[SEE THE FOOT OF THE POST–in the “more” section–FOR AN UPDATE FROM FAIRTAX.ORG]
This post will be pinned to the top of the blog for a week or so. Newer posts will appear below this one.
It seems to me that “individual mandates” as delineated by Justice Roberts’ majority opinion in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius [pdf file] (the “Obamacare” decision) have long been with us. The “feddle gummint’s” taxation power, exercised through the IRS, has long treated different people differently, taxing some more than others, excluding some from taxation because of behaviors the “feddle gummint” wants to encourage, while taxing those “others” more because they don’t do something the “feddle gummint” wants them to.
It seems to me that the two Very Good Lessons we can draw from this decision are
1. ALL the Dhimmicraps (The Zero and his co-conspirators and the Mass MEdia Podpeople Hivemind and all the Academia Nut Fruitcakes, et al) who promoted Obamacare deliberately, maliciously and wittingly LIED THPOUGH THEIR TEETH to get the thing passed.
2. Justice Roberts very wisely (Niccolò Machiavelli would’ve handed him a gold star) didn’t leave it at obliquely pointing out what liars the Obamacare supporters are but placed the responsibility for fixing the mess where it belongs when he said of the Court:
It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.
Bingo!
My exegesis? If you abhor this law as much as you should, then get up off your fat lazy asses and WORK to elect representatives who will overturn it, and in the future pay more attention to electing representatives who genuinely have the republic’s interests at heart.
Not really more, just a different way of stating much of the above, taken by a comment I made elsewhere:
The (distasteful and, IMO, in many ways self-contradictory, from what I’ve understood as I read it) Roberts decision in NFIB v. Sebelius at least does a couple of things I approve of:
Lays bare the Dhimmicrappic lies that the mandate is not a tax. Of curse, we have had all kinds of “mandate taxes” like this for many years, with the “feddle gummint” (“feddle” rhymes with “meddle” of course :-)) taxing people for doing or NOT doing things the “feddle gummint” disapproves/approves of (see the tax code for all kinds of exclusions, exemptions, deductions, etc.), using the IRS as the Simon Legree of public policy. (The remedy for that is The FairTax.)
Places the responsibility for Obamacare where it belongs by clearly saying,
“It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices.”
IOW (my take), “If you don’t like what your representatives in Congress have forced on you, then change representation and pay more careful attention to such things in the future.”
Of course, the 2010 mid-term elections should have been a wake up call to Congress, and the House, at least, has paid attention–over 30 times it has sent bills to the Senate to modify, correct, repeal, etc. all or portions of the so-called “Affordable Care Act” and the Dhimmicrappic Senate has killed them all. Solution: throw the bums out in November.
Diligence and hard work by the electorate in overcoming the cronyism and outright criminality of a runaway Congress and Executive are in our hands.
The only person you can depend on to defend your rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (among others) from the depredations of politicians *gag-spew* is… YOU. Marshall whatever is within you and campaign for freedom by supporting those (still regrettably few) candidates who will truly represent your desire to live your own life, free from the shackles of “feddle gummint” oppression. Rally with those you find who are of like mind and GET OUT THE VOTE for freedom.
Then, once your selected candidates are successful, monitor their activity very, very carefully, and keep in touch with them, both as an individual and as a group of like-minded citizens. And never relax your vigilance.
(Side bar: the two politicians I have known face-to-face who were, when elected to national office, still at least mostly decent and honorable were both corrupted by their terms in Congress to one degree or another. One, a member of the House, noticed the corruption of his own principles and “retired” voluntarily, against the wishes of those who had put him into office. The other, a Senator, served much longer and by the end of his term was not recognizable to me as the man I had known and had small group and private conversations with early in his political life. Some 20 years after his retirement from the Senate, reports from mutual acquaintances now picture him as mostly rehabilitated. My personal take? Power corrupts. Watch ’em carefully.)
“Stolen” from FB:
EVEN MORE, from FairTax.org:
Yesterday’s Supreme Court Ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act, aka “Obamacare,” suprised many Americans and one again places a sharp focus on taxes.
In his ruling, Chief Justice Roberts provided a clear and compelling admonition for voters when he said,
“Members of this Court are vested with the authority to interpret the law; we possess neither the expertise nor the prerogative to make policy judgments. Those decisions are entrusted to our nation’s elected leaders, who can be thrown out of office if the people disagree with them. It is not our job to protect people from the consequences of their political choices.”
We agree. The path forward on Obamacare and tax reform resides with the American people.
Americans for Fair Taxation’s sole focus is educating the public, candidates and the Congress about the FairTax Plan – the ONLY tax plan that completely replaces the current income tax system with a single, fair and transparent consumption tax.
It is the only tax plan that gives control of paying taxes back to the taxpayer.
It is the only tax plan that eliminates the IRS.
After yesterday’s high court ruling and its implications for taxpayers – voters, candidates and Members of Congress are giving the FairTax a well-deserved second look.
Repealing the fraudulently certified 16th Amendment and razing IRS offices to the ground would be a Very Good Thing to do.
(The FairTax doesn’t need the 16th Amendment to allow implementation within the framework of the original Constitution’s enumerated powers.)
Thanks for some perspective here. I’ve been avoiding lots of other sites for the last few days. Too much wailing and hand wringing, not enough “here’s what we do now.”
Not that much has really changed. The power to fix our problems lies where it always has – in our own hands.
It’s always been in our hands. While I think Roberts wussed out with his, “…not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices,” tack, he at least threw the ball to a higher court to decide–the ONLY court higher than the SCOTUS.