Sam Smith
Some media made a big thing of a conservative judge joining the appeals court decision upholding Obamacare’s individual mandate. In fact, Obamacare is a highly conservative measure – when compared to Medicare or single payer - and the individual mandate amounts to a huge earmark subsidizing the health insurance industry.
Bear in mind, the mandate does not provide healthcare, only privately defined insurance.
Bear in mind, also, that one good reason people don’t buy health insurance is because they are low on cash. The individual mandate is a tax increase on these lower income people.
It’s not surprising to find conservative judges joining with Obama on this issue, perhaps even on the Supreme Court.
After all, there is a bipartisan agreement in high places that just about the only section of the Constitution that really matters any more is the commerce clause – which is being expanded even as other provisions – such as the First, Second, Fourth and Tenth Amendments - are being dismantled. Find a legalistic hook to the commerce clause and you can do just about anything you want.
This a good example of liberals supporting conservative politics simply because a Democratic president likes it. Which leaves one with the irony of having to turn to a Reagan appointee, Judge James L. Graham, for a little common sense:
“If the exercise of power is allowed and the mandate upheld, it is difficult to see what the limits on Congress’s Commerce Clause authority would be. What aspect of human activity would escape federal power?”
