ObamaCare and its Democratic proponents have been taking some interesting political hits lately.
In Missouri, Proposition C, on the August 3 primary ballot, seeks to prohibit the government from requiring people to have health insurance or from penalizing them from paying for their own health care. This proposition passed by a 71% to 29% margin. While many Democrats are blowing this off as meaningless, because, they contend, Federal law trumps state law, it is nonetheless a significant measure in Missouri of the dissatisfaction with the Democrats' centerpiece health care law. This also cannot be seen as a good sign for the Dems with the November elections around the corner.
In Virginia, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled on Monday, August 2, that the Commonwealth of Virginia did have the right to challenge the Constitutionality of the ObamaCare law. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli argues in his lawsuit that Congress does not have the authority under the Constitution's Commerce Clause to require citizens to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. The Virginia General Assembly also passed legislation earlier this year exempting state residents from the coverage mandate.
The Virginia ruling, of course, is a preliminary ruling made to overrule the Attorney General's motion to dismiss the case, but it is also a finding that the case presented by Virginia has sufficient merit to proceed toward a substantive determination. A similar case is pending in Pensacola, Florida, in which over 20 Plaintiffs, including several states, likewise argue that the ObamaCare law is un-Constitutional. The Attorney General in that case has been seeking extensions of time, and it has not come before the Judge for any rulings, yet.
This debate is an age-old one that has been played out in the Courts for nearly as long as this country has existed - where do we draw the line between Federal power and state power, and again between governmental power and the rights of individuals to self-determination? Article I, Sections 8, 9, and 10 of the U.S. Constitution, together with the 9th and 10th Amendments, were designed to limit Federal power to specifically-granted issues and purposes, and reserve all other powers which exist in governments to the states.
The U.S. Supreme Court has, over the ensuing years, struggled to further define where these lines fall. The Commerce Clause has often been the overstretched vehicle by which the Federal government has slowly but surely expanded its powers. This clause, which basically grants the Federal government primary authority over matters that affect interstate commerce, is being used as the justification for the Federal government now mandating that everyone buy health insurance, or pay a fine/tax for failure to do so.
This is a prime example of the solution not matching the problem, which is the single biggest failing of ObamaCare. The Democrats identified several problems in the delivery of health care in this country, usually by way of some horrific anecdote that did not represent the norm. That done, they then crammed a dense, lengthy bill down the collective throats of Congress, often by threats, offers of pork, and any other legislative tool, ethical or otherwise.
The bill, however, is more reflective of a liberal program under which government makes the most personal of decisions for us, because we are perceived to be too stupid to make those decisions for ourselves. ObamaCare is not reflective of a real solution to the real health care problems of this day and age, and in many respects will create as many or more problems than it purports to fix. Its cost is yet to be determined, but most predictions are that it will add to the public deficit under which we now labor, a far larger deficit than can reasonably be hung around Republicans' necks.
The anti-ObamaCare and anti-Democrat sentiment seems to not only be holding its fervor, but gaining traction as the fall political season approaches. The Democrats have committed to a high-tax, high-spend, intrusive form of big government, and it is too late to change the course of their ship of state. It seems now more likely than ever that the voters in November will deliver a shuddering broadside to Democratic dreams of continuing to push their short-lived dominance.
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