Questions for Liberal Justices

1. Is the United States Federal Government a government of enumerated powers?
2. If it is not a government of enumerated powers, how do you square your view of its power with Article I, Section 8?
3. Is there any statute that the federal government cannot pass because it is beyond its enumerated powers? 
4. Example please?
5. If there is no such statute why not? Doesn't the fact that the powers are enumerate indicate that there are some areas the federal government's power cannot reach?
6. If the federal government's power is unlimited what does the Tenth Amendment mean? Doesn't the Tenth Amendment presuppose that the federal government cannot legislate in at least some realms?
7. Are limits on federal power just one of those constitutional limitations we've out grown? 
8. How do we know which constitutional limits on congressional power are effective and which ones are passe?
9. Is there any way to interpret your willingness to enforce the constitutions when it involves individual rights, but failure to enforce the structural limitations on the federal government as anything other than you enacting your personal policy preferences as constitutional law?

The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "My friend Tom Kaufman writes:

I think I figured out what happened. Randy Barnett made a wish on a cursed monkey’s paw that his commerce clause argument would be accepted. It explains everything, no?"

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The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "For those disappointed with Roberts’ opinion, it may suggest a rule for future nominations: it’s better to nominate the type of individual who is forthright in his views, and if asked about his participation in the Federalist Society, would defend the organization and his membership therein (which really tells you nothing more than that the individual in question is not on the “left”). Whether such a person is confirmable nowadays is another question."

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SCOTUS Notebook: A Minute-by-Minute Account from Inside the Courtroom on the Big Day - News - ABA Journal

SCOTUS Notebook: A Minute-by-Minute Account from Inside the Courtroom on the Big Day - News - ABA Journal: ""It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.""

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True. But I don't think this was the people's political choice. And I don't think anyone ever argued the law should be struck down to protect the people from their political choices. So, I'm not sure what this statement has to do with the case.

Oh, media!

Love this:

A Hollow Victory for Obamacare - Sen. Mike Lee - National Review Online

A Hollow Victory for Obamacare - Sen. Mike Lee - National Review Online: "As Justice Kennedy noted in his dissent, “imposing a tax through judicial legislation inverts the constitutional scheme, and places the power to tax in the branch of government least accountable to the citizenry.” There is simply no way that the ACA would have become law had the American public and their representatives understood the mandate as a tax."

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This seems to be the argument Roberts didn't answer.

Yglesias 1, Lizza + Frum 0 | The Daily Caller

Yglesias 1, Lizza + Frum 0 | The Daily Caller: "Frum makes it clear his position on repealability is part of a plodding Avlon-like battle to save the GOP from irresponsible wingnuts:

Truly, this is Waterloo—a Waterloo brought about by a dangerous combination of ideological frenzy, poor risk calculation, and a self-annihilating indifference to the real work of government.

You see, if only the Republicans had been more reasonable and negotiated with Obama back in 2009, Frum argues, they could have gotten the changes they now won’t be able to get in 2013! But even if they can’t get full repeal in 2013, can they really not get whatever modifications Frum would have had them make to Obamacare in 2009? If they win the White House and both Houses of Congress? I suspect Frum is being led into sophistry and,well, frenzy (“Waterloo”!)  by his Grand Repositioning Project."

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Clever?

Yglesias 1, Lizza + Frum 0 | The Daily Caller: "Who says Romney won’t be able to repeal Obamacare? Ryan Lizza and David Frum argue that a President Romney won’t be able to repeal Obamacare, in part because the GOPs won’t have a veto-proof majority in the Senate. Matt Yglesias says Lizza and Frum are wrong. I’m with Yglesias.

After all, why couldn’t Republicans use the “reconciliation” process to get around a Dem filibuster? Lizza says:

But reconciliation wouldn’t work here—the process can only be used for policies that have budgetary effects and a C.B.O. score. Much of the A.C.A., such as the insurance exchanges and subsidies, would fall under these categories. But a lot of it, including the hated individual mandate, does not. Repealing the exchanges and subsides without repealing the mandate and the other regulations and cost controls in the law would create a health-care Frankenstein that a President Romney would be rather nuts to support.

Huh? The individual mandate is a tax! The Supreme Court has now told us. Maybe the Senate parliamentarian calls it something else–but whatever you call it, it raises revenue and repealing it would have a budgetary effect, and hence be reconciliationable"

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Another Comment

Here. You'll have to go to the post for context.

 1. Maybe they didn't intend to deceive at the outset. But they barely passed this legislation, and a key part of that sales job was that it is not a tax.  

 2. Obama, like almost all politicians, promised not to raise taxes on the middle class. So you think that Obama would have campaigned on raising taxes given your more comprehensive counterfactual? I doubt he could remain silent on the topic. Or he would have just broken his campaign promise to get ACA passed? And you don't think breaking his promise would affected his ability to pass the ACA?  

 3. If it's labeled a tax, a politician can still deny it's a tax, but he will be easily refuted by the language of the statute.  

 Saying that a tax must be labeled a tax to be treated as one is not the same as saying everything labeled a tax is automatically justified by the taxing power. 

Paul Begala: Damn you, John Roberts for Upholding Obamacare - The Daily Beast

Paul Begala: Damn you, John Roberts for Upholding Obamacare - The Daily Beast: "So why do I damn the chief justice? Because it's all about me, isn't it? I was loaded for bear. I'd already drafted a bitter, bilious, bombastic broadside against the right-wing hacks on the Republican Court. (Oops, my side won, so they're the highly esteemed and completely independent Supreme Court.)"

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Yep. that's the left's logic.

The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "Perhaps, as Rick Hasen suggests, he’d rather save his political capital for the affirmative action and voting rights cases that are coming up, especially since he found a way to give the “right” a partial victory in his commerce clause reasoning, and to limit the Spending power."

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How does bucking the majority of Americans' wishes on this issue help Roberts save the court's political capital?

Conservatives’ Misguided Criticism of Roberts - By Richard Garnett - Bench Memos - National Review Online

Conservatives’ Misguided Criticism of Roberts - By Richard Garnett - Bench Memos - National Review Online: "But also, and more important, the Court’s decision today contains some of the most muscular enumerated-powers and constitutional-structure-matters language of any (majority) opinion in decades. Judicial conservatives, it seems me to me, should be thankful (and grateful to the chief justice) for the approach taken by a majority to the Necessary and Proper Clause and to the so-called Spending Power, and should probably see this “good” about the ACA decision as outweighing the “bad” (i.e., that, because the mandate is, contrary to the president’s earlier assurances, a “tax,” it will have to be repealed legislatively and electorally, rather than judicially). The ruling on the Medicaid expansion, in particular, is a big “win” for federalism, it seems to me."

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I don't get it. Why should we be happy because it could have been worse? Yeah, but it could have been better.

Waiting for the Supremes - The Daily Beast

Waiting for the Supremes - The Daily Beast: "Though I am pro-choice, I am not a fan of Roe, which I think was legally dubious and tactically unwise. But democracies are complicated things. No matter how much it feels like it to you, democracy doesn’t wither and die because the Supreme Court won’t let politicians enact some laws you like. It didn’t in 1973 and it won’t now."

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Right. It just withered and died with respect to one really important issue, abortion.

Instapundit

Instapundit: " I have been much amused watching people try to simultaneously defend the fruits of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s outrageous court-bullying, while also indignantly claiming that it would be abusive, infamous, fundamentally illegitimate and also, downright mean, for conservative justices to even think about overturning long-standing precedent. Suddenly, the internet is full of Latter Day Originalists who think that the constitution was handed down by God on stone tablets—in January 1936."

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EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty: "If your question is, "Are Jack and Mary married?," an arbiter might exist.  After all, to be married is nothing more than to be considered married by a society.  If the people in a society accept the Grand Poobah as the arbiter of marriage, then whatever he decides about two people's marital status is their true martial status.  "

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The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "RENO, NEVADA (Press International), June 25, 2012: The husbands and wives of the nation’s estimated 543 married Constitutional Law professors collectively filed for divorce today in Nevada state court, alleging that their spouses’ complete obsession with the United States Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on the Affordable Care Act had effectively destroyed their marriages."

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Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge

Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge: "There has been some really silly reporting about the president’s remarks regarding Kevin Youkilis last night. It is highly commendable in my view as a Red Sox Fan that the president has always refused to pander on sports. He is a White Sox fan, he owns his fandom of the White Sox . He proved that again last night, And anyone who knows Boston, knows the Red Sox and anyone who was in that room last night knows that the preponderance of people shouting in response to what the President said about Kevin Youkilis were saying ‘Yoooook and not Booo’ for God’s sake. I don’t think the American people appreciate it when politicians suddenly pretend they are fans of other teams to curry favor."

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Annie-Marie Slaughter’s feminist fantasy—Karol Markowicz - NYPOST.com

Annie-Marie Slaughter’s feminist fantasy—Karol Markowicz - NYPOST.com: "A woman may look for fulfillment in a career, but the man has to focus on taking financial care of his family — whether or not the work is fulfilling. (And, for the record, for most people work is work.)"

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Bloomberg Law - Document - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50, 130 S. Ct. 876, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753, 187 LRRM 2961 (2010), Court Opinion

Bloomberg Law - Document - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50, 130 S. Ct. 876, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753, 187 LRRM 2961 (2010), Court Opinion: "Prohibited, too, are restrictions distinguishing among different speakers, allowing speech by some but not others. See First Nat. Bank of Boston v. [*899]Bellotti, 435 U. S. 765, 784 (1978). As instruments to censor, these categories are interrelated: [36] Speech restrictions based on the identity of the speaker are all too often simply a means to control content."

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Bloomberg Law - Document - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50, 130 S. Ct. 876, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753, 187 LRRM 2961 (2010), Court Opinion

Bloomberg Law - Document - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50, 130 S. Ct. 876, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753, 187 LRRM 2961 (2010), Court Opinion: "Were the Court to uphold these restrictions, the Government could repress speech by silencing certain voices at any of the various points in the speech process. See McConnell, supra, at 251 (opinion of SCALIA, J.) (Government could repress speech by "attacking all levels of the production and dissemination of ideas," for "effective public communication requires the speaker to make use of the services of others"). If § 441b applied to individuals, no one would believe that it is merely a time, place, or manner restriction on speech. Its purpose and effect are to silence entities whose voices the Government deems to be suspect."

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Bloomberg Law - Document - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50, 130 S. Ct. 876, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753, 187 LRRM 2961 (2010), Court Opinion

Bloomberg Law - Document - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50, 130 S. Ct. 876, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753, 187 LRRM 2961 (2010), Court Opinion: "Yet, the FEC has created a regime that allows it to select what political speech is safe for public consumption by applying ambiguous tests. If parties want to avoid litigation and the possibility of civil and criminal penalties, they must either refrain from speaking or ask the FEC to issue an advisory opinion approving of the political speech in question. Government officials pore over each word of a text to see if, in their judgment, it accords with the 11-factor test they have promulgated. This is an unprecedented governmental intervention into the realm of speech."

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Bloomberg Law - Document - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50, 130 S. Ct. 876, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753, 187 LRRM 2961 (2010), Court Opinion

Bloomberg Law - Document - Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 50, 130 S. Ct. 876, 175 L. Ed. 2d 753, 187 LRRM 2961 (2010), Court Opinion: "Because the FEC's "business is to censor, there inheres the danger that [it] may well be less responsive than a court — part of an independent branch of government — to the constitutionally protected interests in free expression." Freedman v. Maryland, 380 U. S. 51, 57-58 (1965)."

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FREE - Our Nation's Future

FREE - Our Nation's Future: "I am all too afraid that Benjamin Franklin correctly saw our nation's destiny when he said, "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.""

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The Obama Debacle - Interview - National Review Online

The Obama Debacle - Interview - National Review Online: "The stimulus money may have failed to go to the states the president promised, but a clear pattern does emerge. Stimulus dollars were highly correlated to which political party controlled the state: Having an entirely Democratic congressional delegation in 2009, when the bill passed, increases the per capita stimulus that the state receives per person by $460. In addition, the states that Obama won by the largest margin in 2008 got the most money."

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Deirdre N. McCloskey: Happyism | The New Republic

Deirdre N. McCloskey: Happyism | The New Republic: "Pleasure is a brain wave right now. Happiness is a good story of your life. "

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The Obama Debacle - Interview - National Review Online

The Obama Debacle - Interview - National Review Online: "Unfortunately, while 1.9 million jobs have been added during the recovery, 7.7 million more Americans are now classified as “not in the labor force.”"

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The Obama Debacle - Interview - National Review Online

The Obama Debacle - Interview - National Review Online: "A key point of my stories was how different Obama was from academics in his unwillingness to discuss things with those who held opposing views. In my own case, Obama would just turn his back and walk away from conversations. Kantor noted that others had told her similar things. That was another reason my anecdotes were not crucial: “There was, frankly, a fair amount of other evidence, independent of the incident you told me about, that Sen. Obama did not engage much with conservatives/libertarians.”"

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Althouse

Althouse: "Michelle Obama wants to take away your cheeseburgers, but with Ann Romney, everybody gets a pony!"

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Althouse

Althouse: "Lawprof Barry Friedman is working on the theory that people have lost trust in the Court (or so the polls show) because they perceive the Court as political. (Friedman stresses that politics is different from ideology, ideology being something one actually believes in.)

Okay, so if the Court cares about the public's disapproval and wants to do something about it — which would be, ironically, political — then the Court should work to deflect the perception that it is political."

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Let them eat wedding cake, maybe: Mocking continues with #ObamaGiftRegistrySlogans | Twitchy

Let them eat wedding cake, maybe: Mocking continues with #ObamaGiftRegistrySlogans | Twitchy: "As Twitchy reported earlier, President Obama’s newest arrogance-filled fundraising scheme tells people to forego wedding gifts in lieu of donations … to him. "

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Why Supreme Court Clerks Don’t Leak - By Ed Whelan - Bench Memos - National Review Online

Why Supreme Court Clerks Don’t Leak - By Ed Whelan - Bench Memos - National Review Online: "Law clerks also have a personal incentive to keep quiet. After one year at the Court, clerks can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars in signing bonuses from law firms and are all but guaranteed [a] successful career. Leaking the Court’s decisions is one of the few ways to screw up these prospects. The leaker would have a hard time obtaining or keeping a license to practice law. And he or she would establish a reputation for irresponsible gabbing in a profession that places a super-high premium on the ability to keep confidences. No clerk wants to take these risks, especially since the chance of getting caught is relatively high."

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I actually think the decision has leaked, just not to the press. After they hear oral argument, justices have conference where they say what their vote is on a case. I think that one of the liberal justices, like Kagan, told Obama. I think that is why Obama has been preemptively complaining about the decision and also warning supporters he may need a second term to redo the healthcare law. I guess their behavior could just be a reaction to oral argument, but it seems the administration is acting exactly how you would expect it to act if it anticipate the law will be struck down.

The Corner - National Review Online

The Corner - National Review Online: "BRUSSELS — For most Europeans, almost nothing is more prized than their four to six weeks of guaranteed annual vacation leave. But it was not clear just how sacrosanct that time off was until Thursday, when Europe’s highest court ruled that workers who happened to get sick on vacation were legally entitled to take another vacation."

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Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge

Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge: "Bravo for Bjorn Lomborg’s plea for western elites to put their pet environmental concerns in proper context (“Feel-Good Environmentalism at the U.N.,” June 21).  As he notes, today’s most lethal pollutants aren’t industrial greenhouse gases but, rather, pre-industrial dangers – still prominent in developing countries – like “smoke from inefficient and dirty fuels such as dried animal dung, crop residues and wood.”"

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Anna Schwartz, Economist Who Worked With Friedman, Dies at 96 - NYTimes.com

Anna Schwartz, Economist Who Worked With Friedman, Dies at 96 - NYTimes.com: "Anna J. Schwartz, a research economist who wrote monumental works on American financial history in collaboration with the Nobel laureate Milton Friedman while remaining largely in his shadow, died on Thursday at her home in Manhattan. She was 96."

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Not a good couple of days for prominent female economists. Also, this is kind of a mean way to start an obituary.

Elinor Ostrom, Winner of Nobel in Economics, Dies at 78 - NYTimes.com

Elinor Ostrom, Winner of Nobel in Economics, Dies at 78 - NYTimes.com: "Professor Ostrom’s prizewinning work examined how people collaborate and organize themselves to manage common resources like forests or fisheries, even when governments are not involved. The research overturned the conventional wisdom about the need for government regulation of public resources."

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Poll Results: If Romney does that...

Poll Results: If Romney does that...: "If women ever want to achieve true equality, they need to learn to like mean pranks."

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The Originalism Blog

The Originalism Blog: "These are all fair points, though I'm left with two questions:

(1)  Where would Professor Somin draw the line between permissible non-enforcement and violation of the take care clause?  Could the President, if unable to persuade Congress to enact a middle-class tax cut, announce that henceforth people making below a specified income level will not be punished for failing to pay taxes?  I'd be surprised if many people think he could do that, but I'm having some trouble seeing how the present policy is different."

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News from The Associated Press

News from The Associated Press: "ut the justices declined to issue a broad ruling on the constitutionality of the FCC's indecency policy. Instead, the court concluded only that broadcasters could not have known in advance that obscenities uttered during awards show programs and a brief display of nudity on an episode of ABC's "NYPD Blue" could give rise to penalties. ABC and 45 affiliates were hit with proposed fines totaling nearly $1.24 million."

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Hasn't that show been off the air for, like, 10 years?

EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty: "Mussolini wasn't just another socialist; he was the Lenin of Italy - the leader of the hard-line revolutionary faction.  And Mussolini wasn't just a "newspaperman"; he was the editor of Avanti!, the official newspaper of the Socialist Party."

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Althouse

Althouse: "But here’s the point I want to make about the stuff people say. Unless someone looks you in the eye and hisses, “You fucking asshole, I can’t wait until you die of this,” people are really trying their best. Just like being happy and sad, you will find yourself on both sides of the equation many times over your lifetime, either saying or hearing the wrong thing. Let’s all give each other a pass, shall we?"

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Concur.

Althouse

Althouse: "But Obama has suddenly chosen to look like Nixon. It must be worth it. And without the documents, we must speculate about what is in them."

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Althouse

Althouse: "But the video at the link, which bills itself as the "full Romney video" is still clipped out of context. It's not "unedited" as Wemple asserts! It lacks the anecdote about the optometrist dealing with government bureaucracy, which is why Romney told the Wawa story: for contrast. The point wasn't: gee whiz, technology is amazing. The point was: Government, unlike private business, lacks the incentives to make things easy and efficient. Yes, the new clip contains a summary to that effect, but the rest of the context is missing. The effort is to make Romney sound as silly and scattered as possible. Under criticism, some of the context was put back. But it was only enough to try to palm it off as context, and the Washington Post is promoting the palm-off."

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Another Comment

Is Obamacare Constitutional? - YouTube: "This is standard liberal argument for the constitutionality of Obamacare, but I think it is wrong. No supreme court case says congress can required a person to engage in economic activity. Raich was an attempt to stop an economic activity, not require it. Also, I don't think its fair to say that Wickard implicitly forced people to buy wheat. A person can live without wheat if congress forbids them from growing it."

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Factual Free-Market Fairness | Bleeding Heart Libertarians

Factual Free-Market Fairness | Bleeding Heart Libertarians: "How do I know that my narrative is better than yours?  The experiments of the 20th century told me so.  It would have been hard to know the wisdom of Friedrich Hayek or Milton Friedman or Matt Ridley or Deirdre McCloskey in August of 1914, before the experiments in large government were well begun.  But anyone who after the 20th century still thinks that thoroughgoing socialism, nationalism, imperialism, mobilization, central planning, regulation, zoning, price controls, tax policy, labor unions, business cartels, government spending, intrusive policing, adventurism in foreign policy, faith in entangling religion and politics, or most of the other thoroughgoing 19th-century proposals for governmental action are still neat, harmless ideas for improving our lives is not paying attention."

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Althouse

Althouse: "Public schools are essential to opportunity... They are also essential to democracy, since democracy requires an educated citizenry at large, as well as trained professionals in every community. Without education of the public, there can be no freedom."

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Has the U.S. always had public schools, if only for white males? I doubt it.

Factual Free-Market Fairness | Bleeding Heart Libertarians

Factual Free-Market Fairness | Bleeding Heart Libertarians: "To a discussion by political philosophers a mere fact woman like me, an economic historian trained in the 1960s as a transportation economist, has really only one thing to contribute.  It is, to slightly modify Cromwell’s imprecation to the Scottish Presbyterians in 1650, “I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible that you may be [factually] mistaken.”"

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Ronan Farrow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ronan Farrow - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "He is currently serving in the Obama administration as Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Global Youth Issues and director of the State Department's Global Youth Issues office."

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PJ Media » What Is Everyone So Worried About?

PJ Media » What Is Everyone So Worried About?: "We look at the sluggish economy, the nearly $16 trillion in debt, the crumbling world situation, and the sudden outbreak of bath-salt-fueled cannibalism, and we all start to feel like we’re nearing the end times."

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Meet Paul Clement, The Man On The Verge Of Destroying Obamacare - Business Insider

Meet Paul Clement, The Man On The Verge Of Destroying Obamacare - Business Insider: "“Let me just finish by saying I certainly appreciate what the Solicitor General says, that when you support a policy, you think that the policy spreads the blessings of liberty,” Clement said in his final argument, according to court transcripts. “But I would respectfully suggest that it's a very funny conception of liberty that forces somebody to purchase an insurance policy whether they want it or not.”"

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CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: Gordon Hinckley: Distinguished Religious Leader of the Mormons

CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: Gordon Hinckley: Distinguished Religious Leader of the Mormons: "Gordon B. Hinckley: Well, I am surprised. I am not shocked. I am surprised. I am disappointed in a sense because I -- it's my feeling that you cannot divorce private behavior from public leadership.

Larry King: Can't divorce it?

Gordon B. Hinckley: I don't believe so."

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CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: Gordon Hinckley: Distinguished Religious Leader of the Mormons

CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: Gordon Hinckley: Distinguished Religious Leader of the Mormons: "Larry King: Based on those figures, my wife will outlive me by 67 years?"

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Larry King makes fun of himself for being old. lol.

CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: Gordon Hinckley: Distinguished Religious Leader of the Mormons

CNN Transcript - Larry King Live: Gordon Hinckley: Distinguished Religious Leader of the Mormons: "Gordon B. Hinckley: Your question is well phrased, well taken. A lot of people feel just as you feel, I just get back to the fact that I would appreciate in our public leaders more of valuing personal probity. If you don't establish values at the top and live by those values, you seriously jeopardize behavior down below in the ranks.

Larry King: But when you say, as this woman is saying, he's doing a good job -- she's a Christian. You're of the Christian faith -- you don't call yourselves Christian, right.

Gordon B. Hinckley: Of course we do.

Larry King: You are Christian. OK. You're of the faith.

Gordon B. Hinckley: Yes."

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Science Demands Big Government - Dennis Prager - National Review Online

Science Demands Big Government - Dennis Prager - National Review Online: "Whereas until now the democratic Left has attempted to persuade humanity that left-wing policies are inherently progressive, this Harvard professor has gone a huge step farther. Left-wing policies are scientifically based. This is exactly how the Soviet Communists defended their totalitarian system. Everything they advocated was naoochni, “scientific.”
To differ with the Left is not only definitionally sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist, and bigoted (SIXHIRB, as I have labeled it) — it is now against science itself."

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This is one of the big reasons I'm not inclined to concede that partisans reject "facts" in reaching their conclusions. People are way to eager to declare their personal political philosophy to be scientific truth.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg predicts 'sharp disagreement' among justices - POLITICO.com

Ruth Bader Ginsburg predicts 'sharp disagreement' among justices - POLITICO.com: "Careful not to tip her hand on the court’s ruling — expected in the next two weeks — Ginsburg described the oral arguments in the case as unprecedented for the number of “press conferences, prayer circles, protests and counterprotests” that occurred on the courthouse steps."


Ginsburg noted that one ACA-related question the court must decide is whether the whole law must fall if the individual mandate is unconstitutional — “or may the mandate be chopped, like a head of broccoli, from the rest of it?”

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This could just be bad reporting, but, there's no reason the court has to decide the severability issue, if the mandate is constitutional. Seems to me like she's implying the mandate will be held unconstitutional.

The Myth of the Good Conservative - Jonah Goldberg - National Review Online

The Myth of the Good Conservative - Jonah Goldberg - National Review Online: "Former Florida governor Jeb Bush reignited the topic by lamenting how Reagan couldn’t be nominated today because the GOP has become too rigid and ideological for even the Gipper. I think Jeb Bush is one of the best conservative politicians in the country, but this was not his best moment. Assuming Mitt Romney gets the nomination, here are the GOP nominees since Reagan left office: Bush I, Dole (Gerald Ford’s running-mate in 1976), Bush II, McCain, and, finally, Romney — the Massachusetts moderate the Tea Party spent much of the last months lambasting as, well, a Massachusetts moderate.

Look at all those crazy right-wingers!

Looking at that record, any rational person would conclude that Reagan couldn’t get elected today because the party has become too liberal."

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Do we need more education?

Do we need more education?: "Obama wants to grow the public sector and so does Krugman. They both want more teachers (and police and firefighters, presumably.) The current level is never optimal. More is better. It doesn’t matter if the number has grown dramatically lately. More is better. Similarly, we never spend enough on education. So if you want to spend less on education, that means you’re against education. The fact that there is little evidence that spending more actually produces more education is ignored. Spending on education is presumed to produce more education. Similarly, adding teachers and reducing class size means more education even if there is little evidence of this effect."

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The Grumpy Economist: Taylor's "First Principles"

The Grumpy Economist: Taylor's "First Principles": "If people are forward-looking, and adjust their behavior to new circumstances, then economic policy works best when formulated as a rule. Government's adherence to known rules allows people to have a better sense of what is coming, and therefore to make more-informed decisions about long-range plans. (p. 23)
John continues, 
Setting out a sensible rule and sticking to it also helps policymakers resist interest-group pressure. Rather than having to consider the merits of every special-interest plea for more government support, a rule can set a standard that applies to all cases and limits the role of government broadly. "

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Compromise only as good as the purpose, result - Politics and Public Opinion - AEI

Compromise only as good as the purpose, result - Politics and Public Opinion - AEI: "From the conservative perspective, this is madness. It is like saying Republicans must agree to let Obama drive the country off a cliff, but Democrats must be willing to negotiate how fast the car goes. And if a Republican counsels hitting the brakes or pulling a U-turn, he is dubbed "extreme" by the establishment cognoscenti."

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Compromise only as good as the purpose, result - Politics and Public Opinion - AEI

Compromise only as good as the purpose, result - Politics and Public Opinion - AEI: " Conservatism, rightly understood, does not consider compromise a dirty word. "All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter," observed Edmund Burke, the founder of modern conservatism."

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New French Ads Poke Fun at the British Olympian - Businessweek

New French Ads Poke Fun at the British Olympian - Businessweek: "Playing on national stereotypes in advertisements can be a delicate undertaking—snackmaker Popchips recently had to retract a series of ads featuring Ashton Kutcher in brownface doing a ludicrous Indian accent. "

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WHAT!!!!!

New French Ads Poke Fun at the British Olympian - Businessweek

New French Ads Poke Fun at the British Olympian - Businessweek: "A new French ad campaign for Eurostar, the high-speed train connecting Paris to London’s Waterloo station, pokes fun at the latter city’s Olympic aspirations. The posters, created by Paris ad agency Leg, depict two Grecian statues reminiscent of the iconic discus thrower—but instead of the discus, the statues are holding darts and a pool cue, respectively. And instead of a chiseled physique, they display protruding beer guts and doughy pectorals."

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The Left Loves Science? - By David French - The Corner - National Review Online

The Left Loves Science? - By David French - The Corner - National Review Online: "I’ve got a great idea for a screenplay. Hollywood should love it, and it’s even based on a true story.

A lone research professor discovers that powerful interests are manipulating science to foist upon the people of a state a series of unjust regulations. But that’s not all. As he digs down into the data, he discovers corruption and misconduct. The state’s lead “scientist” turns out to have a fake degree, purchased from a fictitious “Thornhill University.” Moreover, key members of the state’s “scientific review panel” have overstayed term limits by decades. The professor blows the whistle, the scientist with the fake degree is suspended, the scientific review panel dislodges its entrenched members (at least temporarily), and the state begins to rethink its long-held assumptions."

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The Social Contract - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Social Contract - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The Social Contract argued against the idea that monarchs were divinely empowered to legislate; as Rousseau asserts, only the people, in the form of the sovereign, have that all powerful right."

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I’m a Mormon, Not a Christian - NYTimes.com

I’m a Mormon, Not a Christian - NYTimes.com: "Christians respond that because Mormons don’t believe — in accordance with the Nicene Creed promulgated in the fourth century — that Jesus is also the Father and the Holy Spirit, the Jesus that Mormons have in mind is someone else altogether. The Mormon reaction is incredulity. The Christian retort is exasperation. Rinse and repeat."

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Hmmm. I'm not saying people doesn't use this reason, but I've never heard it before. I've heard Mormon refusal to accept the Nicene Creed is important (but don't some protestants reject that too?) I have heard we're not Christian because we believe we can become gods. I've heard we're not Christian because we have the Book of Mormon, which adds to the bible. I've heard we're not Christian because we believe in modern revelation.  I've heard we are not christian because we believe we are saved by works instead of by faith in Christ (which, obviously, is not true.) I have never heard that our believe about the trinity being separate--which again, I think protestants believe, too-- is what makes us non-Christian.

I think this guy is giving anti-Mormons way too much credit.They are not nearly as consistent in their arguments for why Mormons are non-Christian. This is not some kind of conclusion that anti-Mormons have reached reasoning from first principles. Instead, this is a conclusion, arising from prejudice against Mormons, in search of a justification. The fact that the justifications are all over the map and have nothing to do with believing in Christ prove this.

This guy's article misses the point of arguing over the term "Christian." The point is that by labeling Mormons non-Christian, other Christians want to give those unfamiliar with the LDS church the impression that Mormon's do not believe in the divinity of Christ. Mormons correctly rejected the label "non-Christian" because we do believe in Christ's divinity and we do not want to allow others to misrepresent our doctrine.

Here's a perfect example from the comments:

• DWS
• New Ulm, Minnesota

NYT Pick

FLAG

But isn't the key point that a Christian believes and confesses that Jesus is the Savior and only path to heaven, while a Mormon does not believe Jesus is his or her Savior? Belief in Jesus Christ as Savior is what sets Christians apart from Mormons, Jews, and followers of Islam.

For a Christian it's not enough to "emulate more perfectly the sinless son of God"; for a Christian it is necessary to believe that Jesus is the Savior and without faith in Him there is no salvation.

Yes, that is the key point.

Paternalistic policy: Against baby authoritarianism | The Economist

Paternalistic policy: Against baby authoritarianism | The Economist: "According to J.S. Mill, "the burden of proof is supposed to be with those who are against liberty; who contend for any restriction or prohibition... The a priori assumption is in favour of freedom..."  I'm afraid Mr Noah's casual embrace of "baby authoritarianism" illustrates just how thoroughly the technocratic paternalism of American progressivism extinguished the liberal instincts of the left."

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The Unbroken Window

The Unbroken Window: "So no responsible person would ever take the rated capacity of each turbine, multiply it by the number of turbines and then say that this is how much power available to homes. That’s just about as responsible as me saying that I know lighting will strike my home some day, and if/when it does it has enough energy in it for me to power my home forever."

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Citizen Dave: Eat Walker's brats already - Isthmus | The Daily Page

Citizen Dave: Eat Walker's brats already - Isthmus | The Daily Page: "In Wisconsin, when a man offers you a brat, you take it from his hand, thank him, apply spicy brown mustard and sauerkraut (but never ketchup) and eat it while drinking his beer."

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Scott Walker disputes Mitt Romney’s ‘message of Wisconsin’ - Political Intelligence - A national political and campaign blog from The Boston Globe - Boston.com

Scott Walker disputes Mitt Romney’s ‘message of Wisconsin’ - Political Intelligence - A national political and campaign blog from The Boston Globe - Boston.com: "Mitt Romney has embraced Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in the wake of his recall election victory last week, but Walker kept Romney and his interpretation of the win at arm’s length Sunday.

Romney said Friday that Obama “wants another stimulus; he wants to hire more government workers. He says we need more firemen, more policemen, more teachers. Did he not get the message of Wisconsin? The American people did. It’s time for us to cut back on government and help the American people.”

Walker said during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the message of Wisconsin isn’t exactly what Romney claimed.

“I think it’s slightly different,” Walker said. “I think in our case what they wanted was people who are willing to take on the tough issues, not only here in Wisconsin but across the country.”"

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The Corner - National Review Online

The Corner - National Review Online: "Before heading off for a breakfast Thursday that officially concluded his two-day fundraising trip to Los Angeles, President Barack Obama met privately at the Beverly Hilton with two dozen of Hollywood’s hottest young stars, urging them to involve themselves in his re-election campaign.

Among those who met with the president were The Avengers star Jeremy Renner, Glee actress Dianna Agron, Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto, Southland’s Ben McKenzie, Jessica Alba, Bryan Greenberg, Adam Rodriguez, Zach Braff, Brandon Routh, Ian Somerhalder, Jared Leto, Kal Penn and Sophia Bush."

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I saw the photos. Is it just me, or is there something unseemly about this?

Defining Anti-Mormon

What I decided to write in my comment:

"I think Mormonism is a "non-Christian religion" but I don't see that as somehow being anti-Mormon."

Actually, it is completely anti-Mormon.

A "Christian" religion is a faith that asserts Christ atoned for our sins. This belief, of course, is a central tenant of the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Calling Mormons non-Christians is a game that anti-Mormons like to play, I think, to mislead the uninitiated about LDS doctrine. First they identify some difference between Mormon doctrine and other Christian faiths' doctrine that they think is out of the mainstream. Then they define being "Christian" as turning on that difference and declare that Mormons are non-Christians. The effect (if not the intent) is to giving people the impression that Mormons do not believe in Christ or his atonement.

Other than misleading people about Mormon doctrine (which is obviously anti-Mormon), the only other reason anti-Mormons can possible care so much about labeling Mormons non-Christian is that they want to make sure people understand loud and clear, that Mormons are not part of the group! Any effort by other Christians this sustained to disassociate from Mormons is, by definition, anti-Mormon.

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2012/06/making-mormons-look-bad-helps-others.html

Reading this thread, I encounter the usual anti-Mormon trope. Paddy O writes:

"I think Mormonism is a "non-Christian religion" but I don't see that as somehow being anti-Mormon."

Actually, it is completely anti-Mormon.  

A "Christian" religion is a faith that asserts Christ atoned for our sins. This believe, of course, is a central tenant of the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (lest you forget the real name of Mormon church.) So Mormonism is Christian, and Mormons are Christians.

But calling Mormons non-Christians is a game that anti-Mormons like to play. But they can't play it using the commonly accepted definition of "Christian" because Mormons are so obviously Christian using that definition. So, first they identify some difference between LDS doctrine and other Christian faiths' doctrine that they think is out of the mainstream, and then they define being "Christian" as rejecting that difference, even though the belief in question does not call alter Mormons' belief in Christ.  Regardless,  anti-Mormons then declare that Mormons are non-Christians, with the effect, if not the intent, of giving others the impression that Mormons do not believe in Christ or his atonement.


So in this thread we see Paddy O saying Mormon's aren't Christians because they "add a whole other book to the foundations." So, having the Book of Mormon, (subtitled, Another Testament of Jesus Christ) makes you non-Christian.  (Do variances between the Catholic bible and protestant bible make Catholics non-Christian, too?) Or Freeman Hunt writes, "Under [Mormonism], men seek to become God, just as God is God, perfected beings in control of their own universes. This is incompatible with the latter which sees God as one and only." (Except that its More than Just Mormons who believe that God the Father is separate from Christ, and the Holy Ghost, who are also gods.)  So again Mormons, who believe we can only become like God through Christ's atonement, are again, non-Christians. Obviously, neither of these doctrinal differences casts any doubt on Mormons' belief in Christ's divinity.


Other than misleading the ignorant about Mormon doctrine, the only other reason anti-Mormons (let's face it--mostly evangelicals) can possible care so much about labeling Mormons non-Christian is that they want to make sure people understand loud and clear: Mormons are not part of our group! But these ardent and sustained efforts of  other Christians to disassociate themselves from Mormons are, by definition, anti-Mormon.

Anti-Mormonism, Past and Present - NYTimes.com

Anti-Mormonism, Past and Present - NYTimes.com: "Contemporary anti-Mormonism tends to emerge either from the secular left or from the evangelical Protestant right."

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Bipartisanship at last!

Anti-Mormonism, Past and Present - NYTimes.com

Anti-Mormonism, Past and Present - NYTimes.com: "As a recent example, the Broadway hit “The Book of Mormon” lampoons the religion’s naïveté on racial issues, which is striking given that the most biting criticisms have focused on the show’s representations of Africans and blackness."

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The Corner - National Review Online

The Corner - National Review Online: "THE COURT: –Very quickly. And I’m not going to talk about those ways, but boy, it ended fast. I even can tell you, when I grew up in my community, you wanted to date an Italian girl, you had to get the Italian boy’s permission. But that was the old neighborhoods back in the city. And it was really fair. When someone did something up there to you, your sister, your girlfriend, you got some friends to take them for a ride in the back of the truck.

Over the years, I’ve faced unsympathetic judges in various courts around the world, but I can’t recall ever listening to such a stream of unjudicial drivel from the bench as that which poured from Judge Vaughey. If Andy McCarthy or Ed Whelan or our other legal eagles can help me here, I’m genuinely curious: Is this Vaughey clod unusually awful? Or all too typical?"

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Framed : Six Questions for Sanford Levinson—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine)

Framed : Six Questions for Sanford Levinson—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine): "6. You write, “If we assumed that the president has the power to initiate war, commandeer funds and resources for war, and conduct it at any time for any reason in any manner he pleases, he would be a constitutional dictator with respect to war.” Does the recent experience of the Libya campaign suggest that the president’s war-making powers are creeping toward constitutional dictatorship?


Again, the answer can be given all too briefly: yes. One of the things I am trying to do, both in my writing and teaching, is to revive a serious discussion of the notion of “constitutional dictatorship”—the title of a brilliant and troubling book from 1948 by Clinton Rossiter."

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Framed : Six Questions for Sanford Levinson—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine)

Framed : Six Questions for Sanford Levinson—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine): "One can understand their reluctance. A central trope of the critical literature, such as Robert Dahl’s How Democratic is the American Constitution?—answer: not very—is that nothing can be done to cure the ills, given the most truly dreadful part of the Constitution: Article V, the amendment provision. Practically speaking, it is next to impossible to amend the Constitution with regard to anything truly important."

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I wish more liberals were forthright about their contempt for the constitution. I think that this would be more fruitful conversation than everyone claiming the constitution evolved to their current policy preferences.

Framed : Six Questions for Sanford Levinson—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine)

Framed : Six Questions for Sanford Levinson—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine): "The American Constitution has been the subject, just as Thomas Jefferson predicted, of a great deal of “sanctimonious reverence,” especially from American politicians who make comments demonstrating they know little about it. But the Constitution has few more-dedicated critics than political scientist and law professor Sanford Levinson, who has offered the most thorough explanation yet of why it has effectively ceased to be an attractive model to other nations around the world."

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Wellesley High School Teacher David McCullough, Jr. Tells His Students ‘You’re Not Special’ | Video | TheBlaze.com

Wellesley High School Teacher David McCullough, Jr. Tells His Students ‘You’re Not Special’ | Video | TheBlaze.com: " In our unspoken but not so subtle Darwinian competition with one another-which springs, I think, from our fear of our own insignificance, a subset of our dread of mortality – we have of late, we Americans, to our detriment, come to love accolades more than genuine achievement.  We have come to see them as the point – and we’re happy to compromise standards, or ignore reality, if we suspect that’s the quickest way, or only way, to have something to put on the mantelpiece, something to pose with, crow about, something with which to leverage ourselves into a better spot on the social totem pole.  No longer is it how you play the game, no longer is it even whether you win or lose, or learn or grow, or enjoy yourself doing it…  Now it’s “So what does this get me?”"

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Greg Mankiw's Blog

Greg Mankiw's Blog: "A friend sends along this snapshot from an Occupy protest at Harvard's commencement this week.  For the record: I fully support sunshine."

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What Jack White Can Teach Us About Economics - Forbes

What Jack White Can Teach Us About Economics - Forbes: "make no mistake, we could make twenty thousand split color whatevers for you, and they’ll be worth 20 bucks, and you’ll pay 20 bucks for them, and you’ll never talk about them, desire them, hunt to find them, etc. why should ebay flippers, who are not real fans, dictate the price, make all the profit (taken from the artist and the label) and take the records out of the hands of real fans. there’s a guy who waits in a black suv down the block from third man who hires homeless people to go buy him tri colors when they are on sale. doesn’t even get out of his car. should he be charged ten bucks or two hundred? don’t be spoiled, don’t insult people who are trying to give you what you want."

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Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge

Cafe Hayek — where orders emerge: "The reaction to the May employment report has been depressingly predictable: Republicans have been gleefully proclaiming that President Obama’s fiscal stimulus didn’t work. Many people who commented on my post about the political impact of the job figures parroted the same line, arguing that the lacklustre economy demonstrates Keynesianism is a bust.

Having spent much of the past three years reading and writing about this subject, I wonder whether it is even worth engaging with these arguments. The aversion to government spending, and government activity generally, which animates many Americans isn’t actually based on economics, or logic: it is an emotionally driven belief system, founded upon a cockeyed view of American history and buttressed by a variety of right-wing shibboleths."

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Michelle Obama clarifies remarks on N.Y.C. drink ban - Associated Press - POLITICO.com

Michelle Obama clarifies remarks on N.Y.C. drink ban - Associated Press - POLITICO.com: "In an interview with The Associated Press, Obama said there’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution for the country’s health challenges. Asked specifically about Bloomberg’s proposal, she said, “We applaud anyone who’s stepping up to think about what changes work in their communities. New York is one example.”"

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The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "Suppose the Justices who are usually called “conservative” were to resign tomorrow and be replaced by President Obama. The reconstituted Court still would find lots of cases to be hard. It would grant review of those hard cases and decide many of them five to four. Cases that the Roberts Court finds hard and decides 5-4, this hypothetical Court would find easy and decide 9-0; lawyers would stop presenting those disputes. But they would bring more and more of the disputes that divide the new Court."

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George Will: Wisconsin’s Peter Pan progressivism - The Washington Post

George Will: Wisconsin’s Peter Pan progressivism - The Washington Post: "This state, the first to let government employees unionize, was an incubator of progressivism and gave birth to its emblematic institution, the government employees union (in 1932 in Madison, the precursor of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) — government organized as a special interest to lobby itself to expand itself. "

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The Unbroken Window

The Unbroken Window: "According to the EIA, average retail gas prices in 1998 were $1.06. In March of this year, average prices exceeded $3.86. Even after considering that the price level in the economy increased by 41% over this time period, the real price of gasoline seems to have increased by a factor of  over 2.5. So if gas prices rise by just a few more cents, as they “surely” will, then we’ve achieved our emissions reductions targets. Global warming problem solved. Right?"

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The Volokh Conspiracy » Funniest Comment on the New York Times online

The Volokh Conspiracy » Funniest Comment on the New York Times online: "Just don’t get caught with the weed AND A 24 OUNCE COKE!"

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32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com

32 Innovations That Will Change Your Tomorrow - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com: "When we ignore how innovation actually works, we make it hard to see what’s happening right in front of us today. If you don’t know that the incandescent light was a failure before it was a success, it’s easy to write off some modern energy innovations — like solar panels — because they haven’t hit the big time fast enough."

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But didn't people write off the incandescent bulb for 40 years? so maybe writing off the invention is the secret to its success.

Amazon.com: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't (9780066620992): Jim Collins: Books

Amazon.com: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't (9780066620992): Jim Collins: Books: "Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae (!!!!!!!), Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success."

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The Corner - National Review Online

The Corner - National Review Online: "I think it would be an insult to the Hispanic community to choose Senator Rubio if he thinks that that is somehow — if Governor Romney thinks that’s sort of a get-out-of-jail-free card for all of the things and the positions that he’s taken . . . I don’t think Marco Rubio will exonerate Governor Romney for the very, very extreme positions that he’s taken on immigration."

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Bill Maher calls Mormonism a ‘cult’ - The Washington Post

Bill Maher calls Mormonism a ‘cult’ - The Washington Post: "Why even listen to #MittRomney on foreign policy? His entire FP experience is 2 yrs trying to brow-beat Frenchmen into joining his cult"

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Is Mitt Romney’s Mormonism fair game? - The Washington Post

Is Mitt Romney’s Mormonism fair game? - The Washington Post: "Regardless of its impetus, the campaign’s response gets at a crucial challenge for the news media: to educate the public about an unfamiliar faith unusually central to a candidate’s formation without treating Mormonism as biographical exotica that could fuel prejudices."

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" the offender
declares himself to live by another rule than that of reason and common
equity, which is that measure God has set to the actions of men, for their
mutual security; and so he becomes dangerous to mankind, the tye, which is
to secure them from injury and violence, being slighted and broken by him."

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" they are his property, whose
workmanship they are, made to last during his, not one another's pleasure: "

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Self-Government | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty

Self-Government | The Freeman | Ideas On Liberty: "But such government, regardless of its merits, is not really self-government. It is government by the elected. No amount of romantic praise of democracy can change the fact that even the best popularly elected government routinely obliges Smith—against his will—to do the bidding of Jones."

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Dreaming of a Superhero - NYTimes.com

Dreaming of a Superhero - NYTimes.com: "His New York girlfriend, Genevieve Cook, told Maraniss that Obama confessed to her that “he felt like an impostor. Because he was so white. There was hardly a black bone in his body.” When she predicted that his future might be with a black woman — “That lithe, bubbly, strong black lady is waiting somewhere!” she wrote in her journal — he told her “he doubted there were any black women he would feel truly comfortable with. I would tell him, ‘No, she is out there.’ ”

He wanted to get out of the corporate world he found so distasteful — he described himself as “a spy behind enemy lines” — and reimagine himself as a politician."

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What Has Jerusalem To Do With Athens? - NYTimes.com

What Has Jerusalem To Do With Athens? - NYTimes.com: "Whereas much of today’s liberalism expects me to respect its moral fervor even as it denies the revelation that once justified that fervor in the first place. It insists that it is a purely secular and scientific enterprise even as it grounds its politics in metaphysical claims."

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