Usually on July 4, I would put aside political discourse
long enough to write about freedom, The Declaration of Independence, or
American exceptionalism, but this year I can’t bring myself to. On June 28, 2012 Chief Justice John
Roberts declared America
is no longer free. I am not employing hyperbole. I have contended from the
beginning that Obama care in general and the mandate in particular are
incompatible with freedom. It gives the government control over how you might
choose to provide for your own care, gives the IRS punitive power to compel the
individual to enter into a private contract and will lead to all the cost
overruns and rationing that conservatives have warned of, but Chief Justice
Roberts made it worse, something I thought impossible.
You see Roberts said that the mandate was unconstitutional
under the commerce clause, which is what the government argued gave it the
authority to impose the mandate. But then he did something that makes no sense
legally, or ethically for that matter, he essentially changed the law to say
that the mandate penalty was really just a tax and that the government’s right
of taxation is essentially unlimited. He did this in spite of the Obama
lawyer’s own argument as well as the continuing drum beat of liberal dribble
that it is not a tax. To put it simply,
the government according to the chief justice does not have the legal authority
to compel you to buy insurance; they just have the authority to punish you,
through taxes called penalties, if you don’t. No other decision in history has
written so broad a blank check to the Federal government likely in the history
of this country. So following this logic, the government doesn’t have the
authority to force churches and other religious groups to provide
contraceptives, but it can punish them if they don’t, the government can’t
order Doctors to perform abortions but it can punish them if they don’t. Where
does it end? The government can’t mandate that pastors support gay marriage,
but it can “tax” them limitlessly if they don’t, possibly jail them if they
can’t or won’t pay. We’re not punishing free speech they might say just
enforcing the tax laws. The government can’t mandate that you stop writing
politically offensive blogs… you get the idea.
My first impression was that someone got to Roberts. The
President did blatantly and inappropriately try to bully the court,
inappropriately, blatantly and successfully it would seem. A CBS story seems to
confirm that the media blitz and the pressure that overturning an
unconstitutional law would be judicial activism caused Roberts to commit one of
the most egregious acts of judicial activism in history. Perhaps Roberts was
intimidated or maybe he gave in to some promise of gain but it is almost
impossible that a legal mind as brilliant as Roberts actually believes the BS
in his majority decision. But rather he sold his soul or lost his spine doesn’t
really matter, Obama-care is the law of the land, freedom is mortally wounded
and the constitution lies in tattered pieces on the ground. Bitterly I recall
the flap over Harriet Meyers’ nomination which conservatives opposed due to a
lack of record and experience, the nomination of John Roberts replaced hers if
you recall. Perhaps Miss Meyers would have had the backbone to stand up to the
pressure that Roberts did not. We can’t go back so what do we do moving
forward?
There may well be necessarily some constitutional fix put in
place. The power of the court has far exceeded the vision of the founders who
never saw the court as the final and only arbiter of constitutionality. Safe to
say, when one man has the power to flop on an issue and fundamentally and
forever change the relationship between government and the individual we have
an imperialist court not a constitutional one. The states may well have to
stand up to the Federal government in ways un seen since the 1860’s, these
alternatives will be explored more as we go forward first we have two things to
do and one of those is precariously balanced over a precipice of loss as well
as our other liberties.
We can vote. This right is under assault in ways we wouldn’t
have imagined twenty years ago. No, no one is trying to stop you from going to
the polling place, unless of course you live in a district targeted by the New
Black Panthers, whose voter intimidation seems to have the blessing of the
Justice Department. What threatens the integrity of the election process is
institutionalized fraud. Consider that
this same Justice Department is actively seeking to stop states from removing
illegal immigrants, and other people legally ineligible to vote, from their
voter rolls. They are referring to this as voter suppression. Do you
heart that? Stopping people from voting who cannot legally vote is voter
suppression. You need to show a picture ID at any store that still accepts
checks but asking for an ID at the voting place is a violation of voting
rights? If the thought of this doesn’t make your blood boil, or else just run
cold, you aren’t paying attention. The Democrat party seeks to stuff the ballot
box with enough illegal votes to override the will of the legal citizenry. I
doubt we can look to chief Justice Roberts to uphold the integrity of the
electoral process any more than he did the Constitution on Obama-care.
Finally we can pray. Free
exercise of religion is under attack in ways our founders would drop to their
knees and weep over, but nothing can stop us from praying. Just ask Ole Daniel.
(Daniel 6:10-23) I’m not talking about adding “God bless our country” to the
litany of dinner blessings, I’m talking about passionate effectual reverent
prayer (James 5: 13 -17) I am talking
about individual and corporate repentance. The steps necessary to rescue the
founders dream are not for the faint of heart. Electing Mitt Romney and 51
Republican Senators is not nearly enough.
In some ways King George was a bush leaguer next to Barrack
Obama in the oppression department but our problems hardly began with this
administration nor will they end with Romney’s hopeful election. The steps
necessary to save our society are hard ones and freedom is not for the faint of
heart. Next time we’ll begin looking at what some of those steps may need to
be.
Until then stay on your knees, and keep on the firing line.
Ps if ever we get internet access restored from the great
set of last weeks storm I will make this post!
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