The Road to Serfdom

View 631 Monday, July 02, 2012

I continue to work on a new column, so this will be brief.

The controversy over the Roberts decision continues, with everyone speculating on what Roberts intended. There is speculation from someone who has in the past had sources inside the Supreme Court building that Mr. Roberts originally intended to vote to throw out Obamacare, but changed his mind; and that Mr. Justice Kennedy pleaded with Mr. Roberts to bring him back; and much other such. Much of the speculation is contradictory, so some of it must be wrong. Perhaps all of it is wrong. Mr. Roberts has been called an evil genius, Machiavellian,  a superb scholar, a damned fool, and almost everything else, and there is much speculation on his motives, his reasoning, his intentions, and his sanity.

None of that matters.

What matters is that Mr. Roberts has handed the question back to the political branches of the government.

For years the adherents of self government and political liberty have lost at the polls, and relied on the US Supreme Court to halt or at least slow the march of the nation toward nationalization of all significant issues. Over time this came down to a series of close decisions by the Court, and a slow – alternated by sudden lurches as with the Warren Court and its emanations and penumbras – march to the left toward nationalization of most significant social and economic issues.

We are left with control of nearly 20% of the economy to be decided by one man. One mortal man. We are left with the most fundamental issues of our time to be decided by thin margins, and even that condition depends on continuing to hold the Presidency whenever a conservative justice dies or decides to retire – and even then on finding potential Justices who will endure the barbarity of the Senate as expressed in the Bork and Clarence Thomas hearings. And that will continue.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/marc-a-thiessen-why-are-republicans-so-awful-at-picking-supreme-court-justices/2012/07/02/gJQAHFJAIW_story.html

http://blog.chron.com/texassparkle/2012/07/chief-justice-roberts-coward-or-evil-genius/

Whatever the motives of Mr. Roberts, he has sent the message that the Court cannot continue to be the only barrier toward the march of the nation toward national socialism. In my judgment it was clear to him – it certainly is to me – that handing the Federal Government direct responsibility for the 15 to 20% of the economy encompassed by health care, adding that to what the government already controls, is a fundamental change in the nature of the Republic. It is a fundamental change in the Constitution made without any Amendment. Ruling Obamacaret unconstitutional would make the Court the key issue of November 2012, when the key issue really ought to be, do you want the Federal Government running that much of the economy? Do you want to go where the country has been heading for the past decades?

Thus his decision: this is a political decision. Make it the key issue of the November 2012 campaign. You cannot rely on the Supreme Court to stand in the path of history and shout Stop! Perhaps at one time you could, but you are down to one man. You have bet the future course of the Republic on the life and integrity of five men; if any one of them dies or is disabled you will no longer have anyone standing in the way of this march to national socialism.

Mr. Roberts is one man, one vulnerable man, who sees the future clearly.

Now I have no sources inside the Court. I have never met Mr. Roberts. I have no idea what he is thinking, but I would be astonished if the above reasoning had never occurred to him. It seems obvious to me.

In any event the effect of what he has done is to make ObamaCare the key issue of the 2012 election as it was of the 2010 election. The 2010 election that sent a Republican to Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. The election that reduced the Democratic power in the Senate, and gave the Republicans a majority in the House. The election that showed that raising taxes is not a popular platform to run on. And he has said that ObamaCare is a tax.

So now the pundits are castigating Romney over – what? Not being clear? He has said, very clearly, that he will act to repeal ObamaCare if there is any chance of doing so.

It seems clear to me. The November 2012 election is a referendum on whether the US continues on the road to national socialism – what about half the country calls the Road to Serfdom http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/6202320092.html — or not. It couldn’t be more stark.

The conservatives have for decades pinned their hopes on the US Supreme Court to save the country from the consequences of its political decisions. Mr. Roberts has said that will no longer work. Like Obama or hate him, like Romney or despise him, the issue is far bigger than either man.

I will try to deal with mail, much on this issue, tonight.

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