Right Opinion
The best of conservative opinion and commentary, updated daily.
Ben Parker Was Right
It wasn't Tocqueville or Hamilton who said it. Actually, it was Ben Parker in "Spiderman." "With great power comes great responsibility;" it's common sense advice for adaptation in the ongoing war over Obamacare and why Chief Justice John Roberts conspired in upholding that political and economic blunder. Whatever one's view of Roberts' reasoning, one sentence in the majority opinion rightly affirms and sustains Ben Parker: to wit, "It is not our" -- that is, the Supreme Court's -- "job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices." That's putting the matter a little curtly. What a lesson, all the same, in the uses and abuses of the greatest worldly power there is -- the power of people living in a democracy to spread the sails of the ship of state or, sometimes, drive the ship on a rock. One may wish the court had knocked down this potentially ruinous law, then stomped on it, lighting Cuban cigars with its pages and scattering the fragments around the chamber. The law is awful. Are we straight on that? Who passed and signed it, nonetheless? The duly elected legislature of the sovereign people and their duly elected chief magistrate.
The Court Breathes New Life Into the Great Destroyer
As we approach the Fourth of July and contemplate its glorious significance, recent events have brought into sharp relief the precarious condition of America's unique liberty tradition. Our Constitution is the best written guarantor of human liberty in human history, but its safeguards do not make it completely bulletproof against systematic assaults undermining its integrity. In a little more than three years in office, President Obama has distinguished himself as the Great Destroyer of our liberties through a comprehensive set of policies that are at war with the American idea and are succeeding in fundamentally transforming America, in fulfillment of Obama's promise. Just in the past few weeks, we've witnessed multiple body blows against our freedoms, in areas ranging from immigration to "Fast and Furious" to Obamacare to the economy to race relations to state sovereignty to our very social compact itself.
Bait and Switch on Obamacare
When is a tax not a tax? When President Obama says it isn't, or when the Supreme Court says it is? Obamacare was sold on several fraudulent lines. The president knows the country doesn't want to pay higher taxes, given the deplorable way their government spends the money. And so the administration packaged it as something different. That's called bait and switch, which is defined as "an illegal tactic in which a seller advertises a product with the intention of persuading customers to purchase a more expensive product." And Obamacare, if it is not repealed, is guaranteed to be more expensive, not to mention more bureaucratic, delivering lower-quality care and eventually rationing to save money. Does it matter what this president promises since so many have turned up empty?
Judicial Betrayal
Betrayal is hard to take, whether in our personal lives or in the political life of the nation. Yet there are people in Washington -- too often, Republicans -- who start living in the Beltway atmosphere, and start forgetting those hundreds of millions of Americans beyond the Beltway who trusted them to do right by them, to use their wisdom instead of their cleverness. President Bush 41 epitomized these betrayals when he broke his "read my lips, no new taxes" pledge. He paid the price when he quickly went from high approval ratings as president to someone defeated for reelection by a little known governor from Arkansas. Chief Justice John Roberts need fear no such fate because he has lifetime tenure on the Supreme Court. But conscience can be a more implacable and inescapable punisher -- and should be. The Chief Justice probably made as good a case as could be made for upholding the constitutionality of ObamaCare by defining one of its key features as a "tax."
Notes From the Unpowered
This column is being written in the midst of a power outage that has reduced many parts of the mid-Atlantic to primitive conditions. I have no right to complain. We installed a small generator after the last big power failure ("Snowmageddon") and at least have been able to sleep in air-conditioned comfort. We sincerely pity the million-plus people in our area and surrounding states who are coping with 95-plus temperatures and no power at all. So while we are definitely among the lucky ones, the "derecho" outage has managed to short-circuit our 21st century lives anyway. Only the bedrooms are cool. The phones, Internet and televisions are dark. Even cellphones didn't function for 24 hours. Gas stations are closed. Supermarkets are dark and selling only nonperishable items. If you want meat, vegetables, eggs or milk, you'll need to drive another half hour. The Wall Street Journal wasn't delivered, and reading the Washington Post by itself is like choking down medicine, especially in an election year. The dog is very sick, and we cannot contact the vet because the phones are dead. (Update: Dog is in veterinary emergency hospital, which thankfully does have power.)
Different Shades of Lipstick on the Same Socialist Pig
Some observations on last week's Supreme Court rulings: • Observation One: Chef Justice John Roberts demonstrated two frightening traits last week: an utter disrespect for the law and a scary level of inconsistency. On Thursday, when he was busy announcing that the Court was taking something it was given, namely a "mandate," and turning it into something else, namely a "tax," a tremendously disturbing precedent was established.
Four Words After the Storm
Over the past four days, the high temperators in Northern Virginia have been 96, 104, 97, and 99 for a total of 396 degrees which, I know, is not terribly instructive. But, the average of 99 is. For those of you who do not live along a 600 mile line from Indiana to Maryland might not have been aware of a storm known as a "derecho" (which is Spanish for "straight") that slammed through that entire distance in just 10 hours Friday. The derecho that slammed into the National Capital region at about 10:30 Friday night was packing winds that topped out at well-over hurricane force left about 1.2 million people without power; knocked 911 service to at least two high-density counties off line; stalled the DC-area Metro as 3rd rails lost power, and reduced cell service to a series of fast-busy signals until Saturday night. At least six people were killed in Virginia, mostly by falling trees.
Obamacare Survives, but Political Playing Field Has Changed
The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision upholding the Obama administration's health care legislation was a victory for the president, his administration and his party. Their most ambitious legislative achievement has not been nullified, and they are not left in obvious disarray. But it is only a partial victory and in some ways not a victory at all, both in the short run electorally and in the long run in terms of the constitutional order. Politically Obamacare, as its critics call it, remains highly unpopular. It's possible that the court decision will boost its support, but unlikely. Most voters want this law repealed. Mitt Romney and the Republicans want to repeal it. Barack Obama and the Democrats want to preserve it. It's not a winning issue for the incumbent. Constitutionally, many conservatives are unhappy that Chief Justice Roberts and the four justices generally considered liberal voted to uphold the mandate to buy health insurance as a tax, which Congress is clearly empowered to levy.
Liberals Should Be Shunned
I have heard that the creature most likely to survive nuclear wars, a new ice age or even, God forbid, a world dominated by Muslims, is the lowly cockroach. If that's true, I think the cockroach's human equivalent, the lowly liberal can draw some comfort from that fact. Those of you who think I am being unfair to socialists, communists, progressives or whatever else leftists are calling themselves this week, will have to point out where I'm going wrong. After all, like cockroaches, liberals spread disease, believe they're entitled to food and shelter that they've neither produced nor paid for and, rather than try to debate issues, prefer, when confronted, to scurry off and hide in dark and scary places, such as MSNBC, faculty lounges and the editorial offices at the New York Times.
No Danger in a Nuclear Iran? Seriously?
Are you concerned about Tehran's drive for nuclear weapons? Political scientist Kenneth Waltz isn't. A senior research scholar at Columbia University and former president of American Political Science Association, Waltz writes in the new issue of Foreign Affairs that it's time we learned to stop worrying and love the Iranian bomb. Waltz's piece -- prominently featured on the cover of the Council on Foreign Relations' flagship journal -- is headlined "Why Iran Should Get the Bomb." The US government and its allies in Europe, Israel, and the Arab world may regard the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran may as the gravest security threat the world currently faces. But Waltz, a leader of the neo-realist school of international relations, urges all of them to take a chill pill. Nukes in the hands of the mullahs would not be the worst outcome of the present crisis, he argues. "In fact, it would probably be the best possible result: the one most likely to restore stability to the Middle East."
Making the Moral Case
Conservatives, beware: You can have reams of information, piles of studies and folders of charts at your fingertips. And you can still lose the debate. That's because you've overlooked a crucial component: the moral case. And that, according to Arthur C. Brooks, can often make or break your argument. Brooks, who started his career as a member of the Barcelona Symphony in Spain, is president of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. In his latest book, "The Road To Freedom: How To Win The Fight For Free Enterprise," Brooks offers a powerful defense of American values, and explains how we can save our country from financial ruin by returning to our free-market roots.
The Consolation Prize
Conservatives won a substantial victory on Thursday. The physics of American politics -- actions provoking reactions -- continues to move the crucial debate, about the nature of the American regime, toward conservatism. Chief Justice John Roberts has served this cause.
From The Comedy Store
The Southern Baptist Convention elected Reverend Fred Luther their first black president in history. Whites fell in love with Luther's ministry when black and white congregations had to worship together in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The White House didn't waste any time Friday blaming the racial harmony on George W. Bush.
There They Go Again
When it comes to inevitabilities, people always refer to death and taxes. But there's a third item that's even more of a sure thing. I'm referring to the goofiness of the Left. Death is inevitable, but not always predictable. After all, people die at all ages and under diverse circumstances. In much the same way, taxes are always going to be around, but not everyone pays the same ones or at the same rate. However, when it comes to the chowderheads who take pride in identifying themselves as liberals, progressives, statists, socialists or just plain Democrats, as surely as the sun will rise in the east, you can bet the farm that before it sets in the west, any number of these boobs will have you shaking your head and wondering if they're being serious or just going for the cheap laugh.
John Roberts Is a Super-Taxer
In the hours following the Supreme Court's decision to ratify Obamacare, Romney got $4.6 million in donations from 47,000 individuals. The tide is with him. The Supremes are a game-changer. But Romney has to make the case. He needs to link the anemic jobs and economic situation to the Obamacare tax, spend and regulate fiscal drag. And he has to add to that mix the dangers to our freedoms embodied in Justice John Roberts' expansion of the power to tax our personal behavior.
Playing the Race Card to Obscure Murder
The contempt vote against Eric Holder succeeds -- and the left is desperate to distract from its bloody scandal.
The Chief Justice of the United States
Just about everyone in Washington was wrong about what the Supreme Court would do yesterday on the Obamacare case. Well, we were sort of right but in the end we were wrong. First of all the official title of the case is: NATIONAL FEDERATION OF INDEPENDENT BUSINESS ET AL. v. SEBELIUS, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, ET AL. Who knew that? Put your hand down, you didn't know it until today, either.
Democrats' New Motto: Never Let a Wildfire Go to Waste
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Did you know that President Obama has been incommunicado with Colorado's governor for more than two weeks as the nation's worst wildfires rage across the state? Maybe he thought we were all "doing fine." After an embarrassing Beltway press briefing revelation about our out-of-touch White House, the administration finally decided to divert the campaigner in chief from his nationwide fundraising frenzy for a quick look-see at our devastated city on Friday. It's "leadership from behind" you can count on. On Wednesday, press secretary Jay Carney acknowledged that Obama hadn't talked to Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in 15 days. Holy smokes. The High Park fire, which has consumed nearly 90,000 acres and claimed nearly 257 homes west of Fort Collins, ignited on June 9 and is still active. During a campaign swing just last week, first lady Michelle Obama made a brief mention of the High Park fire before launching into her standard GOP-bashing stump speeches.
Decision Time
WASHINGTON -- It's been a week of big decisions in our nation's capital. The Supreme Court's 5-4 verdict on Obamacare was the biggest story for politicians, pundits and the so-called mainstream media. That the justices reaffirmed the constitutional authority of Congress to levy taxes -- even when the tax is called a "mandate" -- should not have surprised anyone. The second-place decision of the week was the unprecedented 255-67 vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his unwillingness to respond to congressional subpoenas for information on the Obama administration's notorious "Fast and Furious" gunrunning scheme. Both of those decisions will provide countless hours of debate, commentary and fuel for political fundraising over the next four months. Though neither matter will be completely resolved until after Americans go to the polls Nov. 6, at least the Supreme Court and the House of Representatives have proved that they can make decisions -- and we know how they were made. Though the Supremes always debate in private, their determination is explained in depth -- and by reading their decision, we know the thinking of each member of the court. The House debate and vote on holding Holder in contempt was conducted in the open for all to see.