The High Cost Of Nuances

Thomas Sowell - June 15, 2005 - Jewish World Review

Too many people today judge court decisions by whether the court is "for" or "against" this or that policy. It is not the court's job to be for or against any policy but to apply the law.

This tendency to allow the courts to control the public dialog, and decide the public agenda, is the greatest danger to freedom and prosperity that we face today. Thomas Sowell is the leading intelectual of our time. He repeatedly cuts to the heart of the problem of the courts.

An example of the problem is happening right here in our area. I was having a discussion with a friend last night about the Judge that is controlling the court case over the schools in Bertie County. I don't care whether Judge Boyle is "Republican" or "Democrat". His involvement in this case is an example of judicial tyranny.

My frustration is that no judge, whether liberal or conservative, should be involved in this case today. Their very involvement is anathema to the concept of a representative republic. It implies that the people are so stupid and ignorant that deciding these issues must be left up to an elite who will rule from some olympian throne and dictate how we must solve our disagreements.

The basic premise at one point when the courts took over schools was that blacks had no say in government and that the courts had to step in and assure they had a representative for their views. Can anyone reasonably argue that blacks in Bertie County have not had a say in the structure of the government and our school system for many years? Does a quota system that triggers with pavlovian predictability a crushing of local desires really represent a free and democratic society? Is quota racism really the only solution?

What irony that the 3 strongest defenders of the structure of government that our founders created are Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas and Janice Rogers Brown. They recognize that freedom serves blacks and whites equally. There is no color in freedom. There is also nothing conservative about throwing out a system that has worked continously to spread freedom for so long. It was not perfect when it started but it has moved inexorably in the right direction.

A much bigger and more fundamental problem is that millions of ordinary citizens, without legal training, have a hard time figuring out when they are or are not breaking the law. Nuanced courts, instead of drawing a line in the sand, spread a lot of fog across the landscape.

Fog? I think Sowell is being generous here. Millions of ordinary citizens are getting sick of the elitist judges, both conservative and liberal, who change laws at their personal whim. I think millions of ordinary citizens are getting enraged. It is time to start throwing out some of the judges. Impeach them. Strip them of their power. Take away their fat pensions. Let's see if that wipes that smug arrogance off their faces. We have to make sure that the rest get the message and stop subverting our constitution.

I am tired of seeing judges on national TV denying they are "making law", while basking in the glow of insider lawyer and court magazines praising these same judges for "making law". Do these people think that citizens can't read?