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Antonin Scalia
R.I.P.
By Kate Burch
When I learned, Saturday, of Antonin Scalia’s sudden death, I was
shocked and saddened. This brilliant, witty, principled, and
humane Supreme Court Justice was a national treasure. One of the
best. Ever.
I was also frightened, as I immediately could predict the reaction of
the administration and the Democrats: literally licking their lips as
they contemplated the prospect of replacing Scalia with another leftist
jurist to help them advance the agenda that is inexorably leading us
down the path toward frank socialism.
Then, I was reminded of one of the many famous quotes from William F.
Buckley, iconic conservative thinker and pundit, founder and long-time
editor of National Review magazine: “A conservative is a fellow who is
standing athwart history yelling ‘Stop!’”
For many years, we have been experiencing the gradual destruction of
our culture, our institutions, and our national character as the left
pushes, pushes, pushes, and the right never pushes back enough.
Justice Scalia steadfastly fulfilled the “yelling ‘Stop!’” function by
interpreting the Constitution as it was intended by its writers, not
according to his personal values, or guided by the idea that our
Constitution should be considered a “living,” malleable document.
He was able to resist the temptation to dictate matters of values and
morals from the bench—those issues, such as homosexual “marriage,”
affirmative action, and capital punishment for example, that are more
properly matters for democratic debate and voting.
Critics of our Constitution complain that it does not include enough
“rights,” such as a minimum wage or “free” health care and
education. These people would like to use the Constitution to
bludgeon those who are not, in their view, sufficiently enlightened, no
matter how much such action violated the rights of the
bludgeoned. The freedom from coercive government guaranteed by
our Constitution has served us very well, creating the most powerful
engine of prosperity in the history of the world and, consequently, an
amazing panoply of American contributions to the world in medicine,
communications, pure science, engineering, and even arts and
letters. I personally believe that our Constitution has fostered
the creation, as well, of a unique American character that is, despite
what they are telling our kids these days, pretty benevolent and
moral.
The all-powerful state that owns everything and controls everything
cannot coexist with a people who are educated and involved. I
read this morning that Gallup 39 percent of Americans surveyed had
“never heard of” Antonin Scalia. The same source cited a CBS/New
York Times survey from 2010 that found that only 16 percent of
millennials were able to define, in their own words, the word
“socialism.” (30 percent of those over age thirty and 57 percent
of Tea Partiers were able to do so.) Such ignorance is a
national disgrace, and a clear danger. Thomas Jefferson told us,
“An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning
of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the
citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise
oversight.”
Antonin Scalia was an example of a man who loved the law; who took
seriously his commitment to thoroughly know and understand the law; and
to interpret and apply the law as written in the Constitution and made
by the representatives of the people. I hope that someone
can be found to fill his very big shoes.
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