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Monday, March 22, 2010
The Trumpets Sound
"And this," said Ransom, "is why we have no way left at all save the one I told you. The Hideous Strength holds all this Earth in its fist to squeeze as it wishes. But for their one mistake, there would be no hope left. If of their own evil will they had not broken the frontier and let in the celestial Powers, this would be their moment of victory. Their own strength has betrayed them. They have gone to the gods who would not have come to them, and pulled down Deep Heaven on their heads. Therefore, they will die."[The immortal Clive Staples Lewis, That Hideous Strength.]
Freedom is facing its last stand.
Never before in the history of the Republic has Congress dared to decree that an American citizen is obligated to purchase a particular kind of good or service. There is no warrant for it in the Constitution -- yet Nancy Pelosi has dared to assert, in public, that Congress's legislative powers, under the notion of "promoting the general welfare," are unlimited, and therefore this atrocity is quite as Constitutional as the maintenance of the Army.
Consider what this means. In practice, the State cannot force you to do anything; the only power it truly possesses is the power to punish. So the requirement imposed on us last night is actually a statement that it is a federal crime not to have health-care insurance. The penalty is unspecified, but if a fine were imposed equal to or greater than the cost of a medical-insurance policy, it would exceed $2000. In effect, the federal penal code has had a felony added to it.
But wait: there's more. It will be the federal government that decides what constitutes a qualifying medical-insurance policy. Defining that set of criteria will probably be relegated to a new bureaucracy, possibly a new office of the Department of Health and Human Services. So the exact delimitation of this new felony will be left to the discretion of unelected office drones who are beyond electoral chastisement. Nor is it clear that whatever criteria they compose will remain stable over time.
Washington has asserted the power to decree an American citizen to be in felonious violation of federal law, just by existing.
"It will not stand," cries Bob Moffit of the Heritage Foundation. I certainly hope he's right, but he reposes a great deal of confidence in unspecified correctives. What will bring it down? A new Congress? The Supreme Court?
In the unlikely event that the Republicans regain control of both houses of Congress, a repeal bill will certainly be submitted to each House. Will the leadership permit them to reach the floor? Will the relevant committees approve them? Will a Democratic rump in the Senate allow a floor vote? Will the two Houses approve the same bill? Assuming one surmounts every legislative hurdle, will Barack Hussein Obama sign the measure, forfeiting his hard-won control of a sixth of the American economy?
Worst of all to contemplate, will newly installed Republican majorities look at federalized medical care and say, "It must go," or will they say rather "No, let's not repeal this; let's tune it to serve our purposes" -- ?
Failing all the above, can we really expect the Supreme Court, which has rejected such distortions of the Interstate Commerce clause only once since the New Deal, to rule according to authentic Constitutional principles?
Now you know my fears. How do they align with yours?
The sole bright spot in this darkness is that the great majority of the benefits and subsidies enacted in the bill don't take effect until 2014. Therefore, the taxes and restrictions it imposes will have four years to make Americans angry without simultaneously creating an iron triangle that will defend the thing to the death. Americans energized for political battle have had some success against measures that don't create beneficiaries and vendor-government relationships, but far less against communities of interest focused narrowly upon the defense of a redistributive benefit. Until 2014, the health-care-reform bill is of the former sort. Repealing it, while problematic for the reasons already given, isn't quite as unlikely as if the redistributions and subventions were to take effect at once.
I foresee three years of intense political battle. The great uncertainty is whether the Republicans, if restored to power, will be for the Constitution or against it. Their trustworthiness has been opened, these past few decades, to dispute.
One other hazard comes to mind at this time: the "might as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb" mentality.
The Democrats have a large agenda, and virtually every item on it is either unConstitutional or a blatant rejection of the popular preferences. Consider as an example the cap-and-trade bills of last year, which stalled before the Senate could vote on them. If the Democratic caucuses become convinced that they have no chance to survive the November elections, they might well "go all in" on cap-and-trade and the rest of their agenda, leaving their Republican successors a far fuller plate than they'd face with the health-care-reform bill alone.
Nothing is quite as dangerous as a man convinced that he has nothing to lose. And while I'm reluctant to grant a Congressional Democrat the title of "man," well...
Only one thing is certain: We have been struck a foul blow. A handful of men sent to Washington to represent their constituents have seized unlimited power over them instead. If the polls can be trusted, most Americans are aware of that. Whether they will rise in defense of freedom, or slink back to their caves in hope the federal dragon won't eat them specifically, remains to be seen.
We need a Second American Revolution.
Watch this space.
Comments
It is and has been my favorite quote and my talisman of Hope for the last 30 years as I’ve watched the world change. Orwell was observant, but Lewis was prophetic.
Posted by Joan of Argghh! on 03/22/2010 at 06:44 AMDon’t forget any new plan they try to impose will have to get by the Senate, which is no longer filibuster proof.
Posted by on 03/22/2010 at 12:04 PMIII
Posted by cmblake6 on 03/23/2010 at 01:06 AM
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