I am heartsick.
I cannot believe that Chief Justice John Roberts, an extremely bright
man, is unable to see that if the individual mandate can be construed as
a "tax," then Congress has an unlimited power to mandate ANYTHING,
merely by designating the penalty for non-compliance as a "tax" -- and
such a "tax" is not bounded by Fifth, Sixth, or Eighth Amendment
constraints.
That halting, choking sound you hear is the Cheyne-Stokes breathing of
the last remaining remnant of Americans' individual liberty.
The Republic has fallen. Let him save himself who can.
Fiat currency.
ReplyDeleteTo the moon personal and national debt.
OK for a woman to kill her baby.
Homosexual adoption.
Homosexual marriage.
Antimoral culture.
Refusal to prosecute or even vote out criminal politicians like Kennedy, Rangel, Reed, Pelosi, Clinton, Clinton,et.al.
Undeclared wars.
Refusal to prosecute criminal business and financial leaders like (do you really need the list?).
Sycophant press.
Criminal banking system.
Criminal political parties.
And you think this morning marks the end of the Republic? Really.
Francis, I love you brother, but we were hauled off to Babylon years ago.
at least we were saved from the disaster that would have been Justice Miers...
ReplyDeleteYes, but...what is this a tax on? It strikes me that this tax is not an income tax, which, the last I heard, is the only kind of direct tax the Constitution allows, so what is it? The Court has guaranteed their jobs for the next twenty years as they try to untie the Gordian knot they've just put themselves into.
ReplyDeleteGovernments never voluntarily surrender powers that they have taken. The Supreme Court is part of of the government...
ReplyDeleteAnd when will people learn that the GOP can't appoint judges worth a damn? Looking at their track record, it's clear that the few solid ones are aberrations.
This is why it's so vitally important to elect a conservative like Romney. He will appoint Supreme Court justices. Like Bush did with Roberts.
ReplyDeleteOr something.
America is done. Stick a fork in it.
I'm sorry, Dr. Franklin. We tried.
ReplyDeleteOn a tangent. Hewitt was on Levin tonight, and mentioned, now that Obama-care is (for the moment) "constitutional", this will mean the administration will be back directly in the face (me paraphrasing) of the Catholic Church, IRT forcing them to comply with their demands for health care.
ReplyDeleteThe Church appears to be potentially placed in the vanguard of this battle. It is my hope they continue to fight with as much ferocity as they have already, and refuse to back down to the bastards in DC.
Francis;
ReplyDeleteI understand. Or at least I think I do.
It doesn't really matter if democrats and Obama lied or didn't know better about the "mandate." Whether it was a "tax" or a logical application of the Commerce Clause, it is a direct attack on what "we" think of as individual freedom.
The same was true of "Kelo."
And the Shakesperean tragedy is that Roberts penned the brief.
This won't make you feel better, but let me tell you something equally as tragic:
My wife works for a company that provides software (financial and diagnostic) to a regional system of hospitals. The Supreme Court ruling was only two or three hours old when the company issued a statement to ALL its employees stating approval of the Court's decision because it, "gave hospitals recompense for providing care to patients who otherwise could not pay."
In my wife's opinion, this means that people who would otherwise suffer for being unable to afford care for their health problems now have an ability to "pay" caregivers for their treatment, and doctors and hospitals no longer need to "turn away" poor, sick people.
She "sort of" understands that these poor people don't really have an ability to pay - the rest of us are paying for them. And she "sort of" understands that this is the definition of socialism, but she won't call it that. She DOES, however, think that a society, nation or whatever we now are should pay that price.
Meanwhile, she ignores the thousand politically motivated exemptions of the "rules." She's heard of them, but refuses to discuss the how or why of them.
She sighs and turns away when I try to explain to her that "covering a pre-existing condition is NOT insurance."
If Lloyd's of London had to insure two ships in 1790, and both were carrying gold, and one had 20 guns and the other had none, which should get the lower insurance rate? In real economic terms - not a fabulist's fantasy - which one represents the greater risk and therefore should pay more?
And ultimately, WHY SHOULD A GOVERNMENT HAVE A SAY IN THIS MARKET TRANSACTION?
Of course, this is not even mentioning the bad math, unsubstantiated assumptions of future growth and the duplicitous accounting of the 2000+page abomination of what we call Obamacare.
It is a badly written law. Read it. Half of the text is justification for what it does. Think about that. If a law makes sense and is necessary, it doesn't need to proselytize itself.
It is a poorly (vaguely) written law. It proclaims broad policy measures while leaving huge portions of its implementation in the hands of an agency of the Executive Branch.
It was a poorly passed law. Read the rules under which it "passed."
It is an unpopular law.
I actually don't hold Justice Roberts in much contempt for his finding . . . although I feel a *little* stabbed in the back. My contempt is reserved for those democrats who passed this socialist, unsustainable, unaffordable lying piece of statist garbage that punishes free markets (insurers and health-care providers) while rewarding the toadies (unions and anyone who caves in to government pressure.)
I agree: I would rather not have Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor on the Supreme Court. But I would MUCH PREFER a knowledgeable electorate that would immediately vote against any clown who would nominate these poseurs to such an important post.
The task now is a Conservative Senate, House and President in the 2012 election so Obamacare can be repealed. Francis, stay here at least that long!
Romney is NOT your fictional guy, and he won't do as well as we hope, but we MUST do something.