Is Obama's Social Justice Compatible with our Constitution?

    Beware of the progressives’ version of Social Justice.  There are many different variations of social justice. The particular variation that is practiced by modern American progressives is, at its very foundation, based on principles originating from the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau with components that have been extolled in the writings of Rheinhold Niebuhr and a little of  Karl Marx.  However, this type of social justice is not compatible with our Constitution which is based on the works of Locke and Montesquieu.  The Obama Administration version of social justice violates many provisions of the Constitution especially in the areas described below.  

    Federalism is one of the most important constitutional principles. The Constitution created a federal government that is only limited to those powers spelled out in Article 1 Sectional 8. The States are denied certain powers in Article 1 Section 10. According to the principle of federalism all powers that are not specifically granted to the federal government in Section 8 or denied to the States in Section 10 are left with the States or individuals. During the ratification debates, delegates from several States felt that federalism was not spelled out strong enough in the Constitution so the 10^th Amendment was added to make this principle abundantly clear.  The progressive version of Social Justice is based on a set of principles that places a strong central national government above all else. There is no higher power then the national government. Whatever the central government determines to be in the best interest of the people as a whole becomes the law of the land and the people have a moral duty and a legal obligation to obey. Usually these government decisions are made by an “enlightened” few (czars) and are based on a belief that these few are better at deciding what is better for the people then the people themselves.  In the federal government’s continued attempts to implement social justice, it has transferred vast amounts of powers from the States and individuals to itself. This violates the principle of federalism and the 10^th Amendment.

    Our Constitution is based on fundamental philosophy called Natural Law. This philosophy is embodied in the Declaration of Independence, which our founding fathers strongly believed is inseparable from the Constitution.  According to Natural Law, each and every individual is granted their rights directly by God. Because each and every individual is granted their rights by God every individual is granted the same equal rights. Life, liberty, and the ability to acquire property and wealth and use it as you wish are primary God-given Natural Rights.  Collective rights are a cornerstone of social justice. Rights are collectively granted to an entire group rather than the individual members of a group. The government can grant certain groups rights while granting other groups different rights or no rights at all. The rights individuals are granted are based on what group or groups the individuals belong to.  In order to maintain their rights the group has to behave according to standards set by the government. In order to maintain membership in the group the individuals have to behave according to standards set for it. If too many members of the group do not behave according to standards set for it the entire group can lose the rights granted to it by the government. The rights of the group often greatly outweigh the rights of the individuals that make up the group resulting in individuals possessing little or no rights themselves.

    Liberty is the freedom to use all of our God-given Natural Rights as we wish as long as we do not harm others or interfere with the rights of others. As long as we do not interfere with the rights of others or harm others, the federal government must leave us alone. If you harm others or interfere with their rights the government has an obligation to stop you and if necessary punish you. This is done through a formal legal system.  According to the progressive philosophy of social justice, rights are granted by the government. This governing body can vary from the government of an entire nation to a group of self-appointed “elites” that take charge of some subset of the society such as a race, union, or even a religion.  We see this in the Obama Administration coercion of the Catholic Church to accept the contraception mandate.

    According to Natural Law, individuals have the freedom to accumulate wealth and property and use it as they wish as long as they do not harm others or interfere with the rights of others when they accumulate and use their property.   In a society governed by the progressive philosophy of social justice, property and wealth are most often shared collectively by the members of a group. Governments often declare that one group often has the right to seize the wealth and property of another group. This is often done to purchase the political loyalty of a larger group at the expense of a smaller group. Propaganda is often used to cloak this theft in flowery phrases such shared sacrifice, spreading the wealth, economic justice,  and paying one’s “fair share.”   Wealth is most often confiscated from a group the government declares to be wealthy. Propaganda is often used to paint these individuals in a negative light. They are often labeled fat cats or described as greedy. It is implied that they do not earn their wealth, or they earn it on the backs of the poor.  As Ronald Reagan said, "We have so many people who can't see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion that the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one!"

    The US Congress is the only branch of the federal government that has the power to write and pass laws. This is clearly stated in Article 1 Section 1 of the Constitution. For laws to be legally binding they must be passed through the formal legal process. This is defined in Article 1 Section 7 of the Constitution.   Executive orders and the massive amounts of regulations issued by executive branch departments, both have been used by presidents since Woodrow Wilson to bypass Congress and implement social justice policies thus violating those two provisions of the Constitution.

    The rule of law is a cornerstone of our legal system. Everyone is treated the same under the rule of law. No one is above the law especially our elected officials.  No one is allowed to receive special treatment under the rule of law. All laws must be passed by the formal legislative process and must be clearly written and not so large that they cannot be easily read. The complexity and size of the 2700 page ObamaCare law violates the rule of law.  Social justice violates all of these provisions of the rule of law. Justice is applied unequally and arbitrarily in a society governed by social justice principles. One of the main reasons this is done is as an atonement for past wrongs committed against a group even though these wrongs occurred more than a century ago. Different minority groups get different treatment in courts of law as well as by those who write the laws. The group that gets the best treatment by the legislative and judicial branches are members of the government. They are not often subject to the laws they pass and when caught breaking the law they receive special treatment. 

    Massive amounts of government are needed to implement the different components of progressive social justice. That amount of government is expensive and requires large amounts of taxes to support it. The wealthy are most often the primary funding source for this massive government leviathan. They usually bear a very large share of the cost of the social programs that make up social justice along with a very large share of the cost of government needed to implement social justice.

    There is nothing in the US Constitution or the Bill of Rights that prevents the individual States from enacting these different components of progressive social justice.  According to the original intent of the framers of the Constitution, the State level is the proper level to experiment with some or all of the components of social justice, Many States have in fact enacted social justice to varying degrees.  Those States that have enacted social justice the most are on the verge of collapse financially. The wealthy flee those States for those that do not embrace social justice.  Because of the heavy tax burdens and large amounts of regulations, businesses flee taking jobs along with them.   By implementing all of these provisions at the federal level the federal government has made it very difficult for individuals and business to earn profits. When individuals and companies cannot earn profits they do not hire. When the wealthiest and most productive individuals have more than half of their income taxed away to fund social justice programs, they do not hire at anywhere near the levels needed to sustain economic growth so the country as a whole suffers.

    For nearly 100 years the federal government has been incorporating an ever-increasing amount of social justice into legislation and government programs. The Obama Administration is in the process of incorporating the entire suite of social justice policies through legislation and unconstitutional executive department usurpations of power.  For President Obama, the cure is more government, more regulation, more intervention, and less individual freedom to bring about “redistributive change.”  The federal government can in no way practice such progressive social justice without violating many fundamental principles of the U. S. Constitution.