Free Republic

Starting in the early 1980s, up through well into 2009, the individual mandate was an eminently respectable Republican position, embraced by conservative policy wonks and leading Republicans. Since then, virtually the whole of the conservative movement has coalesced around the position that the individual mandate is not merely misguided but actually unconstitutional, a fact conservatives somehow overlooked during the previous three decades. Indeed, conservatives now believe that the policy they once embraced (or at least tolerated) would amount to an abrogation of the very principle of limited government.

Ours Not To Reason Why By Michael Kinsley Updated Thursday, September 26, 2002, at 6:50 AM PT In London Tuesday, Prime Minister Tony Blair declared with fanfare that Saddam Hussein's Iraq has chemical and biological weapons, is ready to use them against other nations, and soon will have nukes as well. In Washington, a reporter asked President Bush why Blair offered no new evidence to explain his newfound conviction on these matters. THE PRESIDENT: He explained why. Q: Pardon me, sir? THE PRESIDENT: Explained why he didn't put new information—to protect sources. That's a good joke on journalists—"protecting sources" is...