Posted on 06/30/2012 10:23:54 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act, I have noticed a curious phenomenon in which some conservative commentators seem to be so desperate to find a silver lining to the ruling that they have abandoned all logic. Consider George Will, who wrote a column in the aftermath of the ruling that actually puts forward the argument that we conservatives should take the fact that Roberts didn’t rely upon the commerce clause as evidence that there might be some constitutional limitation on the federal government after all. That would be a wonderful aspect of this ruling, if they had overturned the law! Instead, what we have is a monstrous precedent set in which the court re-writes a law in order to make it constitutional by imputing into the act a tax that had not existed in fact. This is an unmitigated disaster. I have heard a few who have noted hopefully that this ruling will energize the conservative base, and while that’s probably the case, I’m not certain I am so concerned about the political fall-out as I am about the long-run constitutional implications. You see, the political situation may permit us to repair the law, but it doesn’t permit us to immediately repair the damage done to the body of case law upon which future courts will rely as precedents in their own rulings.
The other thing I have read is the bizarre notion put forward by the National Review that what Roberts did was more conservative because he exercised judicial restraint in not striking down the law. Balderdash! Once you realize the legal contortions through which Roberts arrived at this ruling, it makes no sense whatever to claim he hadn’t acted as an activist. The convoluted logic by which he found a tax in a law that plainly states it does not contain one is an onerous breech of any notion of strict construction. I cannot conceive of any intellectually rigorous examination of this ruling by which this can be seen as a positive by anybody who is in favor of strict construction. When it came to the Anti-Injunction section of the ruling, it was held not to have been a tax, but just a few pages later, as Roberts performed mental gymnastics, he declared it was a tax after all.
On Thursday evening, Mark Levin summarized the matter better than anybody I’ve heard speak to this matter, in part because he understands the legalities in question, his Landmark Legal Foundation having been a participant in this case, but also because he knew Justice Roberts years ago when they both worked in the Reagan administration. Levin’s critique of the decision mirrors most of my own, and indeed, there was one aspect I hadn’t considered until Levin led me to it. That premise led me to yet another that I don’t believe Levin has yet realized in full. What one must understand is that this ruling is an unmitigated disaster, and no search for some alleged silver lining can repair it.
What Justice Roberts actually did was to expand the definition of what constitutes a permissible tax . Congress is permitted to levy only certain forms of tax, and this one doesn’t fit the definition of any of them. In dispensing with that issue, Roberts held that it didn’t matter, and that words don’t matter, and that plain-written legislative language doesn’t matter. He also ignored the context of the law, and the intent of Congress. One version of this bill had an actual tax, but Congress could not pass it in that form, so Congress altered it to contain no tax. What John Roberts did was to ignore the actual text of the legislation, and to say that the labels didn’t matter: If it looks like a tax, it is one. The problem with this is that it does nothing to restrain Congress from levying new taxes, and ignores the definitions of what sort of taxes Congress may enact. This is a wholesale extension of Congressional taxing authority because what Roberts ruled with respect to the particular form of the tax, insofar as the question of whether Congress had met the constitutional limits on whether it could impose it was effectively: “Close enough.”
That is offered to us as evidence of John Roberts’ alleged strict construction? Close enough? What this means, effectively, is that if Congress enacts some tax that it has questionable constitutional authority to levy, smiling John will be there to tell us it’s “close enough,” with every leftist monster on the court standing behind him to uphold it.
Ladies and gentlemen, there exists no silver lining to this ruling. All of the crackpot, delusional happy-talk from some conservatives in media is designed to make you feel better. You’ve just lost both arms and legs in a brutal assault, but they tell you, you should consider this a happy opportunity to enjoy the comforts of a new wheelchair and mouth-controlled joystick. You’ve just lost your family to a violent home-invasion, but, they tell you, you should view this as a chance to start over. The intention here is to keep you calm. The intention now is to serve a political end, while your country is dying around you. Your most sacred law, the US Constitution, has been crumpled and tossed into the ash-bin of history, and you are told you should do a happy-dance to the calming sounds of “Oh Happy Days.”
I’d like you to inventory the whole of the conservatives to whom you listen, or whose columns and opinions you read, and I want you to take care to note which of them are imploring you to consider some silver lining. They are lying. They have good intentions, many of them, and they have contorted themselves into a formless spaghetti of reasoning in order to find some good in this awful plate of refuse you’ve been handed. Don’t surrender your minds by sprinkling Parmesan on it and wolfing it down. Are there some limited political opportunities as a result of this decision? Yes, but they require the fulfillment of a whole laundry-list of “if-then” statements.
IF Mitt Romney is elected, and IF he doesn’t sell us out, and IF we hold the House, and IF we recapture the Senate(and at least 60 votes) and IF the moderates in either house don’t screw us, and IF Boehner and McConnell have the guts to do in repealing what the villains Reid and Pelosi did in passing the ACA, and IF they can deliver a bill to President Romney’s desk, and IF John Roberts and the other liberals on the court can be replaced, and IF Mitt Romney can replace them with actual strict constructionists, THEN you might have a chance to undo this damage. IF any of these don’t happen, your constitution is effectively dead as a restraint on government.
The danger of self-imposed delusions is that you come to believe them, like a pathological liar. It is by this form of self-delusion that we’ve permitted our country to lose its roots in reverence for the Constitution. We cannot defeat the statists by pretending this isn’t the disaster that it is, if we can defeat them at all. I believe some talking heads know this, but do not want to yield to what will come in the wake of such a monstrosity. They’re hanging on, stubbornly telling us that the stench of smoke reaching our nostrils is merely an air freshener of a novel scent. Rather than screaming “Fire,” and warning conservative Americans that the house is ablaze, the barn is wiped out, the surviving farm animals running loose in a frantic bid to stay ahead of the flames licking at their heels, many are now telling you that it’s all okay. It will be fine.
I won't if you can show me a significant number of examples of what you're saying.
Indeed..Our vote is our own to use as we choose...At least we still have that freedom.
And may we never lose that freedom.
Too bad you’re right...
“Romney is NONE of the above. He is not the solution. He’s part of the problem. Been there, done that.”
Amen! Needs to be repeated over and over. Also, as I keep telling others on this forum that fanatically support an ABO position. Failure to support “Romney” is NOT IN ANY WAY FORM OR FASHION SUPPORT FOR OR HELPING OF OBAMA!
As you clearly state. Romney is NOT the solution! Just as Mr. Obama is to be opposed, so is Mr. Romney. Both are bad and unacceptable.
I don't think you are being honest here.
Either you have been reading the political threads here or else you haven't.
What I describe is there for all to see.
There are many people on FR these days who dishonestly seek to waste the time of those who hate Romney less than they do.
I think that is what you are doing here.
“But it was also the first-fruits of Romney Republicanism.”
We need to see enough conservatives in the House and Senate to keep a tight rein on Romney. And We the People need to communicate our needs/desires to the Reps and Senators representing us. It is possible...
This is an old, oft-posted spiel that is not responsive to the many points that I have taken the time to present, respectfully and honestly, on this thread.
You are going to get Obama or Romney..There it is.
Romney is not the solution..but we KNOW Obama’s Presidential record and KNOW he isn’t the solution.
I am taking my chances with Romney being better with a more conservative House.
What you're failing to grasp is that there is a far better chance of Romney, working with RINOs and Democrats, of negative legislation passing into law. Everything from a VAT tax to tax increases on the rich to climate change legislation to amnesty for illegals could pass if Romney twists enough Republican arms. Republicans would never allow Obama to pass any of that.
You mean it's so self-evident that you can't point to any single example? I see.
If you live in California, rogue yam, it won't really matter much to the rest of the world whether you vote for Romney or Obama in November. You really don't even have a vote that could possibly affect the outcome, do you?
You're the only one stuck with living inside your head so it's your job to keep yourself sane. Do what you feel is right. Vote for your favorite candidate. If you like Romney, go for it.
But, if you live in California, don't try to convince folks that you're doing it because you think it's necessary to help beat Obama.
Look, I’m not interested in point by point debating, negotiating or compromising away our freedoms. If you’re going to insist on promoting progressive liberalism/statism on FR, you’ll have to get used to my “spiel.” I’m not changing to suit you.
Our God-given rights are NOT negotiable and that’s not subject to debate.
We are the resistance!!
We do not surrender, do not retreat. We reload!
BTW, what is nearly as disturbing as what the Fedgov has become, are some of the fantastic Pollyanna comments ya see. Makes ya wonder if the fedgov has people manning banks of keyboards in the Capital basement.
Take care.
A valid question: will it be easier to reload under Mitt or under 0bama. I believe the Democrat administration made it easier to pick apart Sarah Palin. There’s so much hell America could have avoided even with John McCain as president, but he could not campaign his way out of a wet Democrat union brown paper lunch sack. Mitt can at least half competently campaign.
Capital punishment never takes place in a capitol. That's how to tell them apart.
Y’all can do as you please, but I am not going to vote for or support an obvious and self-admitted promoter ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OQoBxZZPqU&feature=player_embedded ) of abortionist/homosexualist statism. Period.
I have to stay scarce on the forum these days because I have nothing else to say on the matter and I don’t like the constant flamewars my comments ignite.
I’m pretty much set in my pro-life, pro-family, small government conservative ways and I’m not about to change to help an abortionist/homosexualist statist RINO get elected.
No compromise, no surrender. Our God-given unalienable rights are non-negotiable. I will not support a big-government statist. Period. Live free or die.
Oh, there are plenty of flamefests with or without your comments on the matter. At least you haven’t banned the clothespin nose Mitt voters, or you’d probably ban half of FR.
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