Obama nominates another radical judge with socialist ideas

Barack Obama's latest appellate court nominee, Professor Goodwin Liu, is an unabashed radical Berkeley leftist. Hot Air has dug up a number of radical quotes to Liu's name, and one, from his book Education, Equality, and National Citizenship, particularly stands out.

“The duty of government cannot be reduced to simply providing the basic necessities of life . . . the main pillars of the agenda would include . . . expanded health insurance, child care, transportation subsidies, job training, and a robust earned income tax credit.”

This is in sharp contrast to the Constitution, which provides for natural rights rather than material rights. You have the right to own a gun, but not the right to firearm funding from the government, for example. Everything granted in the Bill of Rights details something the government must not do, rather than something the government must do.

But for progressive legal scholars like Liu who don't view the government as a threat to liberty, the Bill of Rights is to be altered and expanded. Liu's views are reminiscent of regulation czar Cass Sunstein's call for a Second Bill of Rights. An idea that originated with FDR, such a canon would provide for certain material rights that must come from government. Roosevelt outlined them as follows:

"The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return, which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home;

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health."

In other words, the government would take responsibility for every aspect of the individual's life. This is called cradle-to-grave socialism, and it's supported by men as powerful as Sunstein and Liu. If a Second Bill of Rights can't be enacted through Congress, it can simply be enforced through court rulings.

Liu has been nominated for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, one of the most progressive and overruled courts in the land.