If the Supreme Court is able to re-write a statute as fundamental and far-reaching as the PPACA, what would stop future courts from changing other laws as they see fit? Even though this ruling turned out in their favor, the DNC would do well to remember that this sort of blatant disregard for the Constitution shown by the Supreme Court could just as easily tilt against them next time, threatening freedoms they hold dear. Congress should act immediately to reassert their sole power to author law, thus guaranteeing the original design of our federal system remains intact. The consequences of allowing this injustice to stand are too far-reaching for any other response.
congress federal government First Amendment to the United States Constitution health insurance James Madison justice kennedy Kathleen Sebelius National Federation of Independent Business obama politics president senate supreme court Supreme Court of the United States Taxation in the United States united states United States Constitution
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The sky is falling, the sky is falling! cry whiney Republicans who thought they could subvert the U.S. Constitution by packing the court with right-wing ideologues.
PPACA joins other popular government mandates like Social Security, Medicare, the purchase of auto insurance, or the enforcement of speed limits for that matter and is now the law of the land with the Supreme Court’s stamp of approval. I can hear you right-wing drones muttering that it’s different because you can choose not to drive. I agree, but if you get sick, or have an accident and can’t afford the out of pocket expense, guess what? You will be treated and the costs are passed on to all of us with insurance. We pay for you and we don’t have a choice in the matter.
Right-wingers are raising such a stink that it’s easy to forget that the mandate idea was actually first dreamed up in a right-wing think tank, and of course first enacted in Massachusetts by none other than Mitt Romney. Mitt of course flips and flops on this, but he has decided that he can have things both ways: in Massachusetts it is a “penalty” if you don’t buy insurance, but Obamacare is a “tax.” Right-wing media goes one better and has pronounced it a “historic massive tax” which is complete bullshit.
All this law does is make people responsible. If you don’t have insurance now because you can’t afford it, it will be made affordable to you. If you still don’t buy it, you will be penalized, as you should be. Insured people are tired of paying your way.