take on standard law.
I don’t like where I’m taking this.
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