…is unconstitutional.
I’d like to see a Constitutional amendment (or even a law) that after your third vote for legislation that is ruled unconstitutional, you’re automatically thrown out of office. And the same thing for presidents that sign such legislation. That might instill a little more respect, or at least remove people lacking it.
In Part V, I conclude with a “realist” assessment of likelihood that the Supreme Court will actually find the mandate to be unconstitutional.
That’s the part I find the most frightening. Obviously, the abstract isn’t going to give away the exciting conclusion to the story, but I’d certainly like to hear the opinion of a law professor on what the odds really are.
Most of all, if it’s found unconstitutional (which I hope it will be), I can’t wait to see what kind of insanity and illogic is contained in the dissenting opinion(s), if any.
We had our annual health insurance renewal/update meeting today, thanks to Obamacare my health insurance will be going UP about 12-18% next year.
The only problem with that idea is that there are too many activist judges declaring stuff unconstitutional for no reason other than they don’t like it. (the most outrageous example being the crazy judge to struck down the Arizona Immigration law) if we could get them all replaced with strict constructionists, I’d be totally on board.
We had our annual health insurance renewal/update meeting today, thanks to Obamacare my health insurance will be going UP about 12-18% next year.
That makes it cheaper for you or your employer to afford, right? Definitely a solid sign that we’ll reduce the number of uninsured people in the country. That was the point of the health care “reform”? Not empire building, rent-seeking, or increasing control over the lives of US citizens.
First of all, the Health Care Reform act is mostly about how to pay for health care, not health care itself.
Second, if they wanted to address the issue of people without health insurance, they could’ve done that without the massive 2000+ page monstrocity they passed but didn’t bother to read.
Third, the Constitution only means what 5 justices of the Supreme Court says it means. Think you have private property rights? The Kelo decision says otherwise if your local government decides that someone else could make more profitable use of the property. Think you have freedom of speech? Think again and read the decisions over the years on topics like campaign finance reform. If 5 justices rule that ObamaCare is fine and dandy, there isn’t much we can do about it.
Note that starting Sep 23 Obamacare requires insurance Co’s to to insure children with preexisting conditions.
Surprise surprise the insurance Co’s stop insuring children at all. The evil greedy capitalists.
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092006665.html)
I’ve argued for this for a long time. Anybody who repeatedly writes, sponsors, and votes for unconstitutional legislation fits the definition of “domestic enemy of the Constitution” that public officials and all members of the military swear to defend the Constitution against. Not only do I think they should be thrown out of office, but stripped of citizenship, barred from contributing to political campaigns or PACs or advocacy groups. If they try to evade these measures they should be shot for treason.
Mike, you’re such a moderate. First we shoot them for treason, then we strip them of their citizenship and throw them out of office. But I like where you’re going.
When will these fools realize that the free market is self regulating? Or do they know it and don’t care?
It’s been a while since I said it: America has the worse healthcare system in the western world.
Are you trolling, Trent? You did say system, which is arguable. Leaving that off, you’d have to explain why people come to this country from other countries for healthcare.
Heck Ken, Trent’s the one that always insist everyone else explain himself. I see here, that he’s not willing to live up to his own standard. Figures.
Maybe instead of throwing them out of office, we could have the House and Senate chambers remodeled SPECTRE-style – three unconstitutional laws, and POOF! down into the floor they go, in a shower of sparks. Of course, the way DC works, it would probably turn out like the Dr Evil version.
Declared unconstitutional by whom?
It would be rather trivial to use this rule to purge Congress.
Consider – right now there are 17 Republican Senators from states with Democrat governors. (To be fair, there are also 22 Democrats from states with Republican governors.)
Use this rule to purge a block of Senators; have the governors replace them with appointees from your party, and gain 2/3 control…
Rich Rostrom,
Declared unconstitutional by the supreme court, though I like the idea that 30 states could vote a federal law unconstitutional (Rand, was that one of your ideas?).
Though I am also a fan of H Beam Piper’s “A Planet for Texans” where any citizen could shoot an elected politician dead legally if he could prove the politician presented a dire threat to the Constitution. Puts a new spin on the old Texas saying, “He needed killin'”