LIES, LIES, LIES

You may be as mystified as I am that Barack Obama was voted in for a second term as president following what amounts to the most destructive first term in American history. You need look no further than the temporary debacle (more shortly) entitled The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare. In 1794 James Madison, a gentleman who knew a little about the Constitution, told our Founders, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending on objects of benevolence the money of their constituents.”

Is there a more egregious violator of James Madison’s dictate regarding income distribution than Obamacare? The Cato Institute’s Michael D. Tanner has laid out a line of lies foisted on Americans by the Obama administration and the Nancy Pelosi-led Congress. Remember all those jobs Obama told us his monstrosity was going to provide? Well Mr. Tanner offers a somewhat altered vision, reporting that the International Franchise Association now warns that Obamacare puts as many as 3.2 million jobs at risk, particularly in industries such as chain restaurants. Michael continues, “It’s hard to imagine how Obamacare could ever create jobs, given the enormous burden it is placing on the private sector.” And then comes income redistribution. Americans are going to get hit with $1 trillion in new taxes. And if one cannot afford Obamacare? No problem, none at all. As Mr. Tanner notes, 25 million will receive subsidies (that would be with your higher tax payments), and another 12 million souls will simply be dumped into Medicaid.

Outraged? You, by now, should be. The good news, as Cato’s Michael F. Cannon tells us, states are in a position to slap vetoes on Obamacare. Mr. Cannon lays it all out in spades. I would hope everyone baragages his or her governor with emails and phone calls demanding governors to refuse to create Exchanges. Harmful, unstable, vulnerable are all labels Michael applies to Obamacare. States are in a strong position to block the employer mandate. Did you know that 34 states, accounting for roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population, have refused to create Exchanges? Michael explains how Obama plans to deny millions of Americans the opportunity to purchase low-cost, high-deductible insurance, but that states can challenge illegal Obamacare taxes in court, citing Oklahoma as exhibit one. Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion would cost individual states up to $53 billion over its first 10 years. Mr. Cannon, unfortunately not our president, knows of whenst he speaks and is providing Americans the straight scoop.

In conclusion, with your emails and phone calling help, states can exercise vetoes over Exchanges and the Medicaid expansion. And each of you can be part of forcing Congress, as Mr. Cannon notes, to reconsider and hopefully repeal.

Patrick Henry told Americans, “The Constitution is not an instrument for the government (i.e., the Obama administration) to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government—lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” One wonders how long our Founders would have tolerated hearing about a dominator like Obamacare?