‘But far more than Obama or Hillary or George W. Bush, Trump is actively campaigning as a Caesarist . . . .’

Ross Douthat makes a very concise case for torpedoing Trump’s candidacy:

All presidents are tempted by the powers of the office, and congressional abdication has only increased that temptation’s pull. President Obama’s power grabs are part of a bipartisan pattern of Caesarism, one that will likely continue apace under Hillary Clinton.

More Responses to Obergefell vs. Hodges

The Anglican Church in North America responds at some length.

Scott Walker made a great statement in response to the Supreme Court decision.

Five unelected judges have taken it upon themselves to redefine the institution of marriage, an institution that the author of this decision acknowledges ‘has been with us for millennia.’ . . .

U.S. Supreme Court Considers Not Outlawing Traditional Marriage after All

From what I hear (Professor John Eastman’s excellent summary of today’s oral arguments), the good guys did surprisingly well at the Supreme Court today, and right out of the gate, swing-vote Kennedy came out swinging (audio here):

JUSTICE GINSBURG: What do you do with the Windsor case where the court stressed the Federal government’s historic deference to States when it comes to matters of domestic relations?

The Banality of Tyranny

An example of the kind of unconstitutional commandeering garbage that would have been unthinkable before the 17th Amendment destroyed vertical checks and balances:

Each state is required by federal law to have a Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) program.

When the federal government can tell the state governments what programs they are “required” to have, it’s not really a federal government any more.

Obama-administration Repeal of Welfare Work Requirement Unconstitutional?

Andrew M. Grossman and Robert Rector at National Review Online say that the Obama administration’s recent decision to repeal, by executive fiat, the core of the welfare reform of 1996 (the work requirement) is illegal:

Section 407 establishes stand-alone work requirements for state welfare plans that brook no exceptions. And Section 407 is absent from the list of sections that the HHS secretary does have the authority to waive. That alone proves that Sebelius lacks any authority to waive the work requirements.

Departmentalism and Obamacare

Law professor Eric R. Claeys makes an interesting argument in National Review Online about how to repeal Obamacare, and how the government should operate more generally:

The U.S. Constitution creates, and American politics operate under, a regime of constitutional interpretive equality — or, for short, “departmentalism.” Each department of the U.S. government has the authority to interpret the Constitution as reasonably necessary in order to exercise the powers the Constitution assigns to it.

Josh Mandel Takes BBA Pledge

It’s a small but important victory:  Ohio current state treasurer and Senate candidate Josh Mandel has just become the most prominent politician to date to take the People’s Balanced Budget Amendment pledge.

A month and a half ago, I discussed and recommended We Demand a Balanced Budget .com, which encourages people to take one of two pledges:

• Candidates pledge to work to pass a balanced-budget amendment to the U. S. Constitution if elected.

• Citizens pledge not to donate money toward, or otherwise support, any candidate who has not taken that pledge.  (Obviously citizens are still free to, and should, cast their vote for the more conservative candidate every time, regardless of whether he has taken the pledge.)

Rule of Law or Rule of Men?

Last Friday, President Obama decreed that what Congress has thus far declined to do, he will do by himself—in effect, amnesty for (by his administration’s own conservative estimate) 800,000 illegal immigrants (CNN, Fox)—even though President Obama himself is on record, as recently as 2011, at least twice (March, September), admitting that that would be unconstitutional:

‘When conservatives contemplate what a liberal means by “functional,” we say “bring on the dysfunction, baby!”’

I ran across this while doing Internet searches and reading up on the American Progressive movement, and thought it was pretty well put:

When a liberal says our government is “dysfunctional,” what he invariably means is that it does not vigorously churn out the sorts of egalitarian, freedom-destroying legislation that will propel us (even more quickly) in the direction Europe has already traveled.  When conservatives contemplate what a liberal means by “functional,” we say “bring on the dysfunction, baby!”  The American system’s separation of powers, checks and balances, bicameralism, federalism, and pluralism routinely result in the government’s utter failure to get anything done.  Thank goodness.  While there are important things that need doing, nearly all of them fall in the category of “undoings”—undoing the achievements of all that “functional” government liberals love, which have made us less wealthy and less free.

The People’s Balanced Budget Amendment

Have you taken the Balanced Budged Pledge?

Problem: the federal government keeps spending more than it takes in:

One proposed solution: amend the Constitution to require that the budget be balanced every year.

Tightening the Belt?

(Tightening the screws?)

I’ve talked before (here and here) about the possibility of a constitutional amendment to address the structural problems with our democracy that make it tend toward a more and more bloated government.  Apparently Senator Orrin Hatch has proposed a balanced-budget amendment several times before, but this time, as I’ve suggested, the current political climate could actually make it happen.  In fact, this writer says that new Senator Rand Paul will also be proposing a balanced-budget amendment of his own.  Better too many than too few!

In other news, I’m encouraged to hear that new Tea Party-type congressmen and the American people may actually be serious about dealing with the problem of government spending.

Update (February 10th, 2011): National Review Online reports (with links to further details) that the conservatives have won this internal debate among House Republicans:  “GOP Will Fulfill ‘Pledge,’ Cut $100 Billion”.  It’s only one battle, but as far as it goes, I think this is great news!

More of the Same

Didn’t President Obama and other Democrats use to criticize the Failed Policies of the Past Eight Years?  (See, e.g., here and here.)  The more things change, the more they stay the same:  Apparently sticking with the failed policies of the past two years, by contrast, is a great idea.

New Patch on Old Cloth?

(Or do I just want to teach an old dog an old trick?)

The Constitution originally provided that, while the members of the House of Representatives would be elected directly by the people, members of the Senate would be chosen by state legislatures.  This part of the Constitution remained unchanged for most of our country’s history.  Then, about a hundred years ago, the Seventeenth Amendment made senators directly elected, like congressmen.

Can We?

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The story of America in the twentieth century was the story of the growth of government.  It has accelerated and decelerated, and even retreated at times, but taken together, it looks almost inexorable—it grows and grows, slowly choking out freedom and economic activity. 

Makes a Most Careful Count

(Summary for if you don’t have time to read this whole post:  I am angry but you should still fill out your Census form.)

You may have heard the recent ads on the radio or elsewhere trying to persuade you to fill out the 2010 Census form.  The one I heard most often said something like (coudn’t find a transcript online, going from memory here), “Imagine that our town has a hundred children.  We need about five teachers to teach them and two school buses to pick them up for school.  But what if our town grows and now we have hundreds of children?  Without the Census, we wouldn’t know how much we’ve grown. 

Life, Liberty, and _______

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 and the pursuit of Happiness.

You know the words.  They’re in the Declaration of Independence.  Sometimes people get confused and say that they’re in the Constitution—but did you know that they are in constitutions?  Many of our country’s state constitutions reiterate, in one form or another, some of those same timeless truths.