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The Case for John Roberts
The Weekly Standard ^ | 6:00 AM, Jun 29, 2012 | JAY COST

Posted on 06/29/2012 9:04:57 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

Many conservatives are feeling betrayed by the chief justice's vote to uphold Obamacare. But there's a counterintuitive case to be made that John Roberts's decision is largely a victory for conservatives.

Every time I visit Washington, D.C., I am struck by a single, terrible thought: It is not just that conservatives are losing the various battles over big government, but they have been losing the war for generations. The most conservatives are ever able to do is tinker at the margins – and celebrating small victories like lowering marginal tax rates is a sign of just how low our sights are set.

Why has this happened? After all, this was a country founded in direct opposition to unlimited governmental power. How have we arrived at a point when the feds can do just about anything they want?

It is because, at critical moments in the nation’s history, the advocates of limited government were on the losing side of the political equation, and the opposition was very effective at consolidating its victory. Not only did big government advocates implement policy changes, they also brought about huge structural innovations to the way the government functions.

The progressives of the early 1900s managed this with the 16th Amendment, legalizing the income tax and opening up whole avenues of power that had been previously off limits. The political genius of that move must be admired: The left got its hands on the government for a relatively short period of time, but it sure made hay while the sun was out. We’re still paying the price today -- quite literally. Similarly, the New Deal took advantage of a national emergency to ram through ......

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; benedictroberts; deathpanels; jaycost; obamacare; scotus; zerocare
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

21 posted on 06/29/2012 9:17:53 PM PDT by dfwgator (FUJR (not you, Jim))
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To: doc1019
I could be wrong, but for now I will just wait this one out before condemning him.

Please listen to Mark Levin's show from yesterday and today. He is a Constitutional scholar.

Levin calls the decision horrible and very damaging to our Republic. He said there is no silver-lining.

Roberts is a very, very evil man. His unconstitutional decision will cause untold misery to millions upon millions of Americans.

Roberts willingly and knowingly took a position that will greatly increase the Power of the State over the Individual.

You can wait all the H*ll you want. In time everyone will see just how destructive was this evil man's decision.

I wish Injustice Roberts and long and miserable life. He is a traitor to our Founding principles.

22 posted on 06/29/2012 9:19:09 PM PDT by sand88
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To: Flightdeck
Bullshit. Roberts, in an attempt to de-politicize his court in the public opinion, cemented himself as an activist judge with the most political decision of the century.

Besides, you can't worry about public opinion. The left doesn't. Besides, public opinion would have been WITH him had he done the right thing (his freakin' JOBBBBB!)

23 posted on 06/29/2012 9:19:50 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: doc1019
As I have posed several times here about Robert’s decision:

Yes, you have. Please give it a rest.

24 posted on 06/29/2012 9:21:05 PM PDT by Jess79
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To: Jack Hammer
The Founding Fathers did their level best to take that into account and design a “fool proof” republic.

Unfortunately, as is usually the case, we seem to have found better fools than they anticipated.

25 posted on 06/29/2012 9:21:14 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

F*** that, we were screwed over...can’t you feel it?
Please do not try to tell me this is good in any way shape or form...I am not stupid. I have come to the sad realization that our country is already gone. I can not see one iota of difference any more between the two parties...one just talks a good game. How many times do we get stabbed in the back before we wake up to the truth. The elites have taken over, and they play a game with us to make us believe they care about the country and constitution. It is a lie.


26 posted on 06/29/2012 9:21:21 PM PDT by astratt7 (obama,muslim,politics)
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To: HiTech RedNeck
They jumped down Alice in Wonderland’s rabbit hole here

yep. Lincoln: "If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a horse have?" Justice Roberts: "why, five I should say."

Lincoln: "No, you still have four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it one."

The Harvard einstein will never get the moral of this story.

27 posted on 06/29/2012 9:21:37 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: alstewartfan

I don’t think he said he’s known him for a long time. He said he was aware of him when they were both in the Reagan administration but that he didn’t really know him. It’s not like they’re friends or anything.


28 posted on 06/29/2012 9:21:58 PM PDT by jeltz25
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

This tripe could have been called:

The Case for Elena Kagan

The Case for Ruth Bader Ginsburg

The Case for The Wise Latina

Because Roberts voted with these people.


29 posted on 06/29/2012 9:22:15 PM PDT by dfwgator (FUJR (not you, Jim))
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To: doc1019

I can’t think of a good reason for not doing what he should have - thrown out this entire power grab on the grounds it is clearly unconstitutional. This is the role of the SCOTUS. Seems simple to me and no amount of tortured reasoning seems to make as much sense.


30 posted on 06/29/2012 9:22:15 PM PDT by Aria ( 2008 wasn't an election - it was a coup d'etat.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
It was a strange thing for Roberts to do, because he's always been known as a strong federalist. This goes against everything he's ever believed. Because of that, people think there must be something wonderful behind it. Otherwise, why would he do it? A federalist would never advocate the government making our bodies - right down to the cellular level - the property of the state.

All I know right now is this. He sold us out. He sold the country out. I hope he proves me wrong someday.

31 posted on 06/29/2012 9:24:31 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

You might say that Roberts laid a fork in the road. One route leads to destruction, the other leads to survival. He just might wink at us after November 6, if not, we deserve the Hell we have created..


32 posted on 06/29/2012 9:24:41 PM PDT by oyez ( .Apparently The U.S. CONSTITUTION has been reduced to the consistency of quicksand.)
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Comment #33 Removed by Moderator

To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Why are they circling the wagons around Roberts trying to make the same kind of subversive judgements made from the court in the past into something that it isn’t. We should just be proud it was a conservative doing it instead of a liberal??

Thomas Jefferson said Roberts is wrong in his dissent on the Bank of the United States. In it he said that the general powers must be construed so that they give meaning to the rest of the document, otherwise there would be no purpose for enumerated powers, and the 10th amendment would have no meaning. The government cannot just tax for the heck of it. It taxes to pay the debts which can only be incurred by exercising enumerated powers. It means that if ObamaCare is an invalid exercise under the commerce power there are no debts that can be legally incurred by it or a tax imposed for which to pay them.


34 posted on 06/29/2012 9:26:48 PM PDT by dajeeps
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To: Jess79

Why? If I believe in something I will post as I see fit. Besides, every other post is about Roberts ... shouldn’t they quit?


35 posted on 06/29/2012 9:26:48 PM PDT by doc1019 (Voting for the better of two evils is still voting for evil.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Another republican elitist providing cover for Roberts and telling conseratives to bite down hard on the yummy s*#t sandwich offered up.


36 posted on 06/29/2012 9:29:15 PM PDT by TADSLOS (The Liberty Experiment is over. All aspects of your life will now be MANDATED.)
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To: doc1019

** Well, just maybe Chief Justice John Roberts showed the way yesterday. It’s all about taking opportunities as they present themselves, not over-reaching, and playing the long game. Just as Marshall advanced the Federalist agenda by forcing Jefferson to endorse a decision that was inimical to his long-term interests, maybe Roberts just did the same thing to Barack Obama and the liberal Democrats.**

Bingo!


37 posted on 06/29/2012 9:29:47 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Anti-Hillary

Did you read the entire article?

It might prove the opposite.


38 posted on 06/29/2012 9:30:55 PM PDT by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: Anti-Hillary

39 posted on 06/29/2012 9:30:55 PM PDT by Baynative (REMEMBER: Without America there is no free world!)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
This is now the law, courtesy of J. Roberts...

Congress may also “lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” U. S. Const., Art. I, §8, cl. 1. Put simply, Congress may tax and spend.

This grant gives the Federal Government considerable influence even in areas where it cannot directly regulate. The Federal Government may enact a tax on an activity that it cannot authorize, forbid, or otherwise control.

Justice Roberts

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/11-393

40 posted on 06/29/2012 9:31:10 PM PDT by Ken H
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