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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: doc1019
I think, in the end, Roberts will be exonerated.

I think you're waaaaaaay wrong.

He went all in with OUR political capital and he's got a 5 high as his poker hand.

Govt health care is now the law of the land and most of it is now "As the Secretary shall direct." That's why people keep saying that we don't know what's in this bill.

Do you have ANY idea what happened yesterday? The administration said this is not a tax. It's a penalty. They said that 18 times in their written arguments before the court. 4 dissenting justices said it's not a tax. The only one who said it is a tax is Roberts. The administration is forcing everyone to buy an insurance product. The Insurance Companies LOOOOOVE this law. They don't even have to advertise anymore, everyone now MUST have a medical insurance policy or the govt will sic the IRS on our asses.

It's clearly a violation of the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, but he ignored that and said it's a tax. He didn't rule on the law's constitutionality, he changed the meaning of the law.

That's whats known as judicial activism.

101 posted on 06/29/2012 11:07:16 PM PDT by HeartlandOfAmerica ("We have prepared for the unbeliever, whips and chains and blazing fires!" Koran Sura 76:4)
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To: FredZarguna

lmao!


102 posted on 06/29/2012 11:11:12 PM PDT by AAABEST (Et lux in tenebris lucet: et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt)
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To: AAABEST

First in a series. Hang on.


103 posted on 06/29/2012 11:20:28 PM PDT by FredZarguna (When you find yourself arguing against Scalia and Thomas, you AREN'T a conservative.)
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To: AAABEST
Justice Thomas at #100.

And another FR classic, which reveals the secret Kabbalistic calculations behind Legal Super Genius John Roberts' incredible liberal-destroying sleight of hand, and why The Weekly Standard, George Will, and all the other Ever-So-Clever Beltway pundits still love him:


104 posted on 06/29/2012 11:25:52 PM PDT by FredZarguna (When you find yourself arguing against Scalia and Thomas, you AREN'T a conservative.)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
This guy needs to put the crack pipe down!

He will still be claiming a great victory as he's marched into the political realignment camp, never to be seen again.

105 posted on 06/29/2012 11:27:38 PM PDT by precisionshootist
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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. Alas, clearly they failed.

Not fool proof, unless the people are Godly and decent. Our battle is a spiritual one. If we can come to terms with this, then we can fight the war on the ground that it is really being fought against us on, rather than fighting at political "windmills".

___________________________________________

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams

". . . Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed . . . so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger." Patrick Henry

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our constitution as a whale goes through a net." John Adams

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters." Benjamin Franklin

"To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea." James Madison

"No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders." Samuel Adams

"The order of nature [is] that individual happiness shall be inseparable from the practice of virtue." Thomas Jefferson

"... the manners of the people in general are of the utmost moment to the stability of any civil society. When the body of a people are altogether corrupt in their manners, the government is ripe for dissolution." John Witherspoon

"The only foundation for... a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments." Benjamin Rush

"Lastly, our ancestors established their system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they believed, cannot safely be on any other foundation than religious principle, nor any government be secure which is not supported by moral habits." Daniel Webster

"Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith." Horace Greely

"The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous." Frederick Douglas

"History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline. There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster." Douglas MacArthur

"I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her comodious harbors and her ample rivers, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless prairies; and it was not there; in her rich mines and her vast commerce, and it was not there. Not until I visited the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." An old adage attributed to Alexis de Tocqueville

"A state is nothing more than a reflection of its citizens; the more decent the citizens, the more decent the state." Ronald Reagan

106 posted on 06/29/2012 11:29:28 PM PDT by Bellflower (The LORD is Holy, separated from all sin, perfect, righteous, high and lifted up.)
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To: Texas Songwriter
Once romney is elected there should be a huge push to demand Roberts resignation.

I'm betting he resigns before October.

Any takers?

107 posted on 06/29/2012 11:31:37 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (Roberts Care is Romney Care on Steroids)
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To: P-Marlowe; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Bellflower

Holder Refuses to Provide Testimony on Kagan’s Involvement in Obamacare

http://www.care2.com/c2c/groups/disc.html?gpp=22121&pst=1594668

Klayman To Seek Indictment Of Justices Roberts and Kagan Before Citizens Grand Jury

http://news.yahoo.com/klayman-seek-indictment-justices-roberts-kagan-citizens-grand-174411247.html


108 posted on 06/29/2012 11:33:33 PM PDT by Whenifhow
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
Roberts' opinion on the Commerce Clause is obiter dicta. As such, it is not binding precedent.

I fail to see what Roberts has accomplished, other than uphold ObamaCare.

109 posted on 06/29/2012 11:38:01 PM PDT by Praxeologue
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Could this ruling be the “Bitch of a Payback” for Obama’s open contempt of the judiciary? His highhanded rhetoric and not so subtle threats?

Perhaps Roberts blatant activist breaking of the constitution was done in order to ensure Obama’s certain defeat in November. Is it possible that this move was made in order to further the destruction of this administrations Justice department and clearly display the lawlessness of this regime’s law enforcement arm?

Stranger things have happened. One can only hope and pray.


110 posted on 06/29/2012 11:42:57 PM PDT by DonnerT (After all is said and done, it is God's Will that will be done.)
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To: AAABEST
Ginsburg weighs in, with her take on The Weekly Standard


111 posted on 06/29/2012 11:44:10 PM PDT by FredZarguna (When you find yourself arguing against Scalia and Thomas, you AREN'T a conservative.)
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To: Kennard

You are right & that should strip away the last fig-leaf covering this ruling that conservativs are holding onto. I’ll give the left credit....they knew how to bully Roberts in just the right way to break him.


112 posted on 06/29/2012 11:45:10 PM PDT by LongWayHome
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
But there's a counterintuitive case to be made that John Roberts's decision is largely a victory for conservatives.

Right, a decision which sees no problem in the federal government commanding US citizens to buy a product they decide they don't need or want and imposing financial penalties on them if they refuse is largely a victory for conservatives. The crippling debt and insolvency that will result from this insanity is also largely a victory for conservatives. And don't forget the Obama presidency - also largely a victory for conservatives.

Those who can't realize they've been defeated can't possibly learn from defeat. The notion that this catastrophe is somehow a subtle "victory" that will become apparent in 50 or 100 years is delusional - the nation may well bankrupt itself out of existence due to liberal policies while conservatives wait for Roberts' Commerce Clause mumbo-jumbo to magically curb the unrestrained growth of the federal government's intrusions.
113 posted on 06/29/2012 11:51:57 PM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: concerned about politics
"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."

Yes at first glance you think, wow this stinks of the same type corruption we see coming from the white house.

Enter Occam's Razor. The most simple explanation is the correct one. The simplest answer was he was coerced, and that I do believe is the answer we don't want to accept. Why is it that we think the supreme court is immune to the corruption we see in congress and the rest of government? Well we just found out it's not.

114 posted on 06/29/2012 11:52:37 PM PDT by precisionshootist
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To: DonnerT; xzins
Stranger things have happened.

I can tell you what is going to be stranger. Look for Roberts to announce his retirement this summer and give Obama the opportunity to nominate Hillary Clinton to replace him before the October term begins.

Think FBI files.

Occam's Razor.

115 posted on 06/29/2012 11:55:40 PM PDT by P-Marlowe (Roberts Care is Romney Care on Steroids)
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To: precisionshootist
The simplest answer was he was coerced,

For someone who was coerced or worried, he seemed awfully jocular today when he "quipped" about finding an impregnible fortress to hide in, at a "posh Pennsylvania resort" before he leaves the country for some months.

If he was coerced or worried, he sure covers it up well.

116 posted on 06/29/2012 11:56:33 PM PDT by HeartlandOfAmerica ("We have prepared for the unbeliever, whips and chains and blazing fires!" Koran Sura 76:4)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach
The Weekly Standard

Legal Super GeniusTM John Roberts Just Pulled a Jedi Mind Trick on the Entire United States of America

[And we saw what he did. Oh yeah we did. We saw it. Yeah, that's right. Saw. IT. ]

117 posted on 06/30/2012 12:22:39 AM PDT by FredZarguna (When you find yourself arguing against Scalia and Thomas, you AREN'T a conservative.)
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To: jeltz25

Levin used the word “known” but I didn’t hear him say that the Chief Kangaroo was a “friend”. You may be right. Bob


118 posted on 06/30/2012 12:28:02 AM PDT by alstewartfan (Two broken Tigers on fire in the night Flicker their souls to the wind. Al Stewart "Roads to Moscow")
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To: HeartlandOfAmerica
"For someone who was coerced or worried, he seemed awfully jocular today when he "quipped" about finding an impregnible fortress to hide in, at a "posh Pennsylvania resort" before he leaves the country for some months. If he was coerced or worried, he sure covers it up well"

He joked about it. Making light of what he has done works to diffuse the extreme anger he knows he's created. Think about what Obama has done every time he's caught red handed in a lie. He jokes about it! Roberts making light of this in the same manner as Obama is a tell tale sign if just who was behind the coercion. He was coached on how to react. He's acting just like Obama. It's the mark of the beast.

119 posted on 06/30/2012 12:34:16 AM PDT by precisionshootist
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To: HeartlandOfAmerica
I read his statement several times. The text and the mocking nature of the joke sounds EXACTLY like Obama. Who we know does not write these little snide remarks. Roberts comments appear to be written by the same puppeteers who write for Obama.
120 posted on 06/30/2012 12:39:25 AM PDT by precisionshootist
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