An Open Letter to Donald Trump

 

TrumpDear Mr. Trump,

As a voter, a military retiree who served three tours in the Mideast, and a truck driver, I wonder if you and I might be able to reach an accord? Because I know you appreciate people who shoot straight, I’m going to respectfully do exactly that. To be quite candid with you, you were not my choice for the Republican nomination. I supported Ted Cruz, given that he has spent his entire adult life advancing conservatism and was as well versed in the philosophy of this nation’s founding as any presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan.

That this philosophy has been rejected by the voters is instructive, not only with regard to current the state of civic literacy, but with respect to the political class as well, for it is the political class that repeatedly equivocated and surrendered in the face of the progressive onslaught, choosing to fight against their own voters instead.

Mr. Trump, you appear to be a recent convert to some conservative causes — causes I’ve been advancing in word and deed for over 30 years — so you will understand if I seem a bit skeptical given that you and I have been on opposite sides of the ideological divide for most of our adult lives. It doesn’t mean that winning my vote is hopeless, but it does mean that my vote is not a given. Remember please, you are asking me to hire you, not the other way around.

Four years ago, in this space, I wrote a letter to Mitt Romney, reluctantly pledging my support. He wasn’t my first choice either, and he spoke conservatism as if it were a second language, but I reasoned that I had little choice but to pull the lever for the guy with an “R” next to his name. Come to think of it, John McCain wasn’t my first choice either. And I’m pretty sure George W. Bush wasn’t my initial favorite, but you get the idea.

Even though I registered as a libertarian sometime around George W.’s second term (when I realized that the party’s relationship with the idea of limited government was purely platonic), I’ve been a reliable Republican vote. That time has come to a close. If you want my vote, sir, you will need to earn it. You will need to state your prescriptions clearly, specifically, and definitively, though I’m afraid things are not off to a promising start.

A few days ago you equivocated on your minimum wage position, and less than 24 hours later, after the first whiff of resistance to your tax plan on CNBC, you began backtracking and negotiating with yourself, saying of your own plan, “I am not necessarily a huge fan of that.” That’s not conservatism as a second language. It’s not even conservatism on training wheels. It’s simply incoherent. Mr. Trump, if we wanted people who start giving ground before the fight even starts, John Boehner would still be Speaker of the House and their would have been no revolt against the Republican establishment.

I’m under no illusion that you are a conservative, at least as that term has been traditionally understood. But if I do vote for you, it will be because you convinced me that on at least a few key issues, you will proceed in a reliably conservative direction. I need to know, for example, that you will secure the border and enforce the immigration laws already on the books. Likewise, I need to know that your judicial appointments will be originalist in nature and that you intend fidelity to the constitution as it was written and understood by the framers rather than the latest intellectual fashions of liberal salons.

Now, I understand that you’re new to being a political candidate. I’ve never run for office myself, but I’ve studied politicians for several decades now, so perhaps I can offer some advice by way of contrasting examples. Here is Ronald Reagan’s closing case on his opponent, Jimmy Carter, in 1980:

I believe that there is a fundamental difference — and I think it has been evident in most of the answers that Mr. Carter has given tonight — that he seeks the solution to anything as another opportunity for a Federal Government program. I happen to believe that the Federal Government has usurped powers and autonomy and authority that belongs back at the State and local level — it has imposed on the individual freedoms of the people — and that there are more of these things that could be solved by the people themselves, if they were given a chance, or by the levels of government that were closer to them.

Here is your closing case on your opponent on the day of the Indiana Primary:

[Cruz’s] father was with Lee Harvey Oswald prior to Oswald being, you know, shot. I mean the whole thing is ridiculous. What is this, right, prior to his being shot? And nobody brings it up. …What was he doing — what was he doing with Lee Harvey Oswald shortly before his death? Before the shooting? It’s horrible.

Surely you see the difference, yes? It’s the difference between an informed contrast of candidates based on diametrically opposed philosophies of governance, and a shameful, uninformed, trashy tabloid attack on a family member that would be unbecoming from a candidate for dog catcher. I pray you are a better man than your small-minded attack on a candidate’s father suggests. In truth, even as a Cruz supporter, I was prepared to mount a vigorous defense of your candidacy as the Republican nominee up until that moment, but I cannot, and will not defend anyone who traffics in such third-rate garbage.

The good news is that you won’t have to resort to tabloid fiction to battle Hillary Clinton. The simple facts of her disastrous record, from the deaths of four brave Americans in Benghazi to her own war on the women who were victimized by her predatory husband, will provide plenty of ammo. Still, your habit of resorting to infantile name-calling and your malicious lies about your Republican opponents, should give anyone with even a semi-developed conscience reason to pause.

We live in dark times, Mr. Trump, and there are days when I agree with Mark Twain who observed that, “Often is does seem such a pity that Noah and his party did not miss the boat.” If Hillary is elected, she will fashion the majority on the Supreme Court in a way that will literally erase the Bill of Rights. Our right to free speech, to free exercise of our religious faith, and our right to self defense will be eviscerated. She will throw open the borders to illegal aliens and Islamic fanatics alike, resulting in a permanent Republican minority and a national security catastrophe. To use a current phrase, it will be, “game over.”

All the same, I’ve wasted too many votes on weak-kneed Republicans who brought us to this precipice in the first place, and I’ll be damned if I’ll waste another vote on a crude vulgarian who is a man of his most recent conviction and who has both philosophical feet planted in midair.

So with respect, put down the National Enquirer and pick up a copy of the Constitution. In an interview on CNN, you stated that the top three functions of the United States government are security, health care, and education. That’s the sort of answer one would expect from Nancy Pelosi, who is as comfortable with the Constitution as I am with playing a violin concerto. The Republican Presidential Nominee really ought to know that it is the Constitution which specifies the functions of the federal government, and health and education are nowhere to be found in that document.

Further, the 10th Amendment requires that those functions which are not specifically granted to the federal government in the Constitution remain the sole province of the states or the people. If you win, you’ll take an oath of fidelity to the Constitution and — I can’t believe this needs to be said — you might want to familiarize yourself with it.

Next, take a stroll through the Federalist Papers, starting with Federalist 10, written by James Madison, which explains that, contrary to your repeated assertions, the system isn’t rigged and that pure democracy, or majoritarianism, is something the Framers specifically warned against. For example:

From this view of the subject it may be concluded that a pure democracy, by which I mean a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. … Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property, and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government, have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would at the same time be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions.

Crack open a history book and you will learn that the Republican delegate system which you so vociferously railed against, and which is based on the same principle as the electoral college, is precisely what allowed Abraham Lincoln, who came to the 1860 convention with only 22 percent of the delegates to William Seward’s 37 percent, to win the nomination after three convention ballots. Are you prepared to argue that the system which gave us Abraham Lincoln is “rigged,” and fatally flawed, and that Lincoln wrongly stole Seward’s delegates?

Once you put away the mental junk food and sit down to the rich feast of American history and the philosophies which undergird American exceptionalism, your newfound conservatism might take root and provide the intellectual foundation for those things you now seem to embrace intuitively without fully understanding why. While you’re at it, you can take the American people on the journey with you so that your supporters can respond to the issues with something other than the Pavlovian response, “Lyin’ Ted,” as one did when Senator Cruz made an effort to thoughtfully engage him.

We are about to test Milton Friedman’s thesis that:

I do not believe that the solution to our problem is simply to elect the right people. The important thing is to establish a political climate of opinion which will make it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. Unless it is politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing, the right people will not do the right thing either, or if they try, they all shortly be out of office.

And herein lies the genius of the American system. Your capacity to intuitively know where the American people are with respect to their concerns and aspirations is nothing short of amazing. As a leader, you have the opportunity to foster the sort of American renewal that the country has long needed. So with respect, I ask you to embrace the Constitution, understand the Founders and the Framers, and in so doing, you will tap into strength and vitality of the American character itself and unleash true American greatness. If you do at least that much, you will have my support.

Published in General
Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 91 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Basil Fawlty Member
    Basil Fawlty
    @BasilFawlty

    As Midnight the Cat would say: Nice!

    • #1
  2. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Well stated, Dave.

    • #2
  3. iWe Coolidge
    iWe
    @iWe

    Dave: If Donald did all that, would you believe him?

    For me, it would surely move the needle, but to vote for him, I would have to somehow believe that he actually meant it. Consistency and constancy would be essential elements.

    • #3
  4. HeartofAmerica Inactive
    HeartofAmerica
    @HeartofAmerica

    All the same, I’ve wasted too many votes on weak-kneed Republicans who brought us to this precipice in the first place, and I’ll be damned if I’ll waste another vote on a crude vulgarian who is a man of his most recent conviction and who has both philosophical feet planted in midair.

    Preach it brother Dave! I will not be vote-shamed into voting for this man. He may very well be the GOP candidate but no where is it written that I am obliged to vote for someone who I truly believe will heap more damage on this already fragile economy, foreign relations, and domestic problems.

    As Dave stated, he’s been the good little Republican voter in the past and played along voting for the nominee no matter how he felt about the candidate. I’ve done the same thing. Can’t do it again. We are already seeing the signs regarding his policy flip-flops (or lack of policy thereof…I’m not convinced he’s even read the policy stated on his website. He’s got minions to write that drivel.) His populist views will continue to move further to the middle (or even further left) as the campaign continues toward November.

    I am wondering at what point Trump fans will realize that they’ve been conned by a consummate flim-flam man. My fear is that it will be too late.

    • #4
  5. BThompson Inactive
    BThompson
    @BThompson
    1. Trump will not become more coherent or more specific or more reassuring to you on any of the issues you’ve raised.
    2. Even if he did you would not be able trust that he’d follow through on them.
    3. Even if Trump unifies the party (which he won’t) he has made himself utterly unelectable to women and most of the middle.
    4. The very fact that you feel the need to write this and make these points at this point in the campaign should tell you that Trump is not acceptable in any way.
    • #5
  6. Brian McMenomy Inactive
    Brian McMenomy
    @BrianMcMenomy

    Dave, that was beautifully stated.  You put your finger, on at least a couple of occasions, what the real issue is; Trump’s character.

    As we grow older, who we really are becomes more & more evident.  We make choices, good and bad, that shape not only the world around us, but our own character.  When Trump says “I can be more Presidential than anyone you’ve ever seen”, that is just the flip side of Obama’s stated purpose to be opaque enough to allow people to project Obama’s agreement with them.  In other words, it is a conscious decision to deceive.

    As a Christian, I will be the last person in the world to say that a person cannot change.  Repentance is possible, all the way to the last breath.  The sticking point is the desire to repent, that free-will choice that says “Lord, you’re right, and I’m wrong.”  There is a big difference between struggling to live out a new life and just screwing up because no change has actually occurred.  My fundamental problem with Trump is that he claims to revere his faith, yet has never (in his own words) repented of anything, because he feels no need to repent of anything.  This is the attitude of someone only wanting to manipulate us.  I don’t care if Falwell Jr. supports him; that just means he’s deceived, too.  I wish it weren’t so, but I’m not going to deceive myself.

    • #6
  7. The Dowager Jojo Inactive
    The Dowager Jojo
    @TheDowagerJojo

    Well I hope Mr. Trump reads this, sir.  I don’t think he wants to screw up either.  I hope not.

    • #7
  8. She Member
    She
    @She

    Best of luck with your quest, Dave.

    Based on this report, you’ll have an uphill struggle.

    I have not seen the TV program which is cited here, but if the report is accurate, and not ‘shaded’ in any way, Trump has:

    • Said that by the time ‘it’s negotiated,’ taxes, (which he ran on reducing), ‘they’ll go up.’  (Although he’s going to try to make them go down for the middle class).
    • Said that, as far as the minimum wage goes, ‘people have to get more.’
    • Said that ‘he’s allowed to change.’
    • Said that it would be ‘better if [the party] were unified . . . but I don’t think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense.’
    • Said that it doesn’t matter who in the Republican party opposes him, because Democrats will vote for him in the general election.

    *

    Wheee!

    What  a joy it is to have a principled candidate who stands firm, and who tells it like it is.  Thank goodness that horrible Lyin Ted Cruz is history.

    When everything is a ‘negotiation,’ principles go out the window.  And please don’t tell me that ‘negotiation’ is a principle (that’s been tried before).  No, it’s not.

    With each rearguard action insisting that it’s OK to elect Trump because the Republicans in Congress will keep him in check, I am becoming more and more convinced that the Democrat endgame is going to be to retake Congress, the Presidency be hanged, because a Democrat-majority Congress will have its way, no matter if the President be Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

    And that, although a few weeks ago he thought that nothing could possibly be worse than “President Ted Cruz,” “President Donald Trump,” with a Democrat-controlled Congress, is Paul Ryan’s worst nightmare.

    • #8
  9. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    One of the things he has done that has upset me the most is his call to boycott Apple because Apple refused to give the FBI its decryption algorithm for the iPhone. Gee, Mr. Trump, what about the jobs of Apple’s employees? So much for worrying about the little guy. And you think it is okay for the government to strongarm a private business? I could go on and on here.

    • #9
  10. J Climacus Member
    J Climacus
    @JClimacus

    Way too long for Trump if you expect him to read it. He doesn’t have that kind of attention span. Cut it to quarter length and use smaller words.

    • #10
  11. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    Magnificently stated! I have openly declared myself #NEVERTRUMP, but as I have watched friends and people I respect cave to what they consider the inevitable, I have questioned my own feelings over and over. Your piece reminded me of all the things I have thought and believed since the beginning of the Trump candidacy, that he is the ultimate snake-oil salesman, and, no matter whether I am threatened with four years of Hillary and all that entails, there is no way that I can do anything which advances Trump’s rise to the presidency of this great country.

    The accusation of Raphael Cruz that Trump made so appalled me, I don’t believe that anything he could do or say at this point could change my decision to vote for a third party candidate or not at all. It demonstrated a level of dishonesty, ignorance, disrepect for the electorate, and incredible disrespect for Mr. Cruz, Sr., that it can only be ascribed to someone whose emotional and intellectual development was arrested in junior high school. The comment itself was not an isolated case of misstatement. Trump has repeatedly said things which show both his limited intellectual capacity and his inability to filter what comes out of his mouth. For someone with so much wealth at his deposal to be so willfully ignorant can only be explained by a limited ability to learn or total intellectual laziness. I am inclined to believe the former rather than the latter.

    • #11
  12. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    J Climacus:Way too long for Trump if you expect him to read it. He doesn’t have that kind of attention span. Cut it to quarter length and use smaller words.

    Absolutely wonderful!!!  I would like to give you 10 likes.

    • #12
  13. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    Dave Carter: …take a stroll through the Federalist Papers, starting with Federalist 10, written by James Madison, which explains that, contrary to your repeated assertions, the system isn’t rigged and that pure democracy, or majoritarianism, is something the Framers specifically warned against.

    That these “repeated assertions” have not resulted in full scale mockery from any and all media ever even alleged to be “right wing” or self-described as “conservative”…as opposed to multi-segment debates as if it were a serious topic…is instructive. Future attacks on President Clinton from these sources under the conservative banner while throwing around fancy words like “liberty” and “constitution” will be greeted with a hearty chuckle from my bunk in the Gulag.

    • #13
  14. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    Good letter Mr. Carter.

    • #14
  15. Dave Carter Podcaster
    Dave Carter
    @DaveCarter

    BThompson:

    1. Trump will not become more coherent or more specific or more reassuring to you on any of the issues you’ve raised.
    2. Even if he did you would not be able trust that he’d follow through on them.
    3. Even if Trump unifies the party (which he won’t) he has made himself utterly unelectable to women and most of the middle.
    4. The very fact that you feel the need to write this and make these points at this point in the campaign should tell you that Trump is not acceptable in any way.

    I fear you may be spot on with respect to the first three points,..but I have to try.  On point 4, I’m indeed saddened that I even felt the need to write this.

    However — and I can’t stress this point enough — a Hillary win guarantees a liberal Supreme Court which will bury the Bill of Rights.  Free speech, gone.  Free exercise of religion, gone. Right to self defense, gone.  At that point, we are wards of the state, and I’m afraid it happens easily in her first term.

    Second, Hillary throws open the borders, and a permanent voting Democrat base ensues, relegating any conservative party, Republican or otherwise, irrelevant, further cementing the problems highlighted in the previous paragraph. And let’s not forget the Islamic radicals that come sauntering across the border, and the attacks that follow that.

    In other words, if Hillary wins, it’s game over.  I can’t overlook that aspect of the dilemma either.

    • #15
  16. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Dave Carter: If Hillary is elected, she will fashion the majority on the Supreme Court in a way that will literally erase the Bill of Rights. Our right to free speech, to free exercise of our religious faith, and our right to self defense will be eviscerated. She will throw open the borders to illegal aliens and Islamic fanatics alike, resulting in a permanent Republican minority and a national security catastrophe. To use a current phrase, it will be, “game over.”

    I don’t buy it.  Conservatives have cried wolf too many times to be credible anymore.  Hillary will be a weak, unpopular, and ineffective president leading a party almost as badly divided as the GOP.  We’ve survived a Civil War, a Great Depression, two World Wars, a Cold War, we can survive 4 years of a Hillary administration, it is hardly “game over.”

    If Trump wants to win in November, he and his supporters have to start selling the man and the vision.  “Make America Great Again” is a decent starting point, optimistic and patriotic.  Build on that, flesh it out, paint a picture of how Trump will make us great again.  Merely claiming he is the lesser evil and Hillary will usher in the End Times is not a path to victory.

    • #16
  17. PHCheese Inactive
    PHCheese
    @PHCheese

    Dave, I could have written this post, if I was as smart as you. Great post. I have zero hope for Trump,zero. If he in fact is elected it will be one  catastrophe after another and he has no principles to fall back upon. He will make decisions based on polls and media influence. Dave I know you are just married but would you run for president?

    • #17
  18. RiverRock Inactive
    RiverRock
    @RiverRock

    Dave, outstanding summary of the dilemma we face.

    • #18
  19. Leigh Inactive
    Leigh
    @Leigh

    Dave Carter: In other words, if Hillary wins, it’s game over. I can’t overlook that aspect of the dilemma either.

    I’d disagree, Mr. Carter.

    I’d say if Hillary wins, our lives and liberties are in God’s hands. And if I can’t vote for the Republican — and it looks like I can’t — I will promote neither evil, vote for a third alternative if one presents itself, leave the immediate future in His hands, and work against all odds to leave what legacy we can for those to follow after.

    • #19
  20. Robert Zubrin Inactive
    Robert Zubrin
    @RobertZubrin

    Well written. It is deeply tragic that we find ourselves in a situation where a Republican voter, or any voter, would have to write such a letter to an American presidential candidate.

    “So with respect, I ask you to embrace the Constitution…”

    Yikes.

    • #20
  21. RiverRock Inactive
    RiverRock
    @RiverRock

    J Climacus:Way too long for Trump if you expect him to read it. He doesn’t have that kind of attention span. Cut it to quarter length and use smaller words.

    Sadly,  140 characters appears to be his maximum comprehension limit.

    • #21
  22. harrisventures Inactive
    harrisventures
    @harrisventures

    I’m either voting:

    mickey-for-prez

    OR… my real preference:

    CocktailParty

    CocktailParty2

    I think I’m done with politics for a while.

    • #22
  23. Dave Carter Podcaster
    Dave Carter
    @DaveCarter

    Joseph Stanko:

    Dave Carter: If Hillary is elected, she will fashion the majority on the Supreme Court in a way that will literally erase the Bill of Rights. Our right to free speech, to free exercise of our religious faith, and our right to self defense will be eviscerated. She will throw open the borders to illegal aliens and Islamic fanatics alike, resulting in a permanent Republican minority and a national security catastrophe. To use a current phrase, it will be, “game over.”

    I don’t buy it. Conservatives have cried wolf too many times to be credible anymore. Hillary will be a weak, unpopular, and ineffective president leading a party almost as badly divided as the GOP. We’ve survived a Civil War, a Great Depression, two World Wars, a Cold War, we can survive 4 years of a Hillary administration, it is hardly “game over.”

    If Trump wants to win in November, he and his supporters have to start selling the man and the vision. “Make America Great Again” is a decent starting point, optimistic and patriotic. Build on that, flesh it out, paint a picture of how Trump will make us great again. Merely claiming he is the lesser evil and Hillary will usher in the End Times is not a path to victory.

    I hope you’re right,…but I’m not sure how else it works out. Do you think the Senate will block Hillary’s Supreme Court picks? Do you think she’ll enforce our immigration laws?  Again, I hope you’re correct on this.

    • #23
  24. dukenaltum Inactive
    dukenaltum
    @dukenaltum

    To really understand Trump I have only one recommendation if you have not read him already.  Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn magisterial examination of Leftism: “Leftism Revisited”.   Everything else is vanity.

    https://mises.org/library/leftism-de-sade-and-marx-hitler-and-marcuse

    • #24
  25. Dave Carter Podcaster
    Dave Carter
    @DaveCarter

    PHCheese:Dave, I could have written this post, if I was as smart as you. Great post. I have zero hope for Trump,zero. If he in fact is elected it will be one catastrophe after another and he has no principles to fall back upon. He will make decisions based on polls and media influence. Dave I know you are just married but would you run for president?

    I know my limitations, particularly with respect to temperament.  While I appreciate the vote of confidence, I’d go in with a clean record and come out with multiple restraining orders against me.

    • #25
  26. RiverRock Inactive
    RiverRock
    @RiverRock

    Dave Carter:

    “I’m under no illusion that you are a conservative, at least as that term has been traditionally understood. But if I do vote for you, it will be because you convinced me that on at least a few key issues, you will proceed in a reliably conservative direction. I need to know, for example, that you will secure the border and enforce the immigration laws already on the books. Likewise, I need to know that your judicial appointments will be originalist in nature and that you intend fidelity to the constitution as it was written and understood by the framers rather than the latest intellectual fashions of liberal salons.”

    Pretty simple request for the Republican nominee for President.

    • #26
  27. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    We’re all agreed Trump is nuts. But that’s not a reason to fail to vote for him.

    The 25th Amendment reads:

    Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

    We’ll get to see this invoked for the first time at 12:01 pm January 20, 2017.

    Even more fun, during the lame duck session Congress can pass a special Trump Law creating a body to make the determination.

    • #27
  28. Lucy Pevensie Inactive
    Lucy Pevensie
    @LucyPevensie

    Dave Carter:

    In other words, if Hillary wins, it’s game over. I can’t overlook that aspect of the dilemma either.

    If Trump wins, there’s another possible kind of “game over,” referred to by Leon Wolf, the editor of RedState, here:

    “If it’s a competitive election, I probably will be compelled to vote for Hillary,” he said.

    “Hillary is ideologically not where I am,” he continued, adding that he thinks she did a poor job heading the State Department. “But I do feel pretty confident that she would actually be a better president than Trump. I wouldn’t go to bed every night worrying about a mushroom cloud opening up somewhere in the world because of some insane thing Trump had done.”

    • #28
  29. James Lileks Contributor
    James Lileks
    @jameslileks

    So with respect, put down the National Enquirer and pick up a copy of the Constitution. 

    Why?

    If the objective is American Greatness, and the Constitution impedes the means by which the advocates of American Greatness seek to achieve good things, what use is it?

    • #29
  30. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Dave Carter: Do you think the Senate will block Hillary’s Supreme Court picks?

    Doubtful.  A Hillary administration almost certainly means a 5-4 liberal majority on the Court, plus if Ginsburg retires and gets replaced by a much younger liberal than it will be some time before conservatives have an opportunity to retake the majority.

    My point is: it’s a setback, not “game over.”  Take for instance the 2nd Amendment, suppose the Court rules 5-4 that there is no individual right to bear arms in the 2nd Amendment.  That is unfortunate, but it hardly means ATF agents swoop in the following day to confiscate all our guns.  For one thing there would be a massive bloody uprising if they tried it.

    But more to the point, a Hillary administration would be too weak to pass a national law outlawing firearms, even the Democratic Congressmen from purple states would be too nervous to support such a bill.  Firearm policy would remain largely in the hands of the states, where it would continue to be legal in all the GOP-controlled states.  The people who would suffer the most would be those of us in blue states where we’d no longer have recourse to the courts if and when our Democratic legislatures decide to ban guns.

    Arguably the law would simply revert back to what it was before Heller in 2008.  A setback, but hardly the fall of the Republic.

    • #30
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.