The war on words is a war on meaning. It is a rebellious war, a “breaking of the chains” and “loosing of the fetters” (Psalm 2) of God’s design for creation and for bearers of his image. And the rebellion goes all the way down, even to the core of our biological identities. The war against God and transcendent meaning is always, ironically, a war against ourselves as human beings. How could it be otherwise? Hate the Creator and his constraints, you surely must hate his creaturely icons, the imago Dei. 

On this week’s Dead Reckoning Radio episode, we discussed the Supreme Court case of King v. Burwell. I’m simultaneously sad and proud to say that everything we said turned out to be exactly correct.

Hadley predicted that the Court would rule 6-3 in favor of the government, and added that whatever happened, Justice Roberts would side with Justice Kennedy. So it was. If you needed any confirmation whether this Dead Reckoning thing is worth listening to, or whether we’re just three ignoramuses pooling our ignorance, this should give you an idea.

But, additionally, I predicted that Justice Roberts would vote to uphold the Affordable Care Act and gave a very specific reason. I noted that Justice Roberts’s judicial philosophy seems to be to read a statute in the most generous and charitable way possible (which is not in and of itself a bad thing), to the extent that he rewrites laws in his own head. If I do say so myself, that’s a fairly uncanny sense of it, given that that is precisely what Roberts proceeded to do. Never mind the text of the law; Roberts divines what Congress surely must have meant. And what they “must have meant” has, I guess, the force of law.

All of which brings me to the non-horn-tooting portion of this post. We are no longer a nation of laws. We are now governed by the mere good intentions of legislators and the private interpretations of judges. Good intentions are not available for public scrutiny; they neither provide nor submit to accountability. They are shape-shifters, providing the precise opposite of what law is supposed to provide: stability, predictability, and accountability. Likewise, private interpretations are not subject to public scrutiny; they cannot be held accountable nor hold anyone else accountable. They too, shape-shift according to the desires of the one who believes them.

Read More

[Editor’s note: One or more original URLs (links) referenced in this article are no longer valid; those links have been removed.]