I am still absorbing the opinions. I did give a sigh of relief that the Commerce Clause was circumscribed, for once. Ruling otherwise would have been a disaster.
I hate Obamacare, although it would probably benefit me personally, in some regards at least. But the opinion of Roberts was probably right. I had glossed right over the tax/penalty issue in light of the law’s clear statement that it was NOT a tax. But if it is a tax, calling it anything else does not change it. That is a valid rule of legal construction. I don’t like it but it is hard to argue against.
We are not in a doomsday situation. The country is NOT finished. Obama may want to destroy the economy piece by piece, but it is the people who have, and always have had, the power. This is a wake up call to those who care about the country. The presidential choice is not pretty, but, to me, clear. More important, however, are House and Senate elections, as well as local ones.
If we want legislative change, we must win the seats, and win decisively.
We must also get Obama out of the White House. He will act like a socialist dictator, regardless of what Congress does.
This decision has vastly expanded the government’s taxing power. This is a tax in the abstract. The congress could pass a tax that everyone must buy a GM car next year and those that don’t will pay a tax. Not just those who bought a Ford, Honda or something else, but anybody that did not buy a car, period.
Imagine taxing kids who go to private schools. Any school age child that does not attend public school must pay a tax. Not a tax on private schools but a tax on the inaction of not attending a public school.
How about a tax on high school graduates that don’t join the military?
I hate the tax code, but we have gone from taxing commerce, income and certain excises on property, to taxing a negative or an inaction.