Those who voted for The Messiah have much to answer for.
Messiah indeed. The words of Wm. Butler Yeats come to mind:
What rough beast is this,
his hour come 'round at last
slouches toward Bethlehem
waiting to be born.
– from The Widening Gyre –
Bob Kolker
I’ve been wondering that too. I’m hoping someone tries to take that fine or jail time up to the supreme court.(and that the court has the good sense to hear it at least.) I would guess that someone would. I just can’t see any way to justify forcing someone to buy a product constitutionally. Not that I’m a lawyer, but there’s no interstate commerce affected by NOT buying a product. No touching of public property like roads. If it does pass through the courts it will be interesting to see the squirmy justification for it.
All we can do, at this point, is stifle beaurocracy.
I’ve been wondering that too. I’m hoping someone tries to take that fine or jail time up to the supreme court.(and that the court has the good sense to hear it at least.) I would guess that someone would. I just can’t see any way to justify forcing someone to buy a product constitutionally. Not that I’m a lawyer, but there’s no interstate commerce affected by NOT buying a product. No touching of public property like roads. If it does pass through the courts it will be interesting to see the squirmy justification for it.
Congress ca regulate you (under the interestate commerce clause), if you try to grow wheat for home consumption… because “production of the commodity meant for home consumption… has a substantial effect on supply and demand in the national market for that commodity”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzales_v._Raich
If they can twist the interestate commerce clause this way…
I’ve been wondering that too. I’m hoping someone tries to take that fine or jail time up to the supreme court.(and that the court has the good sense to hear it at least.) I would guess that someone would. I just can’t see any way to justify forcing someone to buy a product constitutionally. Not that I’m a lawyer, but there’s no interstate commerce affected by NOT buying a product. No touching of public property like roads. If it does pass through the courts it will be interesting to see the squirmy justification for it.
I hope so, too. But I can’t say I expect it. There’s the precedent of car insurance, which is mandatory in some states (though you can side-step it by not owning a car, for what little that’s worth). A requirement to get health insurance, however, would set an even worse precedent. Why couldn’t the government compel you to buy next? A book, a movie, an amount of goods per year, an amount of cash to be spent per year, getting a savings account? Why not?
When they turn the pages of history, when these days have passed long ago, will they read of us with sadness for the seeds that we let grow?
When they turn the pages of history, when these days have passed long ago, will they read of us with sadness for the seeds that we let grow?
A Farewell, indeed. Can’t we raise our eyes and make a start?
..What about Russia, China, and Japan, and several other countries that are freeing up the markets? Do you think they’ll see the importance of privatized health care?
Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.–Ronald Reagan
Here’s what I’m afraid of:
In a few years, when people see the quality and quantity of healthcare are declining, when they confront rationing, higher taxes, complex bureaucracies and endless waits for even simple procedures, when they see loved ones die of things that could be cured had they been diagnosed in time, when they recall not long ago they were diagnosed in time, when all that happens, will people all over America realize they’ve been had and rebell against the system, or will they accept the altruistic premise that we all most get used to bad healthcare when the alternative is for some to go uninsured?
Thats why this is a philosophical battle. and that’s why I get nervous when I hear people say “once socialist policies are exposed for what they really are, people will change their minds.” All too often they’re afraid to do so.
The world must wake up and realize the moral and rational contradictions involved in government health care. Everyone talks about how people could be made healthy and longer life expectancy and the like with government funding, but nobody bothers to go deeper. No one asks where that cash will need to come from, and it will have to come from everybody. I will have to pay for another man’s health care, a man whom I have never had the chance to judge for myself whether they are worth my savings or not. How is that just? How is that fair, for those that wish to see nothing but fairness between people?
This is the beginnings of the government removing conscious, rational thought from the common man, and I guarantee it will not stop here. The greatest threat to those that seek power is logic, and so they will seek to deny it to the people whom they rule so tyrannically. As Ayn Rand said a number of times, history will support me in this. Wherever there is a tyrant, no matter what guise they choose to hide behind, they provide their subjects, their slaves, with not a single, heavy chain, but rather a thousand weak links, each with its own individual lock. The more they are held down, the less opportunity people are given to think. It is not just an uprising that tyrants fear. It is not just a loss of power. They can pass on that power to whomever they please. A simple rebellion can be quashed. They fear the men of the mind, they fear organized, intelligent and rational people. But these great men and women cannot be destroyed like simple slaves; they must be shackled so that they might be manipulated into serving the tyrant. Without the builders, the thinkers, and the innovators there is nothing to rule. It is not thinking that they seek to annihilate; it is free choice.
This bill, this “universal health care” is an abomination. It stands, and he who dares call himself our president with his lackeys in Congress beside him, hold it like a banner above their heads, proud that they have dealt such a blow to freedom. They grin even as they realize in the shadows of their minds that this banner is made from the flesh of the free man. They laugh and raise their hands in victory, even as his blood stains them. These politicians they call themselves, Congressmen and President alike, are the tyrants of our age. The free man is that which they loathe; choice is that which they cannot comprehend; logic is that which they fear. And from that hatred, that ignorance, and that terror, they realize they must turn to destruction. They claim so righteously that they stand for helping people, and making everyone happy, but they look not at how they will do such things. They must destroy all that makes people free, all that allows people to choose, and all that makes people happy in order for everyone to finally be brought down to the same level. Their goal is not the happiness of others, in truth. It is the destruction of happiness. It is the destruction of love, of logic, of life and liberty. They do not want to bring everyone up to the same level. They want to drag everyone down to the same level. And after that has been done, they will destroy the ladder, and cover the sky. The free man will be shackled to whomever stands next to him, and they will not even be granted the comfort of contempt, for even the tyrants will stand with everyone else, staring, wondering what they have wrought. There will be no key to unlock the chains; there will not even be a leader to unite against. It will be a slavery to existence itself, as nothing more than living every day for nothing but survival in this nightmare. Death and life will become blurred, for there will be no difference between the two. There will be no preference, no choice, no thought. All live together, so the dead do not matter. All die together, so the living do not matter.
The world will not end in fire, nor will it end in ice. Not the machinations of man nor the will of some divine God will destroy us. It will instead be a doomed existence in that dark hell, day after day, until we are no longer human, and the mind no longer exists. This is the way the world ends. On our current path, that sinister plane of existence is exactly where our species is headed. I will not claim an obligation to stop it for anyone. I instead present a choice: freedom, or lack thereof. There exists no middle ground. Decide yourself, of your own volition and rational thought, which existence you would prefer.
I honestly never understood why liberals were against health stamps.
I mean, I am against them because I am a proud laissez-faire capitalist extremist, but think about it. Health stamps would only apply to people who make less than satisfactory income. These are the people that the liberals are most concerned about. But no, instead of doing something cost-effective and supporting only the people that can’t afford health insurance, they want a $1 trillion dollar health care plan to be extended to EVERYBODY.
Hey, my name is Johnny Matherson. I’m only 12 years old. My parents make a combined income of $250,000/year, and you’re paying for my cough syrup! For a group of people that is known for their contempt for rich people, liberals sure are very concerned for rich people and don’t think they can take care of themselves!
Good question, Wolf. You’re right: a desire for control is one factor. The second is egalitarianism.They want everyone to be equal. A universal plan achieves this, and also gives some bureaucrat control: two birds with one stone.
The same is true in education. People have been talking about school vouchers for decades, but modern liberals will never agree. Check out this post “The Soul of an Egalitarian” for some insight.)
Not sure where I saw this snippet, but it’s a good meme (transcribing from memory): how is asking me to pay your medical bills any different from asking me to pick your cotton?
Not sure where I saw this snippet, but it’s a good meme (transcribing from memory): how is asking me to pay your medical bills any different from asking me to pick your cotton?
But but but but healthcare is a right, cotton is not!
I made my arbitrary distinction, and I’m sticking to it!
But but but but healthcare is a right, cotton is not!
I made my arbitrary distinction, and I’m sticking to it!
So does that mean that nobody has a right to clothing?
OOPS!
The Democrats have won. It was inevitable.
But we can still fight back!
Let’s fight back with amendments nullifying bills that are too long
“It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!” – Senator Palpatine, Star Wars, Episode II
It’s the death of the Republic.
It’s the death of the Republic.
Isn’t that a little drastic?
Our “Republic” has been dead a long time ago, really.
I knew the new Health Bill passed the House yesterday, but doesn’t it still have to go to the Senate?
