SCOTUS Schmotus

If you are scratching your head trying to figure out why The Supreme Court consistently defies the language of the Constitution, you are in good company.  If you are further scratching your head trying to figure out how the same court can defy the language of statutory law, you are also not alone. But don't despair, help is on the way.

In a case of perfect timing, Charles Murray's new book "By the People" is a great read for the head scratchers.  The book explains why the "Madisonian" structures that got us here are in ruins and how we can use new tools to counterbalance the metastatic government those structures were designed to thwart.  It's important to know that those structures are long gone and that looking to their remnants for salvation is a fools errand.  Railing against a President, a Legislature, or even the Court is a waste of energy.  Nothing within government can reverse the growth of government no matter who's in charge.  But that doesn't mean there's nothing that can be done.  Murray offers some hopeful solutions for a possible counter-insurgency strategy.

On the subject of gay marriage, I'm one of a rare breed who actually supports gay marriage while at the same time deplore that it was enacted by the SCOTUS.  On the ObamaCare decision, I oppose both the law and the decision.  Ditto on the disparate impact decision.  It was a rough week made a bit easier thanks to Murray's book.

   
Footnotes:

Here's what I wrote a couple of years ago (2013) about gay marriage:

I'm sorry, I find the marriage equality symbol particularly annoying.  Personally, I don't give a whit who marries who as long as it's consensual and between adults.  But I can't abide hypocrisy.   Gay and straight proponents of this new "right" are almost uniformly opposed to plural marriage.  These sanctimonious hypocrites are the same folks who just spent the last year dragging Mormonism through the mud behind their Priuses ridiculing the faith and its plural marriage history.  These are the tolerant ones who want equality?  I call bullshit.  Why not a right for all marriages?  With that in mind, I offer the plural marriage equality symbol above.  (or more accurately, the any marriage congruence symbol.)

Also this from 2013:

Gay marriage is usually thought of as a cultural issue or a human rights issue and of course it is on some level.  But there is not a single state in the union in which it is not possible for gay couples to legally and openly live together as a couple.  Moreover, turn on a TV today and gay characters are everywhere, attesting to their complete acceptance and ordinariness in pop culture. 

Yet there is still a huge issue separating gay and straight couples and in most cases it boils down to money.   Here is a partial list of the legal and financial entitlements which currently are not available to gay couples:

• Social Security Survivor Benefits

• Estate Tax Exemptions

• Inheritance Exemptions

• Tax Free Transfers To Spouses

• Joint Filing (which can lower taxes)

• Health Insurance Rates

• Government Employee Spousal Benefits

• Workman's Compensation

• Preferential Standing in Wrongful Death

• Miscellaneous Federal and State Benefits

• Approx. 1,138 Legal Rights (according to GLAD)

Most of the above list are areas which the Federal Government was not intended by the founders to be involved in in the first place.  But now it is in an ever expanding role, and the financial fate of gay and straight couples alike relies on it's laws and re-distributional largesse.   Despite losing consistently at the polls, big money is flowing the other way because even bigger money is at stake in the gay marriage debate.  It is for this reason that a federal law endorsing gay marriage is inevitable.   Just follow the money.   

And here's what I wrote about a possible counter insurgency strategy also in 2013:

Impeach Obama?  Ain't gonna happen.  I don't care how bad these scandals are, and they are really bad, we are stuck with Obama for the duration.  Practically everyone in media, entertainment, and academia voted for Obama.  If you voted for Obama you most likely: a) don't know about the scandals, b) would never admit you screwed-up,  c) say, "what difference does it make?", d) think it's all Bush's fault, or e) all the above.  This makes impeachment and removal impossible. 

There is another way to act decisively; just avoid paying taxes!  If you are among the informed and intelligent minority who believe Obama should be removed, if you believe he used the IRS like a Gestapo to kill dissent, if you believe he abused his power, if you believe he used the DOJ like a KGB to spy on his detractors, if you believe he lied when he knowingly blamed the Benghazi attack on an innocent videographer who still sits in jail to this day, then you should defund him.  Go Galt, invest in tax free municipal bonds, barter, live off your assets, go off the grid, start a non-profit (you may want to think about that last one), tell your Congressman to defund him.  Do everything you can to legally avoid federal taxes and defund Obama.  That's the only way. 

BTW, break no laws!  We can defund Obama legally if we work together.  You will never eliminate all your taxes, but you can certainly avoid a bunch if you make changes.    Remember, GE pays no taxes and breaks no laws.  Of course, you will never have the advantages of government access and legal advice that Obama's friend GE has, but you can probably cut your tax liability with some effort.  Make the effort.  Defund Obama.  It's all you can do, unless you're content with just fuming.