A forlorn marker on a great nation’s descent into decline and decay.
Three months ago, I quoted George Jonas on the 30th anniversary of Canada’s ghastly “Charter of Rights and Freedoms”: “There seems to be an inverse relationship between written instruments of freedom, such as a Charter, and freedom itself,” wrote Jonas. “It’s as if freedom were too fragile to be put into words: If you write down your rights and freedoms, you lose them.”
For longer than one might have expected, the U.S. Constitution was a happy exception to that general rule — until, that is, the contortions required to reconcile a republic of limited government with the ambitions of statism rendered U.S. constitutionalism increasingly absurd. As I also wrote three months ago (yes, yes, don’t worry, there’s a couple of sentences of new material in amongst all the I-told-you-so stuff), “The United States is the only Western nation in which our rulers invoke the Constitution for the purpose of overriding it — or, at any rate, torturing its language beyond repair.”
[More]
Steyn: Constitutional Contortions (3),See Also:
Some GOP-led states plan to resist health care law, as ruling reins in Medicaid expansion
The Why Roberts was Right article is like so many circulating the net. It tries to justify his decision as a long play, which is not why he sits on the supreme court.
He is being asked to render a decision on whether or not Obamacare as it was presented is constitutional. It was not.
So he created the arguement (judicial activism) to make it so and even that is pretty thin gruel.
As for letting the electorate decide, I do not have alot of confidence that the issue will be able to be presented to them in an honest manner that would allow them to make an informed decision. It has not to this day been done, so I don’t know why anyone would assume it would be now.
Any attempt to debate this will be met with a misinformation campaign straight from the Soros database on doublespeak and deception, honed over the years in communist regimes, dutifully amplified and distrtibuted by a corrupt MSM.
Roberts either sold his soul willingly or under duress but sell it he did.
Re: “Roberts either sold his soul willingly or under duress but sell it he did.”
Completely disagree. In my “pointy headed view” Roberts laid a minefield (carefully hidden) hoping that the “crats” would step into it. Not quite yet because they have detected it but how to move forward in the days ahead?
It is of course a “legal minefield” and they must always be treated with great care. The “constitutional law professor”, better than most others, understands what this means although I am not clear on that point. I wonder but Dov understands very well.
Truthfully. I don’t know and neither do they. Call them “discomboobulated”.
As for Roberts. Anyone who thinks for a moment that he has lost his conservative credentials is not paying attention (that may include Steyn). In truth I firmly believe he has just handed the election to Romney and deliberately so. Roberts has strong reason and maybe, once in awhile, “blabbermouth” should have kept his big trap shut and instead gone and done what he does best (play golf — not well).
It will be very interesting to see how this plays out.
Roberts has been “outed” as a liberal leftie. He just had to wait for the right moment. Ann Coulter nailed this nominee before his approval to the Supreme Court. He didn’t have a paper trail to follow and she noticed. Doncha hate it when she is right? lol Reap and weep – hopefully the Americans will eviscerate the left in the November elections and sweep all branches of government. cheers
Irrespective of whether this abomination called Obamacare stands or falls legally or politically what bothers me most about the Supreme Court’s ruling is the clear skirting of the spirit of the American Constitution. The idea that free men and women can freely decide how to work together, freely and cooperatively, without fear or compulsion except that each provide for his/her own has been usurped by a poorly written, ill conceived piece of trash Obambam takes credit for even though the only part he had to play in the drama was sign the bloody thing. What’s more the Supremes let it slide on a technicality by calling a business transaction a tax. So what, the next time some Democrat president wants to enslave all the blacks it’ll be OK as long as they call it unpaid labour?
Roberts’ ruling will be subject to many challenges in future but not in time to influence the upcoming election. And that (in my view) was his entire point.
In calling Obama’s healthcare fines a tax he has opened Pandora’s box and there is no way I can see for the current administration to refute it because that is what it is. Always has been. Everyone knows it.
“We live in interesting times.”
Update: It’s now 3:47 pm EDT and I’m getting tired. Gone for the day and I wish everyone a safe holiday weekend although I worry about my friends in the eastern US this afternoon. They should all have their portable radio’s on and listening closely.
We also live in scary times.
Goodnight.
Oh I agree Jack that Robert’s ruling is brilliantly played. I hear it has actually opened another line of legal attack by calling it a tax. The bill passed by both houses of Congress originated in the Senate. Under the constitution all money bills must originate in the House of Representatives and can not originate in the Senate. According to some, this distinction was one of the reasons Obambam read from his teleprompter that this was not a tax. I doubt that Obambam is well enough informed on the legaleze to pick up on this fact. Its hard to stay informed when you spend your time playing golf, hoops and hob knobbin’ with the gliterati you know.
That is just it Jack, if Roberts is engaged in the long game, to apparently help conservatives win an election, he has abrogated his duty to the court. Its also judicial activism but on the conservative side, and its not what he is supposed to do.
He could have sided with the other dissenters and thrown the whole thing out as the constitutional abomination that it is. Job done end of story.
Instead he has apparently laid this remarkably clever trap – that he has absolutely no assurance that the left will get caught by. Its a very long gamble, rather than a short and swift decision to simply make the ruling that the constitution required him to.
No matter which way this is spun it looks dirty and ugly.
Re: ” That is just it Jack, if Roberts is engaged in the long game, to apparently help conservatives win an election, he has abrogated his duty to the court. Its also judicial activism but on the conservative side, and its not what he is supposed to do.”
That sounds correct, Ward. Pajama’s Media has a number of entries today supporting your point of view. For myself I’m beginning to lose interest. Rightly or wrongly, Roberts changed something and not to Obama’s advantage.
November will decide the matter.
Small businesses appear to be prepared the tax rather than the insurance, so will all their workers be fined for not having insurance.
I think that small business under 50 employees, are exempt. We are about to see alot of businesses downsize to 49.