Imagine if Obama said this. An Obama/Pelosi Government running roughshod over the courts and the People.
It’s the left who uses the courts to legislate by judicial fiat. Then they say, well things like abortion are protected by the constitution, and we can’t do anything about it! They get what they want and they don’t have to take responsibility for it. It’s a laughable proposition to say conservatives are at risk of losing their agenda if they don’t have courts out there to overrule the other two branches.
Let’s not use the health care mandate as a counterexample either. It’s such a narrow, unusual case. And as Romney stated today on FOX, it’s extremely easy to simply rewrite the mandate as a tax increase, and then give everyone who buys health insurance a tax credit. If the Democrats had been smart enough to write it that way in the bill, we wouldn’t have a chance of overturning it in the courts, since that kind of gaming of the tax system goes on all the time.
I think Newt’s idea is fantastic. It’s a totally separate question as to whether it requires a constitutional amendment to enact or not vs. whether it’s a good idea. Conservatives have nothing to fear from letting WE THE PEOPLE make the law in this country as opposed to an unelected monarchy of judges. Certainly many of our amendments have a tradition of moving us closer and closer to a more direct democracy, which of course does have some risks associated with it. This is a debate well worth having.
If nothing else, a bold and fresh idea like this is going to push the Freddie Mac stuff off of the headlines.