Sure, I'm going to talk about Obamacare. But let's start with two other recent decisions.
First the good news: the Supreme Court does seem to have read the 4th Amendment. That protects against UNreasonable searches and seizures. Reasonable searches and seizures? No Constitutional bar exists. What defines reasonable? The court, quite properly, left that question (mostly) alone.
But the bad news begins. The 1st Amendment gets overused a lot, and abused a lot. The abuse is only going to get worse now that the court has ruled that lying about military service and decorations is protected speech. Yes folks, it is legal to lie. Politicians everywhere breathed a sigh of relief, you can be sure. This second ruling I'm rather conflicted about. On the one hand it is, just barely and strictly by the letter of the law, Constitutional. On the other... legal to lie about military service and awards for valor!?! If that's OK, little things like whether you supported issue X or voted for issue Y seem pretty trivial. Someone running for Senate can claim the Medal of Honor and 10 years in the Marines without ever having spent a day in uniform... and its legal.
And things don't stop there. The liberal media went crazy after the ruling on Obamacare, saying "See? Its a tax!" Oddly, an argument they did not make while trying to get the measure through Congress. Gee, I wonder why. But, see, we're not abusing the already tortured-to-death Commerce clause, oh no. We're just exercising our power to Tax! All is well.
Um... no. See Congress does indeed have the power to "lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises..." All well and good. But, OOPS! "...all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States."
But wait, that didn't say Taxes have to be uniform. We're still good, right?
Sure... if it were a tax. Taxes, however, go after something you HAVE. An income tax is on the money you have. A sales tax is on the product you (are about to) have. Paying a fee for NOT having something, which is what Obamacare does, ISN'T A TAX. That, my friends, is what is called a PENALTY.
The liberal media has also roundly derided the 'broccoli' idea, where someone suggested that Obamacare would be a precedent that would allow Congress to require you to eat broccoli. Well, they're half right. It isn't. What it IS, is a precedent that says Congress can make you pay money for NOT eating broccoli, or, let's get this important bit clear: not eating ENOUGH broccoli.
See, Obamacare doesn't just require you to have health insurance. No, you've got to have acceptable insurance. In other words, ENOUGH insurance. Who decides what's enough? The government. Who decides how much you pay if you don't have 'enough'? The government. Who decides what's enough broccoli? The government.
Can the government, based on the precedent of Obamacare and the supreme court ruling, fine me $1,000,000 for not having ten tons of broccoli?
Yes.
They.
Can.
All they have to do is say it is a tax. But that's OK, because lying is legal now.
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2 comments:
In defense of John Roberts. "What I like about the Roberts decision is that given Congress’ power to tax, it is not up to the Supreme Court to decide for us whether it’s a good idea or not. It is not up to the Court to decide that this tax is better economic policy or poorer social policy. Whether a tax is a good idea or not ought to be part of the legislative process, a process you and I are in control of by voting for or against the nimrods who say Congress can tax my nose hairs and my inactivity. So bring it on. Let’s vote out the bums and overturn this horrible law."
Voting in November...
But the whole point is THAT IT ISN'T A TAX!
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