The Supremes spoke this morning, and conservatives cheered. But, today is not a day to celebrate.
In a “limited ruling,” the Supreme Court held that for-profit companies can claim a religious exemption to providing Obamacare mandated contraceptive coverage. Conservatives lauded the 5-4 decision as a victory. Rep. John Boehner took to Twitter proclaim a great win for freedom.
#HobbyLobby decision is a victory for religious freedom http://t.co/LS1oqCmnVi
— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) June 30, 2014
I’ve not dug into the decision at all, but regardless of how the five-justice majority opined, I don’t consider this a great victory for liberty or the Constitution. In fact, the decision illustrates just how far America has strayed from constitutional fidelity and genuine freedom.
To you conservatives in celebration mode as you dissect the overlords’ opinion on religious beliefs and health insurance mandates, you might want to pause for just a moment and contemplate the absurdity of five federal employees making decisions like this for some 350 million people.
At what point did American become an oligarchy? At what point did Americans become the kind of people who sit on the edge of their chairs with baited breath waiting for five politically connected federal employees to tell them what is and isn’t permissible? How did a simply majority of nine judges gain control over your basic rights?
You let them. And you endorse them.
This decision represents America’s continuing slide away from its foundation of limited constitutional government.
The notion that the federal government runs a “health care system” is absurd on its face. But now, many conservatives celebrate the fact that the political class will allow some religious discretion within that blatantly unconstitutional system. By lauding this decision as victory, they tacitly consent to the idea that the government has this kind of power and authority in the first place. Calling this some kind of victory concedes a million miles of constitutional ground.
Call it a victory if you like, but know you have allowed the enemy to define the terms.