Obamacare and the Constitution

T.L. Davis at the American Thinker takes a look at how Obamacare has sparked a crisis of how people (and politicians) view the US Constitution:

The debate is also a stage-setting for the greater issues of how to read the Constitution. There are two schools of thought on the issue of constitutionality: the Literalist school and the Case Law school. Each one approaches the document from a different point of view. The Literalist reads the words and meanings as they are presented without nuance, whereas the Case Law adherent reads the Constitution as seen through the filters of case law and precedent. The words they see are not the words themselves, but placeholders for an extended file of subsequent cases and rulings.

California District Court Dismissed Anti-Mandate Lawsuit

Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy covers the recent dismissal of a lawsuit against the Obamacare mandate by a California District, on the basis of lack of standing:

This decision is at odds with rulings by district courts in Virginia, Michigan, and Florida, all of which concluded that a variety of plaintiffs challenging the mandate — state governments, individuals, employers, and the National Federation of Independent Business — do indeed have standing.

Higher Taxes = Less Work. Duh.

New York Times economist (!) Gregory Mankiw has an excellent article outlining what should be obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of economics (which is perhaps why so many on the Left don’t understand it): that if you tax something, you get less of it. So if you tax wealth, you end up with less of it. And if you tax rich people, if hurts everyone.

Feds vs Salt

The Federal government is now taking it upon itself to regulate how much salt you get in your food.

The Washington Post reports:

The Food and Drug Administration is planning an unprecedented effort to gradually reduce the salt consumed each day by Americans, saying that less sodium in everything from soup to nuts would prevent thousands of deaths from hypertension and heart disease. The initiative, to be launched this year, would eventually lead to the first legal limits on the amount of salt allowed in food products.

A Now for a Taste of Things to Come: Health Care Chaos in Massachusetts

Peter Suderman at Reason Magazine gives us a peek at the future of Obamacare by way of the current state of “market chaos” in the Massachusetts health insurance industry caused by government interference regulation.

Want a preview of ObamaCare in action? Check out the Massachusetts insurance market—which earlier this week entered a state of “market chaos” after Governor Deval Patrick denied a host of health insurance rate increases.

Bart Stupak to Retire

From  the Politico:

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.), who had a central role in the health reform fight as the leader of anti-abortion Democrats, plans to announce Friday that he will not run for reelection, a Democratic official said. Without Stupak on the ballot, the seat becomes an immediate pickup opportunity for Republicans.

Five Things We Learned About Obamacare After It Passed

David Fredosso at the Washington Examiner highlights five wonderful things about Obamacare that, as Nancy Pelosi said, we had to wait for the bill to pass to find out about.

A teaser:

One: No sooner had Obamacare passed than the White House discovered that someone goofed. Despite all of Obama’s promises and talking points, Obamacare as passed by Congress does not require insurers to cover children with expensive pre-existing medical conditions.

Immediately, the White House got an assurance from the insurers. After demonizing them for months as callous profiteers on others’ misery (in fact, the entire industry is barely profitable), Obama now tells Americans that they can trust health insurance companies to do the right thing out of the goodness of their hearts.

Read the rest here.

Dem Representative: No Individual Mandate in Obamacare

Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz is demonstrating what is either willful ignorance of the health care bill she helped to pass, or a willingness to continue to misrepresent that legislation to the people. Take your pick.

From CSN News:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D.-Fla.) is insisting that the new health care law she voted for last month does not mandate that individuals buy health insurance, despite language in the law that plainly says otherwise.

The Great Condescending Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi is better than the rest of us. She knows what’s best, and we should defer to her wisdom. We don’t need to know the details of Obamacare, or the consequences or effects of it — we just need to trust that it’s good, because she said so.

Actually, that’s not what she said. This is:

”It’s like the back of the refrigerator. You see all these wires and the rest,” said Pelosi. “All you need to know is, you open the door. The light goes on. You open this door, you go through a whole different path, in terms of access to quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans.”

Judge Napolitano on the Unconstitutionality of Obamacare

Judge Andrew Napolotano, former New Jersey Superior Court Judge, guest hosted the Glenn Beck program, and outlined his argument as to why Obamacare is unconstitutional. Compliments of IUSB Vision: