If the federal government can force you to make one purchase, it can force you to make all purchases. And the freedom to spend your own money the way you see fit (read: the right to property) is dead.
Roberts was Bush’s mess. So those of you who have been moaning about Zero blaming Bush… well… you can place due blame where blame is due.
Fuckitall.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the individual insurance requirement at the heart of President Barack Obama’s historic health care overhaul.
The decision means the huge overhaul, still only partly in effect, will proceed and pick up momentum over the next several years, affecting the way that countless Americans receive and pay for their personal medical care. The ruling also hands Obama a campaign-season victory in rejecting arguments that Congress went too far in requiring most Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty.
Breaking with the court’s other conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts announced the judgment that allows the law to go forward with its aim of covering more than 30 million uninsured Americans.
Hi, I'm Rob. I used to blog at Northern Virginia Conservative, but Nicki got way more hits anyhow, so I moved over here. My language is somewhat less colorful than hers, but I also get pretty passionate.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 12:23:30
NOW you want to wave goodbye to the Constitution? Where were you a couple of years ago (and last week) when the Robes opened the gates wide for large multinational corporations and other people with more money than many small countries to literally buy an election?
You know, where a fictitious entity somehow gained most of the “rights” as a living, breathing, American citizen, whose “voice” was the use of its money and could use that unfettered “voice” to influence the American government.
A “person” who, unlike the rest of us, could literally stay “alive” indefinitely, and whose “voice” could shout louder and longer than humanly possible.
Today’s ruling comes at no surprise at all. The fact that Roberts went along with it is REALLY no surprise. The only surprise is that the other Conservatives didn’t sign on.
Why?
The mandate is a HUGE gift to the insurance companies. This is a wet dream for the large financial institutions and Big Pharma. These are the Conservative’s Peeps. (at least the Conservative politicians — of which the Conservative wing of the Supremes are a part of)
I wonder how long it is going to be before Mitt Romney takes credit for his RomneyCare, now that the mandate is ruled Constitutional.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 12:36:46
Deej, it’s not that I’ve not been watching. It’s that this is a HUGE disappointment. This is a fundamental thing – property rights. And they killed it today. They’ve opened the floodgates wide for a centralized economy, and that’s something I can’t tolerate.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 12:46:32
Nicki, I’m not sure I see it as a property rights thing. I see it more as a “tax” that we are forced to hand over to a private corporation. That is where I have a problem.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 12:42:23
Citizens United merely leveled the playing field between labor unions and corporations re: political campaign contributions. Nothing more.
tl;dr- Deej is menstruating out his ass again.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 12:55:52
Getalis, Leveling WHAT playing field? Prior to Citizen’s United, both unions and corporations were limited in what they could spend. Now both are given UNLIMITED voices — as long as they have the money.
But here is the thing — unions are being decimated (which you no doubt applaud), whereas corporations (which have always had MUCH more money to spend) are going gangbusters.
If you think for even a nanosecond that corporations have YOUR best interests at heart, then you are a fool.
The point is, NEITHER corporations nor unions should be involved in our political system. They shouldn’t have “rights”, or a “voice”. They are fictitious entities that should have no power at all.
One person, one vote. Corporations are NOT people. They are sociopathic entities with one purpose — to become larger.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 12:54:24
Deej, it’s EXACTLY a property rights thing! When you allow the federal government to dictate what you purchase, it is absolutely a property rights thing!
In some ways it’s a boon to insurance companies, but I think it’s a short-term thing. The regulatory environment will choke them to the point where providing insurance (that’s not really insurance, since it no longer insures against catastrophe but rather just forces anyone to purchase it as soon as they get an expensive illness) will no longer be profitable. They’ll jack up prices, and people will start switching to the government’s insurance, since they’re required to have it. I think in the long term, it will suck for them. But for now – yeah, it’s pretty sweet!
I don’t think the campaign finance decision was as damaging to property rights as this shit will be. The very idea of it makes me physically ill.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 13:04:27
Nicki — the penalties for NOT participating are what, a hundred bucks? A one-time penalty? That’s quite a tooth to bite a person with.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not in favor of the mandate in this case. I do see it as a gift to the insurance companies — and a gift that keeps on giving, when you consider that every day more people will be mandated to sign up for insurance with a private carrier.
Citizens United is by FAR much more damaging. It might not seem like it to you right now since it currently favors your candidates, but give it some time.
Montana a hundred years ago was a prime example of what could happen.
Well, at least you have mandated insurance now.
The good news is that NONE of this is carved out in stone. It can be fixed.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 13:48:23
Trying to obfuscate today’s judicial treachery by bringing up Citizens United smacks of the worst sort of craven intellectual pussy cowardice. Fuck that. Corporations represent people, certainly as much as unions do, and deserve the right to political speech. They can’t vote. What’s the problem, so long as they aren’t enriching themselves on the public dime?
Today’s bullshit is unconscionable. Motherfuckers think they can control every aspect of our lives.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 12:57:30
“One person, one vote. Corporations are NOT people. They are sociopathic entities with one purpose — to become larger.” — Deej, you can’t have it both ways. Individuals can be sociopaths. A corporation is comprised of many individuals, but it is an entity, and as such cannot be sociopathic. Sorry, dude. No go on that.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 13:08:54
Deej, first of all these are NOT MY candidates! I don’t like the way elections are bought either. But it’s all fundamentally about property rights to me. Corporations are accountable to their shareholders, and the shareholders decide. They can also take their money elsewhere if they don’t like the policies/decisions of said corporation.
There is NO choice here. The CU decision didn’t favor MY candidates! I haven’t voted for these assholes, thank you very much. Ultimately, it’s about the freedom to spend your own money. I don’t care how much the penalty is – whether it’s $100 or $1,000,000. The principle of property rights has been severely eviscerated.
I didn’t escape the Soviet shithole only to be fucked up the ass hard by the current crop of fucking socialists!
Jun 28, 2012 @ 14:41:59
Once again, Deej menstruates out his ass and smears it on the Interwebtubes. And yet, he can’t have it both ways: if corporations aren’t people, then neither are labor unions. (As for sociopathic behavior, union goons set the brass knuckle standard.)
Jun 29, 2012 @ 02:45:41
There is a very real chance for the Constitution to be the reason for 0bamacare to be repealed.
According to Art. 1, Sec. 7, “All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with amendments as on other Bills.”
The House version of the Affordable Care Act bill failed in the Senate. Then the Senate proposed a separate bill that the House deemed passed. This was then signed into law as the current Affordable Care Act.
This was possible because there was no tax increase in the bill, just a fine.
However, Chief Justice Robert’s opinion has invalidated the claim that the individual mandate is a fine, but asserted it is actually a tax.
As such, the Senate bill violates Art. 1, Sec. 7 because a tax originated in the Senate in direct violation of the Constitution.
It’s time to contact your politicians.
No, it doesn’t make it any better « The Liberty Zone
Jun 29, 2012 @ 08:38:32
Jun 29, 2012 @ 10:38:27
I absolutely love corporations. I’d happily trust any company over any government organization any day of the week. Bring on the companies!