The Left Is Distracting Us From The Real Danger Of ObamaCare

Public Option Distortions and the Dangers of the Individual MandatePosted

by SteveElliott on September 30, 2009 at 9:17am

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The Left Is Distracting Us From The Real Danger Of ObamaCare

On September 29, the Senate Finance Committee staged two votes on adding the “public option” to the Baucus version of ObamaCare. I say “staged” because Senate Democrats fully expected both amendments to fail. That was their plan. They want YOU to think that the Senate version of ObamaCare will not include a “public option” and therefore it’s not really a government-run system.

That’s simply a lie--In fact, it couldn’t be further from the truth! The REAL truth is, ObamaCare with or without the public option is still a massively oppressive and unconstitutional government takeover of our healthcare system, and as citizens we cannot support it!

But it gets worse. Senate Democrats plan to sneak the public option back in to the final ObamaCare bill when it moves to the Senate floor… when there will be little time for real debate… and no scrutiny of a Committee hearing! The Hill confirms this floor vote strategy and quotes Sen. Shumer as saying: “The healthcare bill that is signed into law by the president will have a good, strong, robust public option,” he said.

So the votes yesterday were an intentional distortion to get you and I off track -- to make us think that ObamaCare is moving to the middle and becoming a bi-partisan bill. But it gets worse….

This is because as bad as the “public option” is, it isn’t even the most insidious DANGER of ObamaCare.

And what is the most insidious DANGER of the entire ObamaCare scheme? The unprecedented and unconstitutional INDIVIDUAL MANDATE. Here’s why …

The Individual Mandate is UNPRECEDENTED…

According to the Congressional Budget Office:

“A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”

Read WSJ article referencing CBO report; full CBO report here (pdf).

Never before in U.S. History has such a federal mandate been imposed on the people of the United States! Why? Because...

THE INDIVIDUAL MANDATE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL!

If the individual mandate is considered a “regulation” then it most certainly is unconstitutional.

Most of the expansion of federal power of the past 90 years has taken place through the Commerce clause of the Constitution. In other words, if some activity impacts “commerce,” Congress claims authority to regulate.

But there is no “commerce” involved in “being” an American! As the CBO so clearly stated, such a mandate on “lawful residence” is unprecedented. That’s because it is clearly unconstitutional!

And here’s where Obama and the Democrats run into trouble because the only way they can justify ObamaCare is to call it a tax instead of a regulation and then claim Congressional authority to tax.

But scholars are saying that this type of tax is likely also unconstitutional. Plus, Obama said he “rejects the notion” that the individual mandate is a tax, fearing his plan will lose more support if it is exposed as a tax increase.

A good resource on the constitutionality of the Individual mandate tax here.


Finally….

The Individual Mandate IS Government Takeover

With or without the so-called “public option”, the Individual Mandate means ObamaCare is a government takeover of healthcare. That’s because the individual mandate gives government control over the healthcare system by giving the government the authority to FORCE you to comply!

In fact, if you don’t pay the Individual Mandate TAX, you’ll face up to a $25,000 fine or even ONE YEAR IN JAIL! (here for source)

There is no escaping the government-run ObamaCare system. This is the definition of a government takeover of healthcare!

Here’s what CATO Institute says about the Individual Mandate:

“Simply making health insurance compulsory gives
government as much control over healthcare care as
would a compulsory government program.”



I believe we have reached perhaps the most dangerous time in this crucial debate. The Left is executing its deception strategy to perfection. Their plan to sneak the public option into the final bill has already been hatched. And even worse, most conservatives are not yet focusing on the dangers of the individual mandate.
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