The Pink Litmus Test

For as long as we have observed politics, a perennial complaint of conservatives is that they work hard to elect Republicans and then get nothing legislatively for their pains.

To which the response always comes, "But don't forget the Supreme Court!"  And indeed, for thirty years, it has often seemed that conservative justices effectively stood between us and leftist anarchy.  The justices made the occasional goof, of course, but ruled for the cause of freedom more often than not.

Not anymore.  This recent term of the Court, once and for all, must lay to rest the idea that we can count on the Supreme Court to defend our liberties, rights, freedoms, and traditions.  The farthest of far left basically won in a clean sweep.

Which raises the profound question: Where do we go from here?

Cometh the Hour, Cometh the Man?

Prepare to be astounded: for the first time in who knows how long, a Republican politician people have actually heard of has the answer.

More: prepare to pass out on the floor.  Two nationally-renowned Republican politicians have somehow managed to find their way to the right spot.

Let's give them the respect of reading their words.  First, Ted Cruz of Texas:

“Those who are not parties to the suit are not bound by it,” the Texas Republican told NPR News’ Steve Inskeep in an interview published on Monday. Since only suits against the states of Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan and Kentucky were specifically considered in the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which was handed down last Friday, Cruz — a former Supreme Court clerk — believes that other states with gay marriage bans need not comply, absent a judicial order...

The Texas senator then went on to suggest that Republicans who have called for following the court’s decision are members of a “Washington cartel” and are lying when they say they do not support same-sex marriage.

“[Republican Party leaders] agree with the rulings from last week, both the Obamacare ruling and the marriage ruling,” Cruz said. “[T]he biggest divide we have politically is not between Republicans and Democrats. It’s between career politicians in both parties and the American people...”

“I think the question Republican primary voters should ask is, ‘When have you stood up against the Washington cartel? When have you stood up against leaders in our own party?’”

Wow. Talk about calling it like it is!  In a few short sentences, Cruz lobs three sticks of dynamite straight into the heart of the Permanent Bipartisan Leftist Elite Political Majority:

• There are always legal shenanigans available to avoid and delay wrongheaded legal rulings.  The Left plays this game to perfection, why can't we?
• The vast majority of Republican politicians are RINOs - Republicans In Name Only.  They have nothing but contempt for the views of their supporters, only wanting their votes and dollars.
• Therefore - the one overriding question of relevance to Republican voters in considering their next Presidential nominee, is: What have you personally done to kneecap, hamstring, wrong-foot, and by any means oppose the march of leftism in both parties?

Lest you think this is meaningless flummery, don't forget that Cruz knows whereof he speaks: he holds a degree from Harvard Law, where he won second place in the World Debating Championship, and clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist.  There is nobody that knows better than he exactly what can and can't be done when it comes to playing games with the law.  What makes him nearly unique is that he's applying those skills on the side of right.

A Choice, Not An Echo

If you're thinking that we're endorsing Ted Cruz, well - let's face it, we have to seriously consider it.  But actually, one of his opponents was even more determined and forceful in his opposition to judicial tyranny.  Comes now Gov. Mike Huckabee, taking his battle to the heart of the enemy camp, ABC News' "This Week":

STEPHANOPOULOS: So are you calling for civil disobedience [in response to the Supreme Court ruling on homosexual unions]?

HUCKABEE: I don't think a lot of pastors and Christian schools are going to have a choice. They either are going to follow God, their conscience and what they truly believe is what the scripture teaches them, or they will follow civil law. They will go the path of Dr. Martin Luther King, who in his brilliant essay the letters from a Birmingham jail reminded us, based on what St. Augustine said, that an unjust law is no law at all. And I do think that we're going to see a lot of pastors who will have to make this tough decision.

You're going to see it on the part of Christian business owners. You'll see it on the part of Christian university presidents, Christian school administrators. If they refuse to -

STEPHANOPOULOS: What about county clerks? Should they issue same-sex marriage licenses?

HUCKABEE: If they have a - a conscientious objection, I think they should be excused. I'm not sure that every governor and every attorney general should just say, well, it's the law of the land because there's no enabling legislation. For the states who have a constitutional amendment that affirms marriage, as has been affirmed by the courts for 135 years since the ratification of the 14th amendment, right up through the first time we've seen same-sex marriage enacted by any state, which was Massachusetts, in many states you have overwhelming majorities of the people who voted to say that they believe marriage is between a man and a woman.

Wow. When was the last time a nationally ranked Republican politician not only showed leftist tyranny the disrespect it deserves, but told the American people to flip leftist policies the bird as well, regardless of what "their betters" say?

Wedges Can Backfire

It's been widely observed with increasing frequency how virtually everything Mr. Obama and his Democrats do these days serves merely to set Americans at each other's throats - black vs white, rich vs poor, men vs women, homosexual vs moral, and so on down the line.  No doubt this is because our ruling elites figure that if Americans are busy fighting each other, they won't have the energy to stop those who created the crisis from taking advantage of it.

However, history shows that eventually, people do tend to wise up; they stop wrestling in the mud for a moment and start looking with angry eyes at those who put them there.

What's more, America is an armed camp: if politics ever comes to blows, as nowadays it often seems like it's about to, nobody can know where it will end.  Those who set up the situation tend to find that it gets away from them.

Of course, we don't want this to happen.  To try to prevent it, it's time and past time to lay down a litmus test in this upcoming election: Every Republican candidate must full-throatedly support Cruz and Huckabee's position of disrespect to the court ruling on homosexual unions.  If not, they should get not one single vote and not one single dollar.

Because if they aren't willing to fight at this, just about the last trench before complete defeat, then they aren't Republicans at all.  And, arguably, not freedom-loving Americans.