“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights that among these are Life, Liberty
Ever since the Supreme Court took unto itself the power to
void laws passed by the representatives of the people in Marbury
V. Madison the black-robed Justices have acted, and Americans have accepted
them as if they are the source and the summit of what is and what isn’t allowed
in America
However, in Article Three of the Constitution, the one that
outlines the judicial branch, after specifically enumerating which types of
cases the Supreme Court shall try it says,
“In all the other Cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have
appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and
under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.”
We often hear of obscure clauses of the Constitution which
have been stretched and strained to sweep more power and authority into the
never satisfied maw of the Federal Leviathan such as:
·
The “Necessary and Proper Clause” which is found
in Article I, Section 8, Clause 18
states, “To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying
into Execution the [enumerated] Powers, and all other Powers vested by this
Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or
Officer thereof.” This is also known as
the “Elastic Clause” because Congress and Presidents have stretched it to give
them powers the Founders never would have dreamed possible outside a tyranny.
·
The “Commerce Clause” found in Article I,
Section 8, Clause 3 states,
“to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among several States, and with
the Indian Tribes.” This is the go-to
clause for the Progressive’s conquest of America Europe and which has been
repudiated by our former adversaries in the Cold War.
In the Supreme Court decision Wickard
v. Filburn in 1942 it was handed down from on high that wheat farmer growing wheat on his own property for his
own use can be legally regulated
under the commerce clause because not selling your wheat and using it yourself is actually competing with
wheat that is sold and is therefore commerce.
This is the same clause the Obama Administration originally used as a
defense to say they can fine people for not buying insurance arguing that not
buying insurance is commerce.
Yes, these two clauses have been stretched and interpreted
beyond any semblance of rationality to restrict and restrain Americans in the
enjoyment of the freedom and liberty which should be our birthright, yet the
clause which clearly states that Congress has the power to reign in the Court
has been ignored.
Forget all the posturing about abortion by all the so-called
conservatives in Congress. Has there ever been a concerted, protracted or
sustained effort to remove abortion from the jurisdiction of the Supreme
Court? No there hasn’t. And yet tomorrow, or even today Congress
could pass a law stating that abortion is an exception to the court’s
jurisdiction and with the signing of this law by the president Roe V. Wade
would be null and void, and all state laws affecting abortion would once again
be in effect. And this same procedure
could be used for the representatives of the people to take back control of the
law and the country from the Court.
The Congress is elected. The Supreme Court is
appointed. Congress can be replaced. The
Justices of the Supreme Court serve for life.
They could be impeached and removed; however, none have ever been
removed and the likelihood of that happening is remote. There are checks and balances in the process
of passing laws. The Senate is a check
on the House and the House on the Senate.
The President is a check on Congress and Congress is a check on the
President. There is a check designed to
restrain the Supreme Court from becoming a black-robed committee of kings: Article
3, Section 2, Clause 2 giving Congress the power to create exceptions to the
Court’s jurisdiction. However, tradition
and the desire of professional politicians to demagogue about issues instead of
solve them keeps the perpetually re-elected from reigning in these want-a-be
demigods.
Thursday June 28, 2012 will live in the memory of all
patriotic Americans as a day of infamy along with Pearl Harbor, and 9-11. This
is the day the Supreme Court ruled that if the Central government can’t force American
citizens to do what they want them to do one way they can do it another.
When the Obama Administration and their co-conspirators, the
Progressive Democratic Party in Congress, rammed Obamacare through Congress
they argued that the fines imposed under the individual mandate upon anyone who
didn’t purchase health insurance wasn’t
a tax, but that it was penalty allowable under the Commerce Clause. According to the Constitution all tax bills must begin in the House. Obamacare began
in the Senate; however, that was all right since the fines weren’t taxes
they were penalties.
When the issue got to court and it became clear there wasn’t
a majority ready to declare not buying insurance was commerce the Obama Administration
argued there was no standing to litigate the individual mandate and the fine it
imposed because it is a tax. Through the
looking glass inside the beltway and behind the curtain it’s a penalty
when that argument works and it’s a tax
when that argument works.
Sophistry is defined as “Reasoning
that appears sound but is misleading or fallacious. In Metaphysics, Aristotle
defines sophistry as ‘wisdom in appearance only.’” When we look at that definition from now on
it will be hard not to see the face of Chief Justice Roberts who today showed
his true colors as the midwife of totalitarianism. While declaring unconstitutional the very
arguments used to pass the law the majority declared the law constitutional
based upon the very arguments its opponents used to try and defeat the
bill. Up is down, right is wrong, and
the government can do whatever it wants.
During the ratification debate when addressing the Supreme
Court one of the leading Anti-Federalists wrote,
“There is no power above them to control any of their decisions. There is no authority that can remove them,
and they cannot be controlled by the laws of the legislature. In short, they are independent of the people,
of the legislature, and of every power under heaven. Men placed in this situation will generally
soon feel independent of heaven itself.”
The balance between the central government and the once free
citizens it is attempting to turn into dumbed down helpless dependents has been
significantly changed. As predicted by the
Anti-Federalists, the courts have been used over and over to expand the power
of the central government to the detriment of the States and the citizens. Today we crossed a threshold; we passed a
tipping point and are no longer at the edge of the abyss. We are careening down
the cliff into the fearful embrace of totalitarianism. An over the top Supreme Court has given the
green light to an out of control Progressive Administration, and as of today
there are no checks and there is no balance.
Those of us who love liberty and are dedicated to limited
government must contact our representatives and demand that the Supreme Court
be brought under control. Something must
be done to preserve liberty or the United States we have loved will become the
one we have dreaded. An all-powerful
central government will continue to grow and bend all things to its will. We must return to the literal definition of
constitutional government or this living document will be the death of freedom
and the graveyard of liberty.
Keep the faith. Keep
the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion
for Southside Virginia Community College. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2012 Robert R.
Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr.
Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens
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