Between the courts setting immigration policy, national security policy, election law, social policy, redistricting, and criminal justice policy, we no longer live in a republic. The lower courts, not just the Supreme Court, stand above the other branches of government and the 50 states.
But how did this happen? How can the other branches, which have more robust powers, get rolled by courts created by Congress?
In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, we explore the recent immigration rulings and some other cases to demonstrate how the judicial crisis stems from a political crisis whereby the other branches of government are needlessly giving in to the courts. In fact, as it relates to the Fourth Circuit opinion on Trump’s executive order, the administration is giving the courts even more than they ask for. At some point, could we really blame the courts for grabbing power that is handed to them on a silver platter by the other branches of government?
We explore some simple solutions laid out in Stolen Sovereignty, if only there was the political willing to enact them.
Key quotes:
“It is not probable that the Supreme Court would long be indulged in a career of usurpation opposed to the decided opinions & policy of the Legislature. Nor do I think that Congress, even seconded by the Judicial Power, can, without some change in the character of the nation, succeed in durable violations of the rights & authorities of the States.” James Madison to Spencer Roane, 6 May, 1821
“It may in the last place be observed that the supposed danger of judiciary encroachments on the legislative authority, which has been upon many occasions reiterated, is in reality a phantom. Particular misconstructions and contraventions of the will of the legislature may now and then happen; but they can never be so extensive as to amount to an inconvenience, or in any sensible degree to affect the order of the political system. This may be inferred with certainty, from the general nature of the judicial power, from the objects to which it relates, from the manner in which it is exercised, from its comparative weakness, and from its total incapacity to support its usurpations by force.” Alexander Hamilton, Federalist # 81.
Show Links:
A summary of congressional power over the courts
The Fourth Circuit’s opinion is the most radical and dangerous ever
Why Trump has a responsibility to ignore the courts
The conservative media is so focused on smoke and rhetoric that they are missing the actual important policy outcomes on critical domestic and foreign policy issues. If they’d focus on what’s happening rather than just fighting the media over nonsense, they’d understand we are being sold out and so many of Obama’s policies are being continued.
Rather than focus on one incident or speech, conservatives must pay attention to the broad direction and paradigm shift of this administration. It has moved away from the conservatives and the original Trump campaign and has now drifted into the swamp of Tillerson, McMaster, Powell, Cohn, and Jared. While Trump’s speeches in Saudi Arabia and Israel were nice, the policies being promoted by his administration undermine every aspect of his rhetoric. It’s time conservatives finally learn that, with Trump, the actions are completely divorced from the rhetoric. And until and unless we raise our voices, nothing will change.
If we actually focused on policy outcomes, there are a lot of things conservatives could accomplish. At the end of the show we lay out some important initiatives the president could focus on…if he cared to change the narrative.
Show Links:
How can you claim to fight Jihad while promoting the PLO?
The only thing worse than seeing Obama’s policies actualized is having them achieved under our banner.
In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, we discuss the foreign policy betrayals of the administration, promoted by the likes of H.R. McMaster and Dina Powell. From policies towards the PLO and the Saudis, to Turkey and Iran, this administration is pursuing the very same agenda conservatives blasted under Obama. Have we lost our intellectual honesty to such a point that we will now bless policies we hated just a few months ago?
We further delve into the danger of the Saudis and Erdogen in funding a subversion agenda on our own soil and how that is the front line in the war against jihad, not refereeing Islamic civil wars. Thus, to sell out to the Saudis under the guise of fighting ISIS is completely backwards.
The key is for conservatives not to get distracted by the smoke of optics and bluster of rhetoric, but focus on the policy outcomes behind the curtain. Look at what is actually happening on the policies and issues from which the media will often distract us, and it will become clear we are losing the battle for control of this administration. Too many people are focusing on Trump’s speeches he’s given overseas and not on the broader policy direction of the administration. More than with any other administration, the policies are not reflecting the rhetoric of the president himself. That is a problem.
What’s the point of obsessing over defending this administration from all the scandals if they are not even promoting our policies anyway? This is why it’s so important Trump hear from conservatives and understand that we are not ok with him selling out on foreign policy. If we don’t advocate for our priorities, who will?
Show links:
Obama style: Tillerson apologizes to Mexico
Trump caves for now on Obamacare subsidies
This week is full of scandals in the media, but it’s also full of Trump policy betrayals that are not being discussed in the media. Worse, they are not being discussed in the conservative media because they are too busy defending Trump from some indefensible actions while he is screwing conservatives on policy. They are defending him against the media while he has allowed Jared, Ivanka, Dina Powell, Gary Cohn, and H.R. McMaster to create the very policies outcomes, ironically, supported by that very same media. What’s the point in incurring such political liability and an electoral wipeout if we are not even getting our policy outcomes?
In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, we break down why this strategy of focusing on the lesser of two evils – “but the Democrats are worse,” “we can’t let the Democrats win” is actually counterproductive to its own stated goals. By pursuing this strategy, we ensure those very Democrats get elected with an even bigger mandate. Isn’t it time we break free and stand consistently and morally on our own two feet? Unless we do so, we will get crushed in the midterm elections, thereby losing so many governorships and state legislatures (forget about Congress!). This will determine redistricting for a decade.
Show links:
America last: Trump embraces Palestinians
So, Trump is at 35-40% approval and Democrats have opened a wide lead in the generic ballot polling. And what do we have to show for it? What have we gotten for this?
In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, Daniel breaks down the latest series of betrayals. While excuse-making conservatives produce lists of their own demonstrating “the good things” the president is doing, if you look carefully, most of them are ceremonial with “no discernable policy outcome,” as the ACLU observed with regards to the religious liberty memo. On the other hand, the betrayals are deep and severely consequential. Look at the fire, not the smoke.
We explore the betrayal of Israel and how NSC head, General H.R. McMaster, is essentially promoting Obama’s foreign policy. There is a lot of significance to the betrayal of Israel and what it portends for other policies and who is really running this administration.
In the second half of the show we discuss how, once again, the courts are destroying us on elections and how this will not be fixed without judicial reform.
Finally, we tackle the Alabama Senate race. In many respects, this race embodies the problems we face, except it has an inherent antidote in the form of Judge Roy Moore. Daniel explains why he’s still backing Roy Moore, despite the entrance of another patriot, Mo Brooks, in the race.
Show links:
My 45-minute podcast on the history of the Palestinian hoax
Approval rating in the toilet…and for what?
Luther Strange and his lies; Roy Moore and his truth
Georgia judge gives Dems advantage, takes over election law from states
There are so many betrayals being perpetrated by our political class that actually have discernable policy outcomes and are much more important than the Comey news. Why is nobody talking about the GOP betrayal on the border wall, health care, religious liberty, moving embassy to Jerusalem, the Paris climate accord, and of course judicial tyranny? Yet, in many respects, the Comey news and the binary hypocrisy of the parties is important to focus on and learn from because it embodies what is wrong with both parties.
In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, Daniel explains why Comey should have been fired from a conservative perspective but also why both sides in this case have a glass jaw. If we actually had a consistent and principled conservative party it would be so much easier to punch through the news cycle. All too often, our side must defend and fight for things that aren’t even conservative, yet get blamed for them. In many respects, we are all like James Comey, turning everything into a tortured political pretzel rather than being consistent about the truth.
In the second half of the show, we discuss how the courts have reached a new level of judicial tyranny and are making the other two branches irrelevant. This is a lot more important than the Comey news, but nobody in the other two branches is even willing to broach the topic.
Key quotes:
“Sure, the media is going to throw punches at any hypothetical conservative movement or party. But it would sure be a lot harder for them to do damage if we didn’t have the glass jaw of the tainted and progressive GOP.”
“I’m sick and tired of dying for the other SOB’s ideology. Can’t we have a party with which we will at least take media hits for our own beliefs?”
Show links:
Thanks to Kushner’s Crony Visas corruption, Feinstein is able to get to the right of Republicans
Judge blocks VA from firing corrupt employee who failed veterans
Are you fed up with the political adultery of Republicans being nothing more than inarticulate Democrats? Many people are looking for a new party but feel there is no viable alternative on the horizon. Is that about to change?
On this episode of the Conservative Conscience, we are joined by J.D. Rucker, the co-founder of the Federalist Party. He gives us an update on the state of play in building a new party and their plan to become the second, not third party, on the political scene. This is a long term plan but definitely intriguing.
Show Notes:
Steve Deace writes about the need for a new party
After budget betrayal, conservatives need deep soul-searching
Conservatives have been pushed to the brink by the betrayals. We want a revolution. We want a party to finally act in accordance with its campaign pledges. Where do we go from here?
In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, Daniel interviews Judge Roy Moore who is attempting to storm the establishment castle by running for Senate in Alabama. They discuss a wide range of topics, particularly related to the role of the courts and how the judicial crisis has neutered Congress. It takes an originalist in the Senate to solve the problem, not just originalists on the courts. But it also takes a man of integrity, something that is lacking with most Republicans.
The question for conservatives is if they will take yes for an answer.
Key quotes:
When you become entitled to exercise the right of voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands you to choose for rulers, “just men who will rule in the fear of God.” The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be sqandered (sic) on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the laws.
— Noah Webster, History of the United States (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), pp. 336-337
Neither the Founding generation nor their children nor their children's children, right on down to our grandparents' generation, were so passive about their role as republican citizens. They would not have accepted-did not accept-being told that a lawyerly elite had charge of the Constitution, and they would have been incredulous if told (as we are often told today) that the main reason to worry about who becomes president is that the winner will control judicial appointments. Something would have gone terribly wrong, they believed, if an unelected judiciary were being given that kind of importance and deference. Perhaps such a country could still be called democratic, but it would no longer be the kind of democracy Americans had fought and died and struggled to create.
— Larry D. Kramer, The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 228.
A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.
George Washington’s Farewells Address, on the danger of political parties
Show links:
Mark Levin’s call for doing more to save the republic
Lighting up America: Judge Roy Moore running for Senate
NRSC blackballing Roy Moore Supporters
Judge Moore falls victim to a culture of beta males
My interview with Judge Moore on the illegal suspension from the court
Editor's note: Daniel Horowitz has endorsed Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate race in Alabama.
How is it possible to get humiliated in a major budget battle by a party that has no power? In this episode of the Conservative Conscience, we answer that question. It’s not that Republicans are cowardly or obsequious; it’s that they fundamentally don’t share our values. Thus, the Democrat outcomes are their outcomes as well. Moreover, don’t blame this all on congressional Republicans, although they are certainly an act in perfidy. President Trump is just as much at fault, and in this episode, we prove it and also debunk White House talking points.
Later on in the show we discuss why Judge Roy Moore’s race for Senate in Alabama speaks to every issue conservatives are worried about today. Will conservatives finally take yes for an answer?
Show links:
Trump considering raising gas tax to help pay for wasteful infrastructure spending