It is with sincere sadness for America that I view the passing of Judge Antonin Scalia. He was the last true Constitutionalist on the Supreme Court. America is worse for his passing.
Of the many quotes from Justice Scalia that ring so profound, I think my favorite is “That’s the argument of flexibility and it goes something like this: The Constitution is over 200 years old and societies change. It has to change with society, like a living organism, or it will become brittle and break. But you would have to be an idiot to believe that. The Constitution is not a living organism, it is a legal document. It says something and doesn’t say other things.”
This statement so clearly expresses what has gone wrong in America. We have, as a society, lost sight of what the true role of government is in a free society. In my lifetime alone, I have watched as we went from being taught the importance of guarding jealously our liberty to being taught that only the state can know how we should live our lives.
I fear that we have reached the point that the loss of our liberty cannot be halted, let alone our liberty restored, without massive bloodshed. As much as I abhor the thought, it seems that Thomas Jefferson was right when he proclaimed “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” I have often prayed that I would not see that day, and now I pray that my grandchildren will not have to see that day, but fear it is not going to be possible.