President Obama came out today and declared that the Supreme Court upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ‘Obamacare’), was a “Victory for All.”
We’ve been trying to figure out who “all” this was actually a victory for though. It certainly wasn’t the American people. The American people have just been delivered on a silver platter to the private insurance companies. They have now been told 2 years from now that they must buy health insurance from Blue Cross, United, etc. or face a stiff penalty from the government. A small penalty starting in 2014 ($285 per family or 1% of your income, whichever is greater) and an even larger one in 2016 ($2085 per family or 2.5% of your income). Now add that on with the fact that the IRS will be the one enforcing this law, and you soon realize how screwed the American people really got here.
If an American doesn’t buy health insurance through a private company or a type of exchange, then he or she will be ‘fined’ by the IRS. If you do not pay said fine, the IRS has the same powers as they always would to make sure that they get your money. This includes taking your property, forcing deductions from your pay, or even jail time if the penalties build up without payment. This is quite serious when you really start to think about how all of that can come from not buying a private product such as health insurance. Essentially corporate America and the government now own you as a citizen. No matter what you do, someone is going to get your money whether you want to give it to them or not. Outside of never working again or moving to another country, there’s nothing you can do about it on a personal level.
What is even more concerning about the ruling by the Supreme Court on the PPACA, is the fact that even though the legislation itself didn’t call it a ‘tax’ the SCOTUS saw it as one. This means in the future when some big corporate lobbyist wants you to buy their product, they just have to convince congress to make you buy it or pay a huge ‘penalty’ instead, without ever actually raising your taxes. Imagine if General Motors all of a sudden filed for bankruptcy again and the Government wanted to bail them out. They wouldn’t have to with existing tax dollars, they’d just have to demand that the American people buy a GM car or face a stiff fine of $10,000. This could go for any private industry. Just think about the airline bailouts. You weren’t considering taking a trip this year, but there’s the government demanding you buy an airline ticket, 2 checked bags, and a $20 food voucher. If you don’t there’s a penalty.
Perhaps these are exaggerations and the government doesn’t try to do anything like this again. The fact still remains that they have the power to. We all know with the history of government that if you give them an inch of your liberty they’re more than willing to take more and more of it. They’ll use the argument that it’s ‘best for all’ that something takes place. They know what’s good for you and the American people. The truth is they are self-serving themselves and those who support their campaigns financially, and that is what truly makes today’s decision by the SCOTUS a very scary one to anyone who still believe in liberty of an individual.
Perhaps ‘we the people’ truly are a collective now days. There is no more individual. We share the roads, we share the parks, we share the scenery, and we share the responsibility in taking care of others with medicaid, medicare, welfare, and other government programs. However up until now we have never been demanded to take our hard earned income to buy something from a private company, something that isn’t necessarily a ‘public’ benefit. You are no longer an individual at this point in time, you are nothing more than client 9141431 who’s submitting his or her monthly payment to a big corporate firm that is more than happy to take your money for a product you may or may not ever use.
It’s truly a sad day for America. A loss of a great history. A Declaration of Independence torn to shreds, and a constitution bastardized to fit the needs of corporate America instead of the needs of the American people. We can blame Obama, we can blame Democrats and Republicans, but today we blame what is supposed to be the last bastion between Government power and individual liberty, and that’s the Supreme Court of the United States. Just remember the mandate penalty wasn’t a ‘tax’ until Justice Roberts deemed it as such in this mornings ruling. That’s cause for concern and shows us truly how rogue the court is. The question we should ask ourselves after today; who do we have left to trust in Washington?
Obama might consider this a victory for the American people in whole, but the truth is the victor is the Government and private insurance. They’re the ones who ultimately reap the benefits of the individual mandate. Keep in mind that we didn’t attack the rest of the PPACA here in this article. This isn’t some rail about the administration or the rest of the health care bill, we simply are going after the parts that deprive Americans of their liberty, as we feel we are not victorious at all. The rest of the media may try to ignore the reality of a decision here with the few exceptions, but we refuse to go dark into the night. If there’s ever a time to reform government and throw out those who support this atrocity, the time is now. We can only hope that the next batch of government officials and justices appointed to the Supreme Court remember our constitution, and don’t try and re-write legislation to fit the agenda of Washington and their corporate friends. Then we truly will have a victory for all. Well ”all’ of those who believe in liberty over tyranny anyway.