Author Bill Flax doesn’t label U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts a clever wimp, but he does warn Forbes readers about the damage Roberts’ recent health care ruling inflicted upon the rule of law.
The brake on this zooming locomotive called government should be the rule of law. Western civilization’s signature achievement was not democracy but the idea that laws prevail over lawgivers. Alexander Hamilton cautioned, “Real liberty is neither found in despotism or the extremes of democracy.” The Founders disdained both democracy and monarchy, crafting instead a constitutional republic. With government checked, and rights and property sacrosanct, America flourished.
Political authority cannot be left to the populace, who are easily bought by bread and circuses, nor to self-aggrandizing public officials but to the Constitution, to which Caesar swears subservience–a document meant to restrain Washington’s reach. …
… Protect yourselves at the polls, Roberts suggests. America’s defining principle is now elections, not laws. Authority is thus curbed only by the political class’s imagination and the electorate’s willingness to laden others with additional levies. Liberty’s safeguard has never been democracy (“mob rule” in the Greek) but the Constitution. Had Roberts considered ObamaCare constitutional, perhaps Pandora could retain hope and a pretense of limited government. Apparently even blatant usurpations will stand if they are deemed taxes.
