Category: Courts

I was just going to share this out as a Facebook post, but there was too much to say really, so I moved it over here.  Besides, I haven’t made any postings for a while and I have a few thoughts longer than a FB article share blurb. You should read the article “BASTARDS ON THE BENCH: FOURTH CIRCUIT LIMITS SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHT TO POSSESS COMMON FIREARMS” by Daniel Horowitz. Mr. Horowitz has written a book about the main problem entitled “Stolen Sovereignty“. You should read as much as you can by Mr. Horowitz because he sees the problem with the courts and its impact on liberty very clearly.

Understand the problem: the court system has been co-opted and the sovereignty of the people, their ability to govern themselves, is being weakened and the rights granted to us by the Constitution are being eroded by the activist judiciary. We are slowly being enslaved by justices pushing a political agenda at every level. The one thing we don’t realize is that the courts are never going to be “fixed” by appointments. The courts can only be fixed by Congress taking Constitutional control over the courts by writing legislation to limit the court’s jurisdiction over certain matters, or by the People of the several States initiating an Article V Convention of the States. This is the only way to reign in a court system that is systematically rewriting laws, reinterpreting clear language, and inventing or revoking rights at their pleasure. But don’t hold your breath waiting on Congress. Congress has yielded its power to the Executive at an alarming rate over the last 60 years, and has idly stood by watching the Court eviscerate the laws and the Constitution of this great nation. If we continue much farther down this path we will certainly be made slaves to the Court. I fear that we may already be beyond the point of no return.

While the general demeanor of most Conservative and Libertarian folks is “leave me alone” and “live and let live”, the activity on the Left will not allow such a position for much longer. More active expression of displeasure is necessary. More than just voting for Trump is needed to “upset the apple cart”. We will either stand up for the protection of God given, inalienable rights, or we will be enslaved by a virulent progressive ideology that is truly un-American. If you have a voice, you must begin to use it. If you can write, then write your Congress person, every day if necessary, and make sure they know how you stand on issues. Remember the old adage: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” There are a bunch of squeaky wheels out there, essentially intimidating Congress people to get their way and have their “rights” protected, at the expense of everyone else’s clearly enumerated Constitutional rights. In cases like this, it may actually take a demonstration or march to show our legislators and the courts they are picking the wrong fight with the wrong people. The Left talks about being “woke” to certain issues. Well, it’s time to wake up alright; the culture wars are not over, they’ve escalated and expanded.

For those of you who voted for Trump, let me be clear: Trump will not save us. At best, Trump is a stop gap. Getting Gorsuch on the Supreme Court is not going to save the country, “turn things around”, or “Make America Great Again”. Even getting another seat is not going to preserve the nation. The problem is deeper than that, and it’s going to require everyone that still believes in self-government, the rule of law, and our Constitution to agitate for adherence to these ideals from every branch of government and influence every area of life, from home, to schools, to state and local government.

The problem is that we’ve continually allowed the Courts to be final arbiter of what is and isn’t Constitutional and just rolled over and accepted the decision. That’s not exactly how things work. Courts sometimes make bad decisions; courts can make unconstitutional decisions; courts have ideologues sitting on the bench writing opinions. A classic example is Dred Scott, where political ideologies with respect to slavery lead to tortured interpretations and justifications by justices on the court. It is up to the other branches to reign in these acts of over reach by the courts by their reasoned opposition and Constitutional remedy. While there have always been cases of ideologues on the court pushing political agendas, we have now reached a critical point in the American Experiment where the judiciary is well packed with justices pushing political agendas at the expense of the Constitution, clearly established law, and the will of the American People. These justices are not supporting, upholding, and defending the Constitution, they are actively destroying it in tortuous ways.

If, in this 4th Circuit case, justices can’t even understand the clear mechanical differences in firearms, how can a court make a reasoned judgement on the law? If they can’t even understand basic facts about the objects in question or actually distort facts to fit the opinion, what then gives us confidence in their other cognitive functions?  If they simply ignore the Constitutional phrasing of “shall not be infringed”, ignore 200 years of established law, and ignore recent precedent in Heller, what is there to stop them ignoring anything that doesn’t fit their ideology and declaring it “unconstitutional”? Why must there be continual appeals to emotion, rather than the law, or the Second Amendment itself, to justify the court’s decision?

These are perilous times, folks, that will require political action on our part. We’ve been patient, to the point of apathy. You and I must start acting, rather than simply hoping the right people get elected or appointed. This is our problem to solve. Remember, Government of the People, by the People.