On Trial: Failure of Leadership

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I began this series on Constitutional authority with two previous posts. If you have not read those, you should before continuing. You can find the first here.

The second question I posted in the first article was, to paraphrase, “Do you want your rights in the hands of nine unelected justices who may have an agenda?” While some may be comfortable with that because of an unwarranted respect for all things law, I believe it is safe to assume that most rational people do not believe that is a good idea. And in fact, as I have shown in the first two articles, neither did the Founders.

By now, any reasonable person would be asking the author, “Okay, if the SCOTUS doesn’t have the final say, what are we supposed to do about bad law such as ObamaCare?” An excellent question and I have the answer.

In 2008 Barrack Hussein Obama was elected the 44^th President of the United States. My feeling is that it is safe to say future unbiased historians will surmise that his campaign was a ruse. Perhaps all are, but his to a greater extent as he has turned out to be the most radical left wing Marxist ever elected to national office. After the election as the People became more and more aware of whom this man is and what he intended to do, they became very fearful for their country. The means with which President Obama and his Democrat partners in the Congress jammed ObamaCare through was a watershed moment. The recent rise of a ‘T.E.A. Party’ (Taxed-Enough-Already) began to swell exponentially. Consequently, the American People sent a resounding message in November of 2010. “STOP THIS MAN!”

This is exactly how the system is supposed to work. The Republican Party took over the House of Representatives in a landslide. The Founders set the House up with the shortest term, but the greatest power; the power of the purse. All spending legislation begins in the House of Representatives per Article I, section 7 of the U.S. Constitution. This was a vital part of the checks and balances on power that the Constitution established. In order to prevent a tyrannical leader from creating too much havoc before he/she could be removed from office, the Founders set up the House to be the Peoples’ House and to have the power to shut down wayward government by shutting off the funding.

The Republican Party leadership has failed its constituency. Speaker John Boehner should have halted all government funding except vital monies for national security, Social Security payments and Justice Department funding required to keep the justice system operating. They should have stood firm and demanded that the Senate pass the repeal of ObamaCare and the President sign the bill. This is what the American people wanted. This is why they were sent to Washington D.C. ObamaCare is in the hands of potentially one single Supreme Court justice, solely because of the despicable lack of courage of the House GOP.

This failure must be answered. If the People intend to keep their freedom, many of the House GOP members sent to Congress in 2010 must be removed in the primaries. This is how the system is intended to work. We the People, through the election process demand that our representatives abide by the Constitution. If we fail to do so, our fate is then thrust upon a judicial branch that in the end is toothless. The Supreme Court has no legislative authority and therefore, is impotent to enforce in any real way their rulings. The point is, judicial power is way too feeble to be solely relied upon to protect our Liberty!

As I began this series my intent was to educate folks on how the Constitution was intended to work according to the Founders themselves. Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Supreme Court justice William Johnson in 1823 stated:

 “On every question of construction, we should carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to the probable one in which it was passed.”

Judicial review as a final decision maker on Constitutionality is a myth. Furthermore, the widely accepted precedent for this being Marbury v. Madison is nothing less than revisionist history for those who want to shape legislation through the courts, both conservative and progressive. For my readers who are interested in the facts of that case, I provide a scholarly article here.

Judicial review is a natural purview of the courts; in the case before them and nothing else. Chief Justice Marshall was actually establishing the boundaries of the court, not expanding them. All three branches have authority to determine constitutionality of their particular duties. I began with the title, “Rejoice Not That SCOTUS Will Decide ObamaCare.” I did so because the fact that it has gotten to this point is evidence of the failure of our leadership in Congress and the failure of the American people to hold accountable said leadership. As I wrote in Broken People, it is not our system that is flawed. We do not need the courts to determine what is Constitutional in regards to legislation. All we need is for good people, virtuous and educated, to exercise their duty and privilege in electing representatives who will uphold our rights to Life, Liberty and Property in EVERY election. As I have stated before, this is not baseball. One strike, and you’re out!

We are experiencing historical times in America. Now is not the moment when we should forget our history or allow others with an agenda to frame that history dishonestly. The Founders never intended for the SCOTUS to be an oligarchy that lords over the nation. Numerous courts have issued horribly unconstitutional rulings. Are we to accept their final judgment? Were previous courts’ rulings in favor of racism Constitutional? Ask yourself this, “Is killing an innocent child Constitutional?” Well, your magnanimous SCOTUS says it is. In fact they invented a ‘right to privacy’ out of whole cloth to do so. Is that how you want your Constitutional rights preserved? I think not. I prefer to depend on you, my fellow Americans. We must vote smart. We must educate ourselves and our children (do NOT rely on the government to educate your child!) We must hold ALL politicians accountable, particularly those in ‘our’ party. ObamaCare being decided by the SCOTUS results from the abject failure of the Republican House of Representatives to carry out the task for which they were sent to Washington D.C. We The People have decided that ObamaCare is unconstitutional. It is up to US to do something about it.

by: Keith D. Rodebush