I know that I promised over twitter that I was going to post this last night, but I found that I was still so angry over SCOTUS’s that most of what I had to say would have been extremely emotionally driven and counterproductive to an intelligent conversation.
Let me start of by saying that I think SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States) really dropped the ball on this one. Not only did we have Justices that should have been required to recuse themselves (Kagan is a prime example) due to a conflict of interests, but we also had Justices that decided that in order to make the law valid, they would effectively rewrite the law to make the penalty that fell under the commerce clause a tax instead. Of course everybody knew from the start that it was a tax but the language in the law stated that it was a penalty and that the commerce clause was what gave the authority to enact said penalty. Well, the Chief Justice (Roberts) decided that while the current wording made the law unconstitutional, he would rule on it as if it were a tax and effectively renames it as a tax in the written statement that was presented with the Court’s decision. Effectively, this is a declaration from Chief Justice Roberts that the Supreme Court can now use judicial activism to rewrite laws in order to fit whatever personal agenda the members of the Court have but that is not the only fall out that will come with this horrible (and in my opinion if the Justices could be held accountable, which they can’t be, illegal) decision.
The second major piece of fallout from this decision effectively gives Congress the ability to tax your actions or lack thereof. SCOTUS basically said that by making this penalty a tax, Congress can tax you for your choice not to buy health insurance. Taken to its logical conclusion where does this end? Not in a good place, that’s where. If Congress can tax you for not buying something like health insurance, what is to keep them from taxing you for not buying healthy food? What if they want to tax you for not buying Brussels sprouts because the poor Brussels sprout farmers aren’t making enough money to cover their employees’ health insurance? (By the way, health insurance costs are going to skyrocket.) Let’s take this one step further, what if they want to tax you if you don’t vote? What if they want to tax you if you don’t buy the exact make and model of car that they feel everyone should be forced to drive? Do you see where I am going with this? SCOTUS has just given Congress the power of tyrannical rule through taxes. They have declared that Congress has the ability to tax citizens for anything that they wish as long as it is just that, a tax.
Well, now the question is, what can we do about it? The way I see it, we only have a few options, one of which is preferable, the others are not so preferable.
The first and best option is the one I would really prefer to have happen. It starts with electing Romney (as much as I dislike the man I will take him over the commie in the White House right now) and gaining the majority in the Senate while maintaining the majority in the House. Romney then will need to repeal Obamacare with the help of the Senate and the House. After that, several Constitutional Amendments need written and put up for a vote. One of those Amendments needs to limit the taxing powers of Congress in such a way that this can never happen again. The next needs to limit the powers of the Supreme Court to restrict the use of Judicial Activism to rewrite laws in order to make them constitutional. The third needs to make it to where the Justices are held accountable to the will of the people. (I personally like Tom Kratman’s approach with the amendments ate the end of “State of Disobedience” where all the justices are on the ballot during every Presidential election and the one that gets the most votes is removed and the new President gets to replace him/her with a new Justice.) Forth, we need an Amendment that states that any laws that Congress pass apply equally to the members of the ruling body. In order for get all of that done we would have to have politicians in office with the guts to pull of that kind of bold legislation… unfortunately I don’t think politicians like that exist anymore. After those Amendments are written, then we the people need to go and vote them in.
The second option which I don’t like as much because it would be even harder to do is to forget about winning the Presidency. Focus only on gaining a veto-proof House and Senate, and then have them enact all the steps I laid out in the first option.
The third option I like even less. That is revolution. I don’t like this option because of the potential for bloodshed, but it wouldn’t be the first time blood has been shed for our freedom. To be quite honest, the prospect of a second American Revolution frightens me, but I see it as a potential future that will become necessary in order to preserve what little is left of this once great nation. I really hate to say that but that is one of the only ways we have left. I hope and pray that it never gets that far.
The fourth option I dislike as much as the third. This option involves all of the conservative states that still believe in the American Ideal of freedom announcing their succession and forming their own nation independent of the liberal states. I dislike this option because I see another Civil War happening. Like the first Civil War, it would be about a multitude of reasons with State’s and Citizen’s rights being at the forefront.
I know none of these options are particularly great, but the way I see it they are all we have left aside from becoming complacent in letting our freedoms slip away faster and faster. I was going to go into how this law is going to hurt everyone that the Libs are saying it would help but I have ran out of time for now so I will have to take that up at another time.
Thank you for reading and remember to vote this November. Aim for Option #1 with me please.
