Off Topic

If your a fan of all controlling Federal Govt and the deminishment of Federalism ie state rights then you should be happy today. How Chief Justice Roberts can decide what was sold as a penalty is now a tax is beyond me . Sad day for individual freedom and responsibility. Great day for the IRS.

Roberts wasn't legislating, he was interpreting. It doesn't matter what something was 'sold as'. If I sell you an orange and call it an apple, it's still an orange. The method used to politically sell the mandate has no correlation with the actual implementation or words used within the legislation (e.g: the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. act had very little to do with Patriots, but calling it that was a good selling point).

The insurance mandate clearly exceeds the federal government’s powers under the interstate commerce clause found in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution,” writes Ron Paul. “This is patently obvious: the power to ‘regulate’ commerce cannot include the power to compel commerce! Those who claim otherwise simply ignore the plain meaning of the Constitution because they don’t want to limit federal power in any way.”

The last Fox News poll results showed 49% opposing the law, 39% supporting and 12% undecided.

I don't understand why more conservatives don't support the law. 1) it began as a conservative idea with Newt Gingrich and the Hertage Foundation pushing the mandate in the 1990's. 2) The current system is essentially welfare for individuals who do not have insurance, as emergency rooms cannot turn away anybody who comes in for care. And we as taxpayers pay for the uninsured who get care through existing programs or uncompensated care. So anybody without insurance knows they can get care, but they don't have to pay. I thought conservatives believed in personal responsibility. 3) This law is modeled after, and has many of the same qualities, that are contained in Governor Romney's successful program in Massachusettes.

Any polls regarding the health care law should have an * next to them becasue it is almost impossible for most people to know everything in this bill and have a knowledgable opinion. I live in Mass and while there are similarities bewtween both programs, RomneyCare was 78pgs, ObamaCare is over 2,000pgs.

There are some very good ideas in both plans but Romney's goal in Mass was to enact universal healthcare and then introduce competition by allowing more insurance companies to compete (Mass is notorious for not allowing all carriers to sell insurance in the state). When he left to run for President the first time this was put on hold and the current gov/legislature has not acted on this. As a result, while we have good insurance, we also have the highest rates in the country, and there are many pending law suits from the medical profession today.

When you cut through all the political BS, this is the fundamental difference between both party's take on healthcare. The Republicans want competition to drive down prices, the Democrats think the government can do a better job. Its not about being humane or personal responsibility but rather how to pay for it.