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Written by Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell | Aug 3, 2022

This is an e******n year. But the issues this year are not about Democrats and Republicans. The big issue is whether this nation has degenerated to a point of no return — a point where we risk destroying ourselves, before our enemies can destroy us.

If there is one moment that symbolized our degeneration, it was when an enraged mob gathered in front of the Supreme Court and a leader of the United States Senate, Charles Schumer, shouted threats against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, saying “You won’t know what hit you!”

There have always been irresponsible demagogues. But there was once a time when anyone who shouted threats to a Supreme Court Justice would see the end of his own political career, and could not show his face in decent society again.

You either believe in laws or you believe in mob rule. It doesn’t matter whether you agree with the law or agree with the mob on some particular issue. If threats of violence against judges — and publishing where a judge’s children go to school — is the way to settle issues, then there is not much point in having e******ns or laws.

There is also not much point in expecting to have freedom. Threats and violence were the way the N**is came to power in Germany. Freedom is not free. If you can’t be bothered to v**e against storm-trooper tactics — regardless of who engages in them, or over what issue — then you can forfeit your freedom.

Worse yet, you can forfeit the freedom of generations not yet born.

Some people seem to think that the Supreme Court has banned a******ns. It has done nothing of the sort.

The Supreme Court has in fact done something very different, something long overdue and potentially historic. It has said that their own court had no business making policy decisions which nothing in the Constitution gave them the authority to make.

Get out a copy of the Constitution — and see if you can find anything in there that says the federal government is authorized to make laws about a******n.

Check out the 10th Amendment, which says that the federal government is limited to the specific powers it was granted, with all other powers going to the states or to the people.

Why do we elect legislators to do what the v**ers want done, if unelected judges are going to make up laws on their own, instead of applying the laws that elected officials passed?

This is part of a very long struggle that has been going on for more than 100 years. Back in the early 20th century, Progressives like President Woodrow Wilson decided that the Constitution put too many limits on the powers they wanted to use.

Claiming that it was nearly impossible to amend the Constitution, Progressives advocated that judges “interpret” the Constitutional limits out of the way.

This was just the first in a long series of sophistries.

In reality, the Constitution was amended 4 times in 8 years — from 1913 through 1920 — during the heyday of the Progressive era.

When the people wanted the Constitution amended, it was amended. When the elites wanted the Constitution amended, but the people did not, that is called democracy.

Another great sophistry was using the federal government’s authority to regulate interstate commerce to call all sorts of other things interstate commerce. In 1995, elites were shocked when the Supreme Court ruled — 5 to 4— that carrying a gun near a school was not interstate commerce.

States had a right to ban carrying a gun near a school, and most of them did. But the federal government had no such authority. Nor did the Constitution give the federal government the right to make laws about a******n, one way or the other.

What both state and federal laws do have the right to stop is threats against judges and their families.

This is not a partisan issue. The Republican governor of Virginia is providing protection to Supreme Court Justices who live in that state. But the Republican governor of Maryland seems to think that harassing judges and their families is no big deal.

V**ers need to find out who is for or against mob rule, whether they are Democrats or Republicans. We are not going to be a free or decent society otherwise.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

It is truly disheartening to see the level to which we have fallen.
--Bob

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

If democrats maintain house and senate this round .
The only way to save the nation is a real i**********n.
The democrats will never lose another e******n if they win this one.
Not because of v**es but as Stalin said, it is who counts the v**es.

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

I'm in favor of protesting in a justices neighborhood when called for, but only at a safe enough distance so as not to endanger their safety. If a justice isn't able to handle people protesting what they do, maybe they shouldn't have taken the job, but they should never be put in danger of violence. Thoreau said that anyone doing civil disobedience should be willing to take the legal consequences. (not an exact quote)

thom w Loc: San Jose, CA

When have Democrats ever tried to get f**e e*****rs in instead of the real ones? In 5 States if I recall correctly.

btbg

Well, here is at least one example.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/07/1960-e*******l-college-certificates-false-trump-e*****rs-00006186

jcboy3

Roe v Wade upheld a******n as a reflection of individual liberty and due process in the Constitution. The decision to overturn was a slap in the face of proponents of individual liberty and it's corollary "right to privacy". It basically says if the state wants to probe your a** it can whenever it wants.

The Supreme Court told women to bend over and hang on to their ankles.

JRiepe Loc: Southern Illinois

Amen.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

Well written.

But there are many similar "points of no return" that could be argued in a similar manner. The "antics" of Trump and his cohorts to undermine democracy with The Big Lie hugely "trumps" the case being argued in the article.

DukeTarHeel Loc: NC's "Research Triangle"

Frank T Loc: New York, NY

The Constitution is in serious need of a rewrite.
Why on earth, in 2022 should we be worried about what a bunch of men in the 18th century, thought was appropriate?
Remember, these were the guys who thought women shouldn't v**e, only White Male landowners had the right to v**e and that owning another human being was just fine.
I really envy countries like Canada, and Great Britain. and a hundred others that govern for the 21st Century and the results are obvious. They have things like free medical care, free college, high-speed rail, better roads and six weeks paid vacation, while we work all our lives just to stay afloat.
I for one would welcome a re-write, if it weren't for the lunatics in the Republican Party who long to bring us back to the 1789

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

It is truly heartening to see some more enlightening thoughts from the brilliant Thomas Sowell.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

And remember that Madison, the "Father" of The Constitution, was in his mid-to-late-30s when all of that went down. Just a kid, really!(OK, not in those days. I am sure he was much more mature than Matt Gaetz who is 40.)

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

And definitely more mature than you at any age you have been and any level of service to the country you have given.

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

No need for the personal insult, really. But that's OK, I like to think of myself as younger than my years.