US Constitution

Supreme Court Makes Landmark Ruling

The Supreme Court just handed down a ruling that has the potential to reshape the very future of the country. I’m not talking about SCOTUS overturning Roe vs. Wade. Nor am I talking about the Court shooting down New York’s concealed carry restrictions. Both of those are major rulings with huge implications. But they pale in comparison to the ruling that dropped yesterday on the EPA and CO2 regulations.

Basically, the Court ruled that federal regulatory agencies can’t implement sweeping changes in policy by their own volition. Major policy changes must originate in laws passed by the Congress, from which the agencies derive their authority. This is a monumental win for self-government and the rule of law. And a major set-back for the globalist left and the ever-expanding administrative state.

The left loves the Deep State… the vast army of career bureaucrats who occupy positions of (regulatory and administrative) power and are completely unaccountable to voters. Progressives believe that this legion or technocrats, or “experts”, should be able to set policy based on “the science” and their elite judgement about what is best for the common good. In contrast to letting the people decide for themselves through their elected representatives.

As I’ve noted before, progressives HATE the US Constitution despite paying lip service to it when it suits their ends. The Constitution was designed to limit the power of the Federal government while maximizing the liberty of the States, and the people, to the greatest extent possible. One of the primary means progressives have used to get around Constitutional limits is by creating a pseudo 4th branch of government in the administrative state. A branch they alone shape. A branch untouchable by voters or even opposition Executive administrations. It is hard to overstate the importance of the SCOTUS ruling against the EPA. It is a dagger thrust at the heart of the technocratic administrative apparatus and the progressive deep state. It strips technocratic “experts” of the power to shape policy, and returns it to the Congress where it belongs.

Obviously, the progressive left is totally freaking out.

The subject matter of the regulation here makes the Court’s intervention all the more troubling. Whatever else this Court may know about, it does not have a clue about how to address climate change. And let’s say the obvious: The stakes here are high. Yet the Court today prevents congressionally authorized agency action to curb power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions. The Court appoints itself—instead of Congress or the expert agency—the decisionmaker on climate policy. I cannot think of many things more frightening.

– Justice Elena Kagan in dissent

Kagan’s hysterical dissent is total non-sense. The Court did not appoint itself the decision maker on climate policy. They didn’t say what the policy should be, or limit what it could entail. The only thing the Court said is that the EPA could not wipe out an entire industry and reshape the American energy sector by fiat. The Court simply said such radical policy changes must originate in laws passed by the Congress.

Progressives hate this answer. They know their Green New Deal, and much of the rest of their agenda, is not popular with the American people. Building enough support to pass laws enacting them would be extraordinarily difficult. They would rather ram them down the peoples’ throats via unelected bureaucrats, while avoiding taking responsibility at the ballot box. Some decisions are just too important to be left to the rabble, they would argue.

This is a very good day for liberty in America. Seeing the continued downward slide of the country and it’s culture can be frustrating and depressing. Enjoy the victories when you can get them.

Surprise! Another Leftist Spews Hate for the US constitution

I’ve mentioned before that the American left hates the US Constitution. Sure, they will pay lip service to it because it plays well with the public. And they are happy to use it as a cudgel when it serves their goals. But fundamentally, they (rightly) see the Constitution as an impediment to implementing their big government agenda.

The left has been working overtime in recent years to undermine the Constitution. They have tried to paint it as a relic written by racist old white men to perpetuate white supremacy, racism, and oppression. They have attacked it’s structure as undemocratic (which it actually is, by design, and that is a good thing.) And they have challenged long held basic rights enshrined in the Constitution including freedom of speech, religious freedom, and of course the right to keep and bear arms. Fossilized paste-eating dimwit and alleged president Joe Biden recently reminded Americans that (to the left, at least) none of their Constitutional rights are absolute. Big Government will have to make exceptions when your pesky freedoms interfere with their vision of the public good.

So this recent Orwellian diatribe by an MSNBC hack comes as no surprise:

To be fair, he is (kind of) right. Yes, the Founders were “obsessed” with protecting individual liberty. Of course, their obsession was driven by their own experience with the English crown and a sober examination of all of human history. In almost all societies, the individual has been secondary to some other public entity deemed more important. Whether it was a King, a Dictator, a Church, a Party, or some nebulous “public good” as defined by a Politburo.

The revolutionary innovation the Founder’s made was putting the autonomy of the individual above all else. Liberty was, and largely still is, a unique ideal to base a system of government on. Yet it is an inevitable conclusion to reach when you start from the premise that “all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”

To protect individual liberty, the Founders created a government with very limited and precisely defined powers. Those powers are explicitly enumerated in the Constitution. But that wasn’t good enough. To wield this power, the Founders required the widespread consent of the governed. Not only a majority of citizens, but a majority of geographical regions have to be on board. The Founders feared a tyranny of the democratic majority nearly as much as they feared the tyranny of a king or despot. So they created the Senate and Electoral College to ensure the individual States had a loud voice, regardless of population.

A democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what is for dinner

-unknown

But in their obsession, even that amount of protection for individual liberty still wasn’t good enough. So we got the Bill of Rights. Ten amendments to the Constitution that explicitly put certain things totally out of government control. And regardless of what a mental midget like Joe Biden says, they are absolute. Not even a 99% majority can strip them from you. Freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and especially the right to bear arms, are completely out of bounds. According to the Constitution, they are fundamental God-given rights that every human being enjoys.

I expect the left’s assault on the Constitution to only increase going forward. It’s the one societal boundary they haven’t been able to smash yet. And the three Trump-appointed Justices mean the Supreme Court isn’t likely to reinterpret it’s plain meaning into Orwellian nonsense any time soon. With Court packing off the table, their only other option is to delegitimize it. The bottom line is the left doesn’t really believe individuals are capable of governing themselves. They believe some amount of authoritarian rule is necessary. There are some problems that, in their minds, are just to big or complex to address by freely cooperating individuals. In short, the know better, so just shut up and obey.

So, yes, the Founders were absolutely obsessed with individual liberty. They created a document so focused on liberty, that it has survived 230 years of attempts to subvert it, largely unscathed. And we should thank God, they did. Because individual liberty is pragmatically sound, morally superior, and the very heart of American exceptionalism.