Some thoughts on the news of the decision. These are based on news reports as I haven’t read the actual decision yet.
This is a typical act of USSJC cowardice. They always look for the weasel way out of hot issues by trying to construe matters so narrowly as to minimize their required action. Roberts is especially prone to this. Thanks again, GWB.
In construing the mandate as a tax, the Roberts court put themselves in the position of being the Legislature’s editor - in effect, usurping the Legislative authority - yet again. They should have restricted themselves to the plain meaning of what the Legistaltive Branch actually said. [It wouldn’t hurt if they likewise restricted themselves to the plain meaning of the Constitution, as well.]
The unintended consequences of this decision will be disastrous. There is now absolutely no limit to the government’s power to force us to do anything it wishes as long as they deem it a ‘tax’. Limited government is gone.
The Constitution took mortal wounds during the FDR administration. Today it died. Leviathan has won. There is no longer any Constitution that the Founders would recognize.
I consider this as the end of my oath to preserve, protect and defend. The counterparty to that oath has unilaterally abbrogated it.
My wife just laid out our DVD of 1776 which we have watched every 4th of July since the Bicentennial. I told her to put it away; I can’t bear to look at it now.
Your post really hit home with me. That is what this monsterous decision has done to our once great nation. The Republic crafted by those brilliant and inspired men is now ashes. This is a black day for the USA.
I disagree. The Supreme Court, current members of congress or our thug-in-chief aren't the counterparties. It is the constitution itself and the American people it protects. We just need to recognize its true enemies.
So, you’re not going to try to give future generations a 2012 inspiration? I’m surely proud that the Patriots in 1776 didn’t follow that line of thinking.
The law-abiding, taxpaying, working American citizen is the only hope of sustenance and survival this Beast has. It might take herioc sacrifice, just like it did in 1776, but for the most part, it will only require the refusal of Americans to continue to provide the means.
Prison? I think I would personally prefer it to feeling as if I had knelt at the feet of a dictator. And if more is required, so be it.