{"id":44168,"date":"2017-09-06T11:02:04","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T17:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44168"},"modified":"2017-09-06T11:02:04","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T17:02:04","slug":"some-constitutional-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/some-constitutional-stuff.html","title":{"rendered":"Some Constitutional Stuff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
I quite like\u00a0this quaint old document, and wish more people and more politicians were closely acquainted with it.
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I have no idea how the Supreme Court will rule in this case, but I have a very strong opinion about how the Court\u00a0ought<\/em> to rule:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWill the Supreme Court uphold freedom for cake artist Jack Phillips?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Incidentally, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if Mr. Phillips would also decline to decorate a cake for a Latter-day Saint temple wedding. \u00a0It\u2019s certainly possible. \u00a0But, while I would regret that, I would regard it as his right to so decline.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Electric companies cannot legally or ethically refuse to supply electricity to homosexual households. \u00a0Water companies cannot legally or ethically refuse to supply water. \u00a0Grocery stores cannot ethically refuse food to homosexuals. \u00a0Emergency room physicians cannot legally or ethically refuse service\u00a0to homosexuals.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But decorated cakes are in a different category than are basic needs such as power, water, food, and life-saving health care.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t recognize a human right to have musicians (or photographers or artists) celebrate absolutely whatever humans choose to do, because rights entail obligations.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A doctor has an obligation to try to save my life in an operating room. \u00a0The government has an obligation to respect my freedom of speech.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Jewish string quartet has no obligation, however, to play for a reception of the American Nazi Party. \u00a0(The Nazis could and did compel such things at Auschwitz; in a free society, however, they cannot.) \u00a0A black catering company has no obligation to provide finger foods for a Klan party. \u00a0A devout Evangelical is under no moral obligation to employ his artistic gifts to celebrate a gay (or a Mormon or a Wiccan) wedding. \u00a0An artist who claims to be part of the anti-Trump \u201cResistance\u201d has absolutely no ethical duty to paint a celebratory portrait of Mr. Donald J. Trump for his next birthday. \u00a0No matter how desperately his supporters importune me, I\u2019m aware of no obligation on my part to tap dance and sing for Bernie Sanders\u2019s next birthday.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I would like to hear more about this odd story:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWCS Seeks to Defray Flap Over Patriotism at Games\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Has it received any national attention?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On a very, very different note, I really like the impromptu remarks made by Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis (a former Marine Corps general) to some troops who appear to be deployed somewhere in the Middle East:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/usawtfm\/videos\/10155815797353606\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the matter of DACA, I think that this brief article<\/em> gets things just about right:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump Gets DACA Right\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

I feel for the kids caught up in this. \u00a0I\u2019ve heard very sad stories of young people raised in the United States and, in a few cases, speaking little or no Spanish, being sent \u201cback\u201d to countries where they\u2019ll be utter and complete foreigners.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the policy seems to have been a gross case of executive overreach, and it\u2019s proper that it be overturned. \u00a0We are, or should be, a nation of laws. \u00a0Even if, sometimes, those laws get in the way of good things that we want to do and that actually should be done.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

By far not for the first time and, I trust, not for the last time, I\u2019m going to cite a favorite passage from Robert Bolt\u2019s classic play A Man for All Seasons<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

William Roper<\/span>:<\/span> So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sir Thomas More<\/span>:<\/span> Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

William Roper<\/span>:<\/span> Yes, I\u2019d cut down every law in England to do that!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sir Thomas More<\/span>:<\/span> Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned \u2019round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man\u2019s laws, not God\u2019s! And if you cut them down, and you\u2019re just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I\u2019d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety\u2019s sake!<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m inclined to judge that President Trump has done the right thing in deciding to back away from DACA \u2014 and that Congress is no obliged to get its act together, for once, and do the right thing. \u00a0Which will be to mitigate if not eliminate the harmful effects of what President Trump has just done.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 I have no idea how the Supreme Court will rule in this case, but I have a very strong opinion about how the Court\u00a0ought to rule: \u00a0 \u201cWill the Supreme Court uphold freedom for cake artist Jack Phillips?\u201d \u00a0 Incidentally, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if Mr. Phillips would also decline to decorate a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSome Constitutional Stuff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    I have no idea how the Supreme Court will rule in this case, but I have a very strong opinion about how the Court\u00a0ought to rule:  \" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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