Judges "aren't real keen" on Obamacare

Robert Alt is a Senior Legal Fellow for the Heritage Foundation and the Deputy Director of the Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. Alt gave us his expert opinion on recent developments surrounding Obamacare.


The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on Obamacare, and the results surprised some. Why is that?

These judges aren't real keen on the idea.

The panel is sort of a mixed panel. You had one George W. Bush appointee and two Clinton appointees.

Many people thought it would be an easy win for the justice department.

But most observers thought the justice department was getting a lot of the tough questions.

What are the main issues at play here?

The government really still hasn't got a good answer to, "If the government can require you to purchase insurance on the open market, what can't they do?"

The only answer they have so far is, "The insurance market is special."

The advocates on the other side have shown that that's just not true.

The big question people have asked before is the broccoli. Can the government make you eat broccoli?

One of the things that really came through yet again on this court is the sense that government has never tried to do this before.

Is it unprecedented that policy is passed by congress, signed into law, then 26 states oppose it?

I've tried to find a situation like this, but I can't find one.

I don't recall at any point in recent memory or even in historical records that the majority of the states have marched into court to oppose a federal law.

This isn't just a couple crank attorney generals; this is half the states.

Any court that looks at this has said it's far beyond anything they've seen before.

Do you think the fact that 26 states are opposed to the law impacts the judges?

Justice is, of course, supposed to be blind.

But obviously if the government is on one side, the court may give certain weight to their arguments. But when you have more than half the states on the other side, that evens the sides out.

I think this is the case that the Supreme Court wants to hear.

If it is stopped here, that won't invalidate Obamacare?

There's no way that the government wouldn't appeal in that case.

There are often times you almost make wagers to see whether or not the Supreme Court will or won't take. This is an easy call. The Supreme court will take it.

When will we get a decision and what could happen?

You'll probably get a decision around late summer.

You're looking at three options.

One. The court upholds Obamacare as a whole.

Two. The court strikes down the individual mandate.

Or, they could uphold Vincent's decision in full and strike down the entire statute.

I think the right decision is the one Vincent made.

The question is, "Would Congress have passed the bill is the individual mandate wasn't there?"

Brain Trust - Janice Crouse

Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, former Bush speechwriter, columnist, and Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, was featured on the Matt Friedeman Show's Brain Trust segment. Dr. Crouse talked about the recent "slutwalks" that have been going on in dozens of cities.


What in the world are slutwalks?

Several months ago in Toronto, a policeman was talking to a group of students, and said they should watch how they dressed, because it could cause rape.

So they started what they called a "slutwalk".

It spread to 75, and then a 100, cities around the world are holding these demonstrations.

Feminists are using this as their new mantra.

Well my article says, no. It's not blaming the victim to say to young people that you have to be careful and not put yourself in harm's way.

I think that's good advice for all people. That doesn't mean it's a victim's fault if she's raped.

Do feminists even care about our pornifying and oversexualizing culture?

Well there's a whole group of them who do.

Any time you're sexifying, pornifying our culture, you're objectifying women.

I think a lot of people today, Matt, don't understand today's pornography.

The pornography today is not playboy and simple nudity.

Pornography today is way beyond Playboy, it's way beyond Cosmo.

Our young people right now are getting a lot of confused messages.

Anthony Weiner should resign.

He was so arrogant, he was so condescending to a reporter.

When I first came to Washington, my boss lied to me.

I just stood there astounded, because I couldn't believe he was lying, knowing that I knew he was lying.

When you have a guy like a congressman carrying on the kind of dirty talk he was carrying on.....for a congressman to carry on like that with someone....it's beyond believable.

For him to lie about it, he's lost the trust of the public.

If you're a real feminist, you think you'd stand up to this guy.

This is the thing that's so contradictory about the far Left.

Nancy Pelosi is no friend of women. Secretary Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama talk the talk, but they don't walk the walk when it comes to protecting women.

Have feminists lost all credibility?

Young college women do not want to be identified with the feminist movement, even though they have absorbed the feminist values.

We had a huge conference of feminists not long ago....they were all older.

In contrast you go to the March for Life and find that the overwhelming majority of the people there are young people.

Brain Trust - Ken Klukowski

Ken Klukowski, co-author of Resurgent: How Constitutional Conservatism Can Save America, joined the Matt Friedeman Show to talk about his  book as well as constitutional conservatism in general.

Could you define constitutional conservatism?

Constitutional conservatism is the form of government given to us by our founding fathers.

In that document there are eight keys to constitutional government.

Is constitutional government just a the thought that the federal government should only do what it's allowed to by the Constitution?

Well that's certainly the core of that, but it's a bit broader.

It talks about the family as the most basic unit of human government.

It talks about empowering families, empowering individuals.

So I think it goes beyond just the issue of what is the role of government to what is the role of fathers, mothers, families, churches.

Could you say that the federal government is an enemy of family?

I wouldn't want to label the government as an enemy of the family.

The government is made up of individuals, and some of those individuals have been heroes for constitutional conservatism.

I would say that in general the government hasn't been kind to constitutional government.

Was there some point in our history where an accelerator was pressed that shouldn't have been?

Absolutely.

We explained in the book that government only grows when the families fail and when the churches are silent.

In the 1930's, that's where we start to take big steps away from the family.

Why isn't voting and giving money enough?

We talk about making Americans citizen activists.

And we speak in the concluding chapter about the parable of the talents.

We make the point that the talents we are given by our creator here in America - that the right to vote is one of those talents. But our right of free speech is another talent.

The Lord expects for us to earn a return on each talent he's given to us.

Why have homosexual activists been so successful?

With the secularization of American culture, they have taken it to the next step...There should be no moral judgment.

If you silence the churches, if you jettison the churches...then you cannot have moral absolutes.

Brain Trust - Guy Benson

At only 24, Guy Benson is Political Editor for Townhall.com.  He also hosts his own radio show. Benson talked about entitlements, presidential candidates, and Obama.


How long can White House get away with attacking GOP on entitlement reform without offering a plan of its own?

That's a good question.

It's very clear that's their plan at the moment. And it's not just the White House. It's the Senate Democrats too.

The White House will say, "Oh, we have an alternative. The president gave a speech in April."

But I think Republican would say, "You can't debate a speech. And you certainly can't vote on it."

Right now the Democrats' plan is (only) magic.

Why haven't Republican been pointing out that Obamacare cuts Medicare by $500 billion?

That's what Republicans need to do.

This needs to be an all hands on deck effort.

If you want to talk about ending medicare or changing Medicare as we know it, let's look at those $500 billion in cuts.

It's not just the $500 billion they cut in Obamacare. It's the math of Medicare today.

The Republican plan is the only plan on the table right now that saves Medicare.

If we continue on the same trajectory and do nothing, Medicare will become insolvent in 2024, thirteen years from now.

Could you explain the Herman Cain phenomenon?

Well I think Herman Cain is an extremely popular guy, because I think a lot of people had never heard of him.

It was just such a refreshing moment (in the debate) that Herman Cain just gets it.

He just comes across as a guy who is genuine and has private sector experience.

People are hungering for dynamic leadership, and Herman Cain fills that void.

How positive is it to have a whole bunch of social conservatives at the same time?

Primary voters are going to have to decide a number of factors.

The president may not be especially skilled at governing, but he's especially skilled at campaigning.

Voters need to look at candidates on numerous levels.

Could this person be president and can this person beat Barack Obama?

I think it's so early in the process that it's premature to make any of these calls.

There's no clear front runner. Some people want to call Romney the front runner...but he's not light years ahead of anyone else.

Brain Trust - Jennifer Marshall

The Heritage Foundation's Jennifer Marshall believes that budgets are moral documents...just not in the same way as religious leaders on the left do.

 

Budgets are moral documents. What do you mean by that? 

This is something we're hearing quite a bit, particularly from religious leaders on the left.

 

What they're trying to do with those four words is...as a measure of our nation how much we give to the poor.

 

We can't have a thriving free society without strong families.

 

It does an injustice to human dignity to measure our compassion by how much government gives to the poor.

 

The poverty rate has hung at about the same rate for the last four decades.

 

On the other hand we've seen massive family breakdown. The rate of unwed births has soared to over 40%...When the war on poverty started, that was a single digit number.

Shouldn't we start talking about effectiveness? 

Absolutely. I'm so glad you brought this up.

 

We have delegated our responsibility, our personal responsibility to care for the poor, to the government.

 

Instead, the way we should be measuring success is how effective it is.

 

Compassion must be effective - not just what we put in to a program, what comes out

If government can't do something, should we allow them to keep on doing it with more money? 

Government can provide a safety net for people with great material need.

 

Instead of trying to redistribute wealth...let's start targeting that ladder.

 

Let's find out what the needs are...rather than developing a welfare state that is cyclical.

 

That is antithetical to the American dream and the freedom we enjoy.

Why is it easy to be tempted with more money is better for the poor? 

It sounds right...but we have to be more careful.

 

What's fundamentally happening here - it's a misdiagnosis of the problem. It diagnoses poverty as a lack of material possession.

 

So it's not so much the material living conditions, but it's the other aspects.

 

It's the absence of fathers.

We've spent $16.5 trillion in our war on poverty. Do you have hope that we can fix this? 

There are several things we need to do to fix this. I do have hope.

 

One thing is the moral responsibility of not handing down a load of crushing debt to future generations.

Brain Trust - Phill Bryant

Mississippi Lieutenant Governor, Phil Bryant, came on the Matt Friedeman Show to describe how faith and politics intersect, especially in light of recent natural disasters.

 

How important is it that people of faith run for office? 

It's critical, Matt.

 

I don't know how someone can operate in an office like Lieutenant Governor or Governor without faith.

 

You depend on your faith.

 

I can't tell you how many times I've gone to the Lord, and said, 'Help me grasp why this occured.'

 

It personally critical for your wellbeing to have that faith.

 

I have reporters who are shocked when I tell them my goal is to not have any abortion in Mississippi.

 

When you have organization or indivials who try to give you money to influence your decisions, you have to say no.

 

That's all a faith-based position I think you have to have if you're going to serve well in an office like Governor of the state of Mississippi.

How involved are people of faith in natural disasters? 

Oh, it's been amazing, Matt.

 

Just like in Katrina, we've seen churches turning out in record numbers.

 

I'm on the board of the Salvation Army...the reason I became involved with the Salvation Army as my charity of choice is because it's a Christian ministry.

 

My pastor came to me and said, "What can we do." Well the school's closed...so perhaps we can get some WalMart card and let the superintendent distrubute those.

 

We were able to buy 165 of those gift cards.

 

That's the type of thing that has been going on with faith-based groups here in Mississippi.

Is the government doing a better job here with these tornadoes and flood? 

I think so.

 

The one thing people have to understand is that government can't solve all your problems after a disaster...that's where churches come in, Salvation Army, United Way is doing a great job.

 

So we just need to understand that we cannot be totally dependent upon government everytime something occurs.

 

When you live in areas affected by weather, you have responsibilities as does your insurance company.

Are you in contact with officials from other states? 

We do. Just the other day I was talking with the Lt. Gov. of Florida, and she was offering help.

 

We have contracters who are volunteering to help other places.

Rising Voice: How to reach Millennials

 Dawn Vargo is in charge of Rising Voice, a new intiative from Focus on the Family to reach out to the Millennial generation. She came on the Matt Friedeman Show to discuss Millennials and their importance.

 

What is a Millennial? 

Millennial is the term we use for the up-and-coming generation.

What are you learning about the Millennials? 

We're really learning that the Millennial Generation is large for one thing. It's about the size of the Baby Boomer generation.

 

There's a lot of opinions among Millennials.

What is the key social issue most Millennials can agree on? 

I would have to say life.

 

It's an encouraging thing to see.

 

This is a generation that's grown up missing siblings, missing friends because of abortion.

 

I think that's an issue we can all really rally around and move forward with.

What's an issue where they're all over the board? 

The same-sex marrage issue.

 

We've got some criticism on, and a lot of discussion.

 

When it comes to the gay marriage issue, it's still really a mixed bag.

In the 2020 presidential election many of the voters will be Millennials...

It is enormous, so we want to think through how we reach Millennials.

 

In addition to that website, we have a Facebook.

 

We have a lot of great dialogue on that site.

 

We're partnering with TOMS shoes soon.

 

What we've seen with this Millennial generation is that they're really passionate about causes.

 

We're really being able to see where we need to act as Christians and where God would have us move.

Outside of social networking, what's the way to meet the millennial heart? 

Dialogue.

 

I think sitting down and having a conversation with a millennial.

 

They connect on a heart level.

 

There are some things that Millennials think about, and there are things Millennials do.

 

Sometimes. I think that can be true. I think that can be a characterization.

You guys are trying to have an agenda, right?

We do want to talk about those issues that we think are biblical.

 

We also want to challenge Millennials to engage in a wide variety of topics.

Will Millennials mature out of some of these positions? 

I think every generation matures to a certain extent. I'm newly married, and I see a difference in my perspectives.

 

I think in many ways Millennials will mature.

 

But we need to meet them where they are now.

 

So we're really looking at a generation that's not...following that typical American lifestyle.

 

I think it's absolutely essential to reach Millennials where they are now.