Ruling Reflects Moral Corruption of Our Culture

In the world of progressivism, lying politicians don’t matter—as long as their lies protect the progressive agenda. In the recent Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare, Chief Justice Roberts, perhaps unwittingly, made a liar out of Obama again by stating that the health insurance mandate was nothing more than a tax. This after Obama and fellow Dems twisted themselves into pretzels assuring us it was no such thing. In a better world and a better country, Roberts would have voted with his conservative brethren on that basis alone. Instead, he pinch-hit for the inept and corrupt and hit a grand slam for them. Why, outside of his self-justified interpretation, would he join the liberals on the court (one of whom should have recused herself, by the way)?

This ruling and what it portends for America explodes a lot of myths about where we are and where we are probably going. For one thing, Roberts’ action panders to the fondest hopes and dreams of the “gimme” generation. To them, those mean old conservatives on the court were put in their place by a suddenly enlightened Chief Justice. For another, when the progressives win one this big, there is no telling how far-reaching the consequences may be. And all the talk about their tendencies to overreach and the resulting backfires may end up being just that – talk. After all, Obamacare is Exhibit A in the courtroom of Overreach, and yet it has now passed the ultimate smell test and been found “not guilty.” Despite Republican protests to the contrary and vows to repeal it, this monstrosity has become the massive rolling rock of an Indiana Jones flick, the momentum of which may be impossible to stop.

No longer can those on our side comfort ourselves with the notion that in “reality,” over 60 percent of our population self-identify as “conservative.” What good does that do as we stand by while our freedoms are steadily taken from us? What good does it do when the all the levers of our main institutions, save Hillsdale College, most talk radio, and Fox News, are controlled by the progressives? What good does it do when too many people refuse to believe what the progressives are about even as they see it unfolding before them? How many scandals, lying, stonewalling and movements toward socialism do they need to see before they believe? In fact, all those thresholds may have been smashed through by now. What does it say about us, as a culture, that no media person, even on Fox, ever challenged the liberals on the Supreme Court to be open-minded and consider overturning the individual mandate? Yet in many quarters, it was perfectly fine for the purportedly conservative Roberts to “compromise” and go along with the liberals. This says a lot about the prevailing culture of progressivism and what it’s done to the way people think.

And in essence, what Chief Justice Roberts was telling us in his ruling was: You people voted these politicians in; it’s going to be up to you to vote them out if you don’t want this health care law to stand. So it really does come down to November’s election and the citizen-voters (and unfortunately, some non-citizen voters) as to what the future of this once-great nation will be. Will the gimme generation and those who sympathize with them triumph? Right now, I wouldn’t bet against them. Those with eyes blind to the truth and lovers of deceit are more numerous in this country than we like to think.

Sorry for sounding the doom alarm, but as things stand it’s difficult to see any silver lining in this ruling. The rubber doesn’t really meet the road on Obamacare until 2014 when, in his narcissistic mind, he is safely re-elected. Since only the citizen-friendly parts of the “law” have been enacted thus far, this is a win-win for Obama in the election season, as he can spike the ball on this ruling whenever he isn’t spiking it on killing bin Laden. And what credibility can Mr. Romneycare possibly have in his continuing denunciations and promises to repeal? Unless he has a concrete “replacement” plan that he can sell a mostly short-sighted public, and unless he can work a near miracle by convincing enough people that Romneycare really was different, the repeal and replace argument probably won’t get him far enough, bad economy notwithstanding. Of course, the unspoken but perhaps best Plan B is to simply revert to what we had before Obamacare until something that is genuinely better is developed. Whatever argument Romney decides to use, he had best be firm and decisive about sticking with it—which means it had better hold water against Obama’s and the media’s certain onslaughts. Three words regarding the impact of the Roberts ruling—“middle-class tax increase”—may be his biggest weapon and only real hope.

And what of Congressional Republican efforts to repeal, even with anticipated pickups in the Senate this fall if not the House as well? With the dour, uninspired “leadership” of Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader McConnell, the Republicans could hardly have picked worse people to fight this uphill battle. What is sorely lacking is the type of articulate voice that can talk over the media and somehow reach the people with a message that makes the truth come alive while it exposes the utter bankruptcy of the other side and their positions. Until our side has such a voice and the available megaphone to use it, the media and Obama narrative will prevail, and we will all be losers for it.