“A man who has made no enemies is probably not a very good man.”  Judge Scalia

“Individuals who have been wronged by unlawful racial discrimination should be made whole; but under our Constitution there can be no such thing as either a creditor or a debtor race. That concept is alien to the Constitution’s focus upon the individual . . . . To pursue the concept of racial entitlement – even for the most admirable and benign of purposes – is to reinforce and preserve for future mischief the way of thinking that produced race slavery, race privilege and race hatred. In the eyes of government, we are just one race here. It is American.” Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Peña, 515 U.S. 200, 239 (1995) (Scalia, J., concurring)

The passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in his sleep gives me a sadness that I do not usually feel for lawyers and politicians.   Only God knows what is in the heart of people; we can only guess but I feel that we can be safe in our assumption that Justice Scalia was a good man. And he was  a very good Justice.  That is unless you are a lefty who sees no value in anything that has standards.  And Justice Scalia had standards.  I felt that with him on the bench there was a connection to the American tradition of individualism, fairness and family.  I do not know all his court opinions or decisions and I am sure that I would not agree with all of them but the several I do know leads me to suspect that I agree with more than less.  One of the big decisions that the left really gets hot under the collar with is the 2000 decision that essentially gave George W. Bush the victory over Al Gore.  What the critics always fail to mention is that it was a 7 – 2 decision by the Supreme Court.  That means that at least a couple of liberal judges voted with the majority and it turns out they got it right.  Well after Bush was sworn in the New York Times (not exactly a right wing rag) completed the vote tally in Florida and lo and behold George W. Bush did in fact beat Al Gore.   In a 2005 case Kelo vs. City of New London,  concerning eminent domain he sided with the losing side which again time has proven the minority opinion correct.  He sided with the homeowners and against the town of New London and the developers.  It was the liberal wing of the court that sided with the developers and the homeowners were forced to move.  The land is still undeveloped as the original plans fell through and as of 2014 the land was used to dump storm refuse.  In the flag burning as freedom of speech case he sided with the majority even though his own view on the action of flag burning was the opposite.

I am saddened for the United States most of all; for his passing is our loss.  He was a staunch Federalist; meaning that he believed in the separation of powers between the three branches of government.  He was against the Judiciary making law.  He felt that it was the Legislative branch’s job to make law, not the Judiciary or Executive branch.  He believed that the Constitution is a solid foundation not something that is fluid and shifting with every passing whim.  I am afraid that his is a fading belief as the Judiciary becomes more politicized.

Finally, you can tell a lot about a person by the company he keeps and his friends.  His closest friend on the Court was none other than Ruth Ginsberg.  Polar opposites politically but both are of the generation that respected other’s viewpoints whether you agreed with them or not.  Our current society can learn much from that generation in that respect.  Justice Scalia’s passing is another underpinning of what made America great being knocked out and furthers our decline as a great and free Nation.  A truly sad and fearful day.

Speaking of sad and fearful

The primary election season has filled some with surprise, some with gratification and some with angst.  It should not be a surprise but it does appear that the surprise and angst belong in the establishment wing of both parties.  The handpicked heirs to the Presidency are not doing so well.  It seems like the Republican base which has been manipulated and lied to by the establishment leaders are forcing the issue.  After giving the Republicans majorities in the House and Senate only to have the establishment leaders like Ryan and McConnell dither and make deals the base seems to want to put an anti establishment guy in the White House.  Trump and Cruz are leading the pack with the media trying to improve Rubio’s standing.  Rubio is the heir apparent to the establishment Jeb Bush who has failed in a big way to garner any support.  Love him or hate him one has to thank Trump for decimating the establishment Republicans.  There was one candidate that was not establishment but was a victim to Trump none the less and that was Rand Paul.  He was probably the most able candidate running from either party and was not an establishment patsy and I am sorry for the demise of his 2016 hopes.

And on the Democrat side things are not much better.  The upstart, if you can call a 70+ year old man an upstart, Bernie is tearing into the establishment anointed Hillary.  Or so the followers believe.  The race is even more fixed in the democrat side of things with their “super delegates”.  Bernie may have beat her in NH in a landslide but she still won in the delegate count.  Yea, that’s fair.  I guess the democrat party does not really believe in democracy, but that is a fact known by everyone outside of the party.  The nice thing is that the Bernie supporters as they get berned will now know how it feels to be a conservative republican as the rug is pulled out from under them.

How did we get into this predicament?  Have a mirror handy?