{"id":2572902,"date":"2026-02-24T08:43:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obtuse-gop-politicians-are-pretending-the-courts-will-save-us\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T08:49:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:49:01","slug":"obtuse-gop-politicians-are-pretending-the-courts-will-save-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/obtuse-gop-politicians-are-pretending-the-courts-will-save-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Obtuse GOP Politicians Are Pretending The Courts Will Save Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fobtuse-gop-politicians-are-pretending-the-courts-will-save-us%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2572902&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The piece argues that technocratic, managerial elites have driven relentless growth in government power and cost, increasingly directing society while despising \u201cMiddle America,\u201d and that legalistic restraints alone won\u2019t halt this trend.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; It portrays a century of technocracy where elites presume authority to guide society,quoting historical figures to illustrate a mindset that \u201cthe bus\u201d of society is steered by them alone.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The text cites Christopher Lasch\u2019s critique of elites revolting against a self-styled middle-class America, suggesting many elites doubt whether they even see themselves as Americans.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Technocratic management is described as self-perpetuating and costly, with examples of massive budget expansions\u2014California\u2019s spending under Gavin Newsom (growing from around $200 billion to a proposed near-$350 billion) creating urban decay, inadequate infrastructure, and a larger homelessness problem.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; A hoover Institution comparison is used to argue that blue states spend far more per capita than red states without proportionate returns, highlighting California\u2019s higher per-household spending versus Florida.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The federal government\u2019s share of GDP is noted to have risen from roughly 4% a century ago to about a quarter today, underscoring the growth of government size and cost.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The author contends that courts cannot save us from this trajectory,arguing that Supreme Court rulings will not stop the expansion and that political victory requires more than legal barriers. The piece singles out Rand Paul and thomas Massie as vocal but insufficiently effective in restraining government growth.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; A satirical exchange about left-right dynamics is included to illustrate a repeated cycle: each side invokes rules differently, yet the result is a loss for those who favor limited government.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The piece concludes with a brief author bio for Chris Bray (former infantry sergeant, history PhD, Substack contributor) and points readers toward his Substack for further analysis.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The story of the last century is the explosive growth of an overlapping set of technocratic managerial status groups that presume to have the authority to <em>direct<\/em> society. As Woodrow Wilson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.presidency.ucsb.edu\/documents\/address-the-young-mens-christian-associations-celebration-pittsburgh-the-power-christian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">put it<\/a>, speaking as more or less the founding father of the technocracy, &ldquo;I let everything alone that you can show me is not itself moving in the wrong direction, but I am not going to let those things alone that I see are going downhill.&rdquo; They alone decide on the right or wrong direction. Society is a bus that they drive.<\/p>\n<p>As they think they run America, and should, they also feel pretty sure that <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DataRepublican\/status\/2024604770699510099\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">they hate it<\/a>. As the historian Christopher Lasch wrote in his <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=8xOvkh5PwU0C&amp;lpg=PP1&amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">book<\/a> <em>The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy<\/em>, &ldquo;The new elites are in revolt against &lsquo;Middle America,&rsquo; as they imagine it: a nation technologically backward, politically reactionary, repressive in its sexual morality, middlebrow in its tastes, smug and complacent, dull and dowdy.&rdquo; His conclusion to that thought: &ldquo;It is a question whether they think of themselves as Americans at all.&rdquo;&nbsp;If you can catch up to Hillary Clinton or Gavin Newsom in Davos or Munich, you can ask them if that&rsquo;s true.<\/p>\n<p>Technocratic management grows like cancer, as they can never find anything that doesn&rsquo;t require their intervention, and so the cost of technocratic management can never be brought under control. They are going to spend <em>more<\/em>, the end. Gavin Newsom became the governor of a state with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hoover.org\/research\/after-californias-budget-grew-63-percent-five-years-newsoms-next-budget-needs-reality#:~:text=During%20Gavin%20Newsom's%20governorship%2C%20California's,fiscal%20year%20ending%20June%2030.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$200 billion budget<\/a>; he finishes his second term with a <a href=\"https:\/\/sbud.senate.ca.gov\/system\/files\/2026-01\/summary-of-the-governors-proposed-2026-27-budget.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">proposed budget<\/a> that falls just short of $350 billion. That wild spending has delivered dirty cities, poor infrastructure, and a much larger homeless crisis.<\/p>\n<p>As the Hoover Institution at Stanford University <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hoover.org\/research\/after-californias-budget-grew-63-percent-five-years-newsoms-next-budget-needs-reality\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">explained<\/a> in 2024, &ldquo;California&rsquo;s state government spends about $23,000 per household. In contrast, Florida, which is one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/progressives-fleeing-to-the-sunshine-state-while-trashing-floridas-politics\/\" title=\"Progressives Fleeing To The Sunshine State While Trashing ...\u2019s Politics\">fastest-growing states<\/a> in the country &mdash; meaning that they are building expensive new schools, hospitals and infrastructure to accommodate their growing population &mdash; is spending $14,000 per household and since 2019 has increased its per-person spending at less than half the rate of California.&rdquo; Look around on your own: Blue states and cities spend far more on government, per capita, than red states and cities, with nothing to show for it.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, a federal government that spent about 4 percent of GDP a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/buttigieg-claims-racism-is-physically-built-into-u-s-interstate-system\/\" title=\"Buttigieg Claims Racism Is \u2018Physically Built\u2019 Into U.S. Interstate System\">hundred years ago<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.presidency.ucsb.edu\/statistics\/data\/federal-budget-receipts-and-outlays\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">now spends<\/a> about a quarter of GDP. The growth of the technocracy has come with the explosive growth of its cost.<\/p>\n<p>We&rsquo;ve seen a century of absolutely relentless growth: Growth in the power of government, growth in the cost of government, growth in the burden of government on society. It just keeps getting bigger, everywhere the technocrats get their hands on the levers.<\/p>\n<p>So here&rsquo;s Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., responding to the Supreme Court&rsquo;s tariff decision late last week:<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>In defense of our Republic, the Supreme Court struck down using emergency powers to enact taxes. <\/p>\n<p>This ruling will also prevent a future President such as AOC from using emergency powers to  enact socialism. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/M55CZgz4By\">https:\/\/t.co\/M55CZgz4By<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Rand Paul (@RandPaul) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RandPaul\/status\/2024868110646256028?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 20, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>It will not. Rand Paul has been an important voice in the effort to resist the metastasization of government, but it&rsquo;s increasingly clear that he hasn&rsquo;t been an important <em>legislator<\/em> in that effort. Like <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RepThomasMassie\/status\/2024904872814907450\">Thomas Massie<\/a>, Paul speaks from a kind of bubble in which reference to the founding principles of the American republic has some kind of magical restraining power against a thing that has never submitted to the slightest restraint. <em>Oh, good, the rule of law will keep AOC from implementing socialism<\/em>! It&rsquo;s like we&rsquo;re having a 19th-century debate club while the Bolsheviks casually slide into the October Revolution.<\/p>\n<p>There is no evidence of any kind that <em>Supreme Court rulings<\/em> will stop government from continuing to get much bigger. This kind of make-believe is fatal. At some point it simply becomes a refusal to see where we are. The $2-trillion-plus-a-year federal government that Barack Obama inherited <a href=\"https:\/\/fiscaldata.treasury.gov\/americas-finance-guide\/federal-spending\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">is now<\/a> a $7 trillion-a-year federal government.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"$7.3 trillion budget plan for 2025 released by President Joe Biden\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NkGyxO8gtFo?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-fault-the-latest-divorce-memoir-not-worth-your-read\/\" title=\"No-Fault: The Latest Divorce Memoir Not Worth Your Read\">courts aren&#038;rsquo<\/a>;t going to save us. Waking up to the meaninglessness of legal barriers on the road to serfdom is merely the <em>start<\/em>. &ldquo;The rules&rdquo; have no magic. Actual political victory is required.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>The Left: &ldquo;We aren&rsquo;t playing by the rules anymore, but the Right totally should.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Right: &ldquo;But look, we ARE playing by the rules, doesn&rsquo;t that make you want to reconsider?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Left: &ldquo;Lol, watch what happens when we get power again.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Rinse and repeat. This is why we lose.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; William Wolfe &#127482;&#127480; (@WilliamWolfe) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WilliamWolfe\/status\/2025282451778548020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 21, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<hr>\n<p>      Chris Bray is a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army, and has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles, not that it did him any good. He also posts on Substack, at &#8220;Tell Me How This Ends,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/chrisbray.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Technocrats claim to lead; Wilson calls it guiding<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":2572903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/slow-joe.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[10123,7375,6203,4151,5894],"class_list":["post-2572902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-courts","tag-criticism","tag-gop","tag-judiciary","tag-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/slow-joe.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2572902"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2572906,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2572902\/revisions\/2572906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2572903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2572902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2572902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2572902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}