Obamacare ruling offers good possibilities, but no substitute for a win
Generals are often accused of “fighting the last war.” After Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare, conservatives are asked to pin our hopes on the notion Chief Justice John Roberts was fighting the next war.
This is a tempting proposition. There is the fact Roberts, in the main opinion of the court, and the four dissenting justices endorsed a limit to the power Congress wields under the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. As this was the key judicial theory advanced by the law’s opponents, one that sought to halt a decades-long expansion of the meaning of “regulating” interstate commerce, that is no minor feat. It could even provide the starting point one day for further rollbacks of bad Commerce Clause precedent, starting with the awful 1942 Wickard decision that found a farmer affected interstate commerce by growing his own wheat.
There is also the fact the court’s majority decided the “penalty” for non-compliance with Obamacare’s individual mandate to purchase health insurance is really a “tax.” While this contradicts Congress’ actions and the president’s words during the 2009-10 health-care debate, it has the benefit of making it easier to repeal the law. As a budgetary matter, this “tax” — and Obamacare’s other taxes and spending — should be subject to the Senate’s reconciliation process, to which the filibuster does not apply. So, there’s no requirement for 60 votes in the Senate to remove the heart and guts of the law, just a simple majority.
And there is the fact that Roberts’ surprising vote on Obamacare averted the torrent of purely partisan criticism Democrats and liberals were set to unleash had a majority of the court struck down the law, accusing Roberts and his colleagues of — wait for it — partisanship. His court’s integrity intact, perhaps Roberts will be freer in lower-profile future cases to strike blows for the causes of federalism and limited government.
All these thoughts are pleasing to the conservative mind.
But if Roberts’ ruling can cite Benjamin Franklin’s aphorism about the certainty of death and taxes, allow me to caution against too rosy a view of his ruling with another saying: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Maybe the Roberts court will reinforce federalist principles in future cases. Then again, maybe the facts and circumstances of these future cases won’t cooperate. Or maybe the cases won’t emerge before the Commerce Clause-limiting wing of the court changes for the worse: Antonin Scalia is 76, Anthony Kennedy turns 76 this month, and there are at least even odds Barack Obama will be making court appointments past their 80th birthdays.
Speaking of elections: Maybe Mitt Romney will win and have at least 50 GOP senators (plus his vice president) to pass a budgetary bill by reconciliation. Maybe not. The presidential election and key Senate races look close, and four months is an eternity in politics.
And maybe, just maybe, the same Democrats and liberals who thought partisanship was the only reason the court could strike down Obamacare will look back, when a future case is decided in favor of federalism and limited government, and say, “This stinks, but hey — Roberts was with us on health care back in 2012. So it’s cool.” Or maybe their reactions will be just as vicious and plainly partisan as their blowback to an anti-Obamacare decision promised to be.
Possible future good is a consolation for Thursday’s loss, but it’s no substitute for a win.
(Note from Kyle: This is my column for the Sunday AJC. As anyone who read my posts Thursday can tell, I have been going back and forth about the impact of the Obamacare ruling. Consider this column a refinement of my opinion: There are some good things that could come out of the ruling, but they are by no means guaranteed.)
– By Kyle Wingfield
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677 comments Add your comment
Hillbilly D
June 30th, 2012
10:52 pm
josef @ 10:47
I think it’s just a reflection of the host’s own prejudices as to who gets to flaunt the rules and who doesn’t. He told on himself.
Bruno
June 30th, 2012
10:56 pm
If I came on here talking about the good works at some of my charitable favorites…Heifer International or Noah’s Ark for abused animals and children, would that too be seen as pious or are you selective in your indignation.
@@–The only religious folks I have a problem with are those who claim that there’s is the only way: “We’re saved and everyone else is going to Hell”. There is more than one path to Salvation. We’re all just peas in the pod, all just specks of dust in a vast Universe. For anyone to claim they have a lock on the Truth is offensive to me. We all make peace with the Maker in our own way.
From what I remember, I think you’re cool with that.
Speaking of “cool”, I’m liking the late-night crowd at Kyle’s place. Beats the heck out of hearing stories about Vietnam and having Bible verses shoved down my throat.
josef
June 30th, 2012
10:58 pm
Hillbilly
Grey card? The Southern equivalent of the Green Card…landed immigrant status!
*******
Granddaddy always used to say of us, “it’s not as much who you are as who you were and what you leave behind for who you will be.” And you know me, I LOVE the rotten apples.
But seriously, whenever people start judging the past from the perspective of today and claim “oh, i wouldn’t have done that,” well, if you know your ancestors you know what YOU would have done in time and place.
@@
June 30th, 2012
11:00 pm
AmVet, Kamchak & Bosh?
Gnats for the swatting.
Bruno
June 30th, 2012
11:00 pm
HD–How come no tunes?? I’m sure you’ve got a few saved up.
@@
June 30th, 2012
11:03 pm
‘Scuse me.
Bosch.
Hillbilly D
June 30th, 2012
11:03 pm
Bruno
I don’t think Kyle is too crazy about the tunes, so I try to keep it to a minimum. (He did get on to me once about rambling off-topic. I was talking about people on the Weather Channel). He probably doesn’t care on a weekend night when he isn’t here and the topic is long since talked out.
Here’s one that Jimmy Fortune wrote about his mother. Amazing vocal, I think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etcT7VRIAWA
Bruno
June 30th, 2012
11:05 pm
Here’s one for you, @@:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxOnREN0Lbw
Hillbilly D
June 30th, 2012
11:09 pm
But seriously, whenever people start judging the past from the perspective of today and claim “oh, i wouldn’t have done that,” well, if you know your ancestors you know what YOU would have done in time and place.
We, of course, don’t know what we’d do until we’re placed in that situation but I agree that if you know you’re history, you can get within better than a 90% certainty of what you would’ve done.
When I was coming up, we were always made aware that what we did, reflected on the entire family. I think that’s the cause of many of the problems of today, people think only of themselves and nobody else. Many have that, “it’s good for me, to hell with everybody else” attitude.
I once had somebody remark to me that they noticed I always eat everything on my plate, in a restaurant. They asked why I did that and I told them that somebody, somewhere would be proud to have it and it shouldn’t be wasted. They said, “You have no way of getting it to them and it makes no difference”. I said that that’s true but I’ve done what I can, I haven’t wasted. I can only control what I can control.
Bruno
June 30th, 2012
11:12 pm
Here’s one that Jimmy Fortune wrote about his mother. Amazing vocal, I think.
HD–I’m guessing this song is way out of your genre, but give it a try. A guy named Gnarles Barkley wrote it for his departed mother.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4DDXvBpno0
Hillbilly D
June 30th, 2012
11:18 pm
Bruno
It’s okay. I actually have pretty broad music tastes, mainly depending on my mood. Isn’t that the same guy now performing as Cee lo Green?
This is kinda retro. I like it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMrNn2azgQY
josef
June 30th, 2012
11:19 pm
HILLBILLY
Brosephus has kidded me that I am “ancestrally uppity” due to having one of “those pedigrees.” That was said to say this. When I look back at great whatever grandpappy Guillaume on Granny’s side who orchestrated the crackdown of the Templars and with them the Cathars and Jews, on her husband’s side it was “get while the gettin’s good,” who would I have been? The persecuted or the persecutor? And, yet, 700 years almost to the day, their descendents met and married in Tishomingo County, Mississippi and gave birth to my Mama and to me…the full cycle. Along the way, a lot happened in both lines and knowing that I have an anchorage in time and place. And as he said when teaching me that family history, “this is not for some false pride but to teach you that you come from a long line of people who got out one step ahead of the inquisition, whatever the inquisition of the day.”
Bruno
June 30th, 2012
11:19 pm
Check this one out, HD. Things only a Southerner knows:
http://huntsville.about.com/od/gossip/a/beingsouthern.htm
Also, sorry for dragging some of the Bookman trash here with me.
@@
June 30th, 2012
11:20 pm
Hillbilly:
I once had somebody remark to me that they noticed I always eat everything on my plate, in a restaurant. They asked why I did that and I told them that somebody, somewhere would be proud to have it and it shouldn’t be wasted.
My husband likes to say “A city boy eats ’til he’s full. A country boy eats ’til it’s gone.”
Bruno
June 30th, 2012
11:21 pm
Isn’t that the same guy now performing as Cee lo Green?
Cee Lo did a live version of “She Knows” on VH1 which completely choked me up.
I’m hoping Kyle will loosen up on the music. In the end, the name of the game is blog hits. Who cares what the content is.
@@
June 30th, 2012
11:22 pm
I’m out.
Hillbilly D
June 30th, 2012
11:24 pm
@@
I used to eat at a cafe where they liked to pick at me. I’d ask them to please not put so much on the plate and they’d do it anyway just to see if I’d eat it. I think they had a wager or something.
And I’m a slender built guy, just for the record.
Bruno
June 30th, 2012
11:24 pm
This is kinda retro. I like it.
Digging that Mayer Hawthorne selection. It’s hard to put into words what makes a song “good music”, but they’re making good music there.
Hillbilly D
June 30th, 2012
11:25 pm
This is no music, just humor. It’s not off-color but it ain’t for the faint hearted. It’s funny to my twisted mind, though. It’s long but a good pay off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUD6×87NtaQ
Bruno
June 30th, 2012
11:26 pm
Heading out myself. Enjoyed the chat, HD, @@ and josef. Catch you all soon.
Bruno
June 30th, 2012
11:28 pm
Catching your Leo Kottke, HD. My GF is a vegetarian. I like to tease her that “Vegetarian” is an old Indian expression for “Bad Hunter”.
Hillbilly D
June 30th, 2012
11:30 pm
Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines. We don’t do “queues,” we do “lines”; and when we’re “in line,” we talk to everybody!
I’ve seen my Mama talk to a wrong number (total stranger) for an hour.
Hillbilly D
June 30th, 2012
11:33 pm
This is for the guitar players. Notice Chet tuning on the fly at about 20 seconds or so.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=La-QiWzwgOM&feature=related
PlatinumBlack
June 30th, 2012
11:39 pm
Good night, All.
HD, sending you happy fried okra thoughts.
Hillbilly D
June 30th, 2012
11:40 pm
Thanks PB. Nite.
josef
June 30th, 2012
11:51 pm
Time to go back home….Enjoyed the visit
KYLE
Thanks for the chance to visit your cyber front porch and catch up with some old friends
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward - Again)
July 1st, 2012
6:01 am
How will a working family that can’t afford health insurance pay a $2000 fine?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
July 1st, 2012
7:14 am
It’s not a fine.It’s a tax – with no consequences for not paying. Pay it or not.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward - Again)
July 1st, 2012
7:14 am
Obozocare tax increases:
$86 Billion: Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax
$65 Billion: Individual Mandate Excise Tax and Employer Mandate Tax
$60.1 Billion: Tax on Health Insurers imposed on health insurance premiums collected
$32 Billion: Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans
$23.6 Billion: “Black liquor” tax hike on a type of bio-fuel. Bill: Reconciliation Act; Page: 105
$22.2 Billion: Tax on Innovator Drug Companies (Took effect in 2010): $2.3 billion annual tax on the industry imposed relative to share of sales made that year. Bill: PPACA; Page: 1,971-1,980
$20 Billion: Tax on Medical Devices
$15.2 Billion: High Medical Bills Tax
$13.2 Billion: Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax”
$5 Billion: Medicine Cabinet Tax
$4.5 Billion: Elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage
$4.5 Billion: Codification of the “economic substance doctrine”
$2.7 Billion: Tax on Indoor Tanning Services
$1.4 Billion: HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike
$0.6 Billion: $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives
$0.4 Billion: Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike
Read more: http://www.atr.org/full-list-obamacare-tax-hikes-listed-a7010#ixzz1zMsw7pTW
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
July 1st, 2012
7:17 am
averted the torrent of purely partisan criticism Democrats and liberals were set to unleash had a majority of the court struck down the law
hypocrite much?
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward - Again)
July 1st, 2012
7:18 am
Why did Obozo impose a $2000 tax on working families that can’t afford health insurance?
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
July 1st, 2012
7:18 am
atr.org
mwuahahahahahahahaha
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward - Again)
July 1st, 2012
7:20 am
atr: Prove them wrong.
Didn’t think so.
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
July 1st, 2012
7:27 am
Sore losers all.
Ya’ll even bought new footballs to spike but you did.t get a chance.
mwuahahahahahaah
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
July 1st, 2012
7:50 am
My apologies…my earlier post with a list of new taxes imposed on Americans by Obozo omitted the largest of them all! Here is the corrected list:
$123 Billion: Surtax on Investment Income
$86 Billion: Hike in Medicare Payroll Tax
$65 Billion: Individual Mandate Excise Tax and Employer Mandate Tax
$60.1 Billion: Tax on Health Insurers imposed on health insurance premiums collected
$32 Billion: Excise Tax on Comprehensive Health Insurance Plans
$23.6 Billion: “Black liquor” tax hike on a type of bio-fuel
$22.2 Billion: Tax on Innovator Drug Companies
$20 Billion: Tax on Medical Devices
$15.2 Billion: High Medical Bills Tax
$13.2 Billion: Flexible Spending Account Cap – aka “Special Needs Kids Tax”
$5 Billion: Medicine Cabinet Tax
$4.5 Billion: Elimination of tax deduction for employer-provided retirement Rx drug coverage
$4.5 Billion: Codification of the “economic substance doctrine”
$2.7 Billion: Tax on Indoor Tanning Services
$1.4 Billion: HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike
$0.6 Billion: $500,000 Annual Executive Compensation Limit for Health Insurance Executives
$0.4 Billion: Blue Cross/Blue Shield Tax Hike
Finn McCool (The System isn't Broken; It's Fixed)
July 1st, 2012
7:55 am
Cons better get their blood pressure checked soon.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
July 1st, 2012
8:05 am
CBO: Ob[ozo]Care Price Tag Shifts from $940 Billion to $1.76 Trillion
By Brian Koenig | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Wed, Mar 14, 2012
Ob[ozo]’s landmark healthcare overhaul is projected to cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, reports the Congressional Budget Office, a hefty sum more than the $940 billion estimated when the healthcare legislation was signed into law.
——————–
Where is Obozo’s plan to pay for the $800 billion (and counting) cost overrun in Obozocare?
marko
July 1st, 2012
8:23 am
John Roberts is a graduate of Harvard, and the Harvard School of law. His vocal critics Sean, Rush and Beck Don’t have as much as an under graduate degree from a diploma mill to show for themselves. Of course they’re all richer than the chief justice of the supreme court. It only stands to reason that because they’re more affluent they must be smarter than Mr. Roberts. By that standard they’re smarter than Einstein. Hell they must be almost as smart as the Donald. I can’t for the life of me figure out why Donald doesn’t just fire that clown Roberts.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward--Again)
July 1st, 2012
8:48 am
marko: I can’t for the life of me figure out why Donald doesn’t just fire that clown Roberts.
—————————–
We’re not surprised.
marko
July 1st, 2012
9:09 am
Lil Larry you always find time to hurl your rapier like insults. Makes one wonder where you find the time to water your flags or clean your muskets. We’re not surprised? Been talking to god and the founding fathers again Larry?
Michael H. Smith
July 1st, 2012
9:16 am
It’s not a fine.It’s a tax – with no consequences for not paying. Pay it or not.
If you ever sober-up and read what you wrote you are going to realize how stoned you were when you wrote it.
There are always consequences for not paying a taxes and when you get caught for not paying taxes those consequences can be very discomforting.
You socialist can put lipstick on this ugly marxist warthog obumerCare all you want, it will remain an UGLY PIG with painted lips until the day it is slaughtered – brucie!
Michael H. Smith
July 1st, 2012
9:43 am
One of the first things I heard said by one employer after hearing the ruling from the Supreme Court was… I hope my employees understand that now I don’t have to give them a company sponsored health insurance plan… I can just tell them go buy your own insurance.
In that particular case about fifty people will no longer have healthcare insurance all because of obumerCare, IF and this probably is a VERY BIG “IF”… all fifty of these employees can keep their jobs once this employer begins to weigh the cost of fines against the company balance sheet. Or, and this is a VERY BIG POSSIBLE “OR”… This employer, like a good number of other successful employers will simply say it is not worth it for me to continue, I’ll just shut the doors to my business, wish all my employees the best and take my wealth and get the proverbial HELL OUT OF DODGE!
So you thought John Galt was a figment of Ayn Rand imagination?
I hope I’m wrong about this scenario but I’ve serious doubts that I’m not off by more than a handful few details, unless the American people vote out these democrats and obumer and all their republican sympathizers and repeal and replace obumerCare.
Keep one thought in mind about rich people and rich corporations when the naysayers say it can’t happen… The feet of rich are not nailed down to any floor, their feet are not cast in concrete and the cost of moving out of this country is a trivial expense to them.
@@
July 1st, 2012
9:50 am
This is no music, just humor. It’s not off-color but it ain’t for the faint hearted.
Lawd ah mercy! That sounds like one of the stories my husband would’a told. Example?
“Our dogs died…we took a rope down to the dump and picked out another one.”
Some of the others are too brutal to share. I thought I was marrying a barbarian.
(ISH)
Michael H. Smith
July 1st, 2012
9:53 am
Lawd ah murcy, @@!
@@
July 1st, 2012
9:54 am
Mercivul Percivul!
Michael H. Smith
July 1st, 2012
10:04 am
Southern fried English.
Something I found out recently about the so-called Southern Drawl that all of us, even Southerns make fun of all the time. According to a linguist of English dialects that Hollywood employes to teach actors to speak their lines in whatever dialect their character is supposed to speak, the Southern Drawl came from Southerners imitating the dialect of England’s Aristocrats. Perhaps are so-called Drawl is not as backwoods as first thought, it would certainly explain a great deal about the mind of Southern Aristocracy.
Michael H. Smith
July 1st, 2012
10:08 am
I’m out of here. It’s going to be another hot one, stay cool if you can.
Later Y’all!
Lil' Barry Bailout (Unexpectedly Revised Downward - Again)
July 1st, 2012
10:15 am
marko: We’re not surprised? Been talking to god and the founding fathers again Larry?
—————
No, marko, we’re just not surprised that there was something related to the U.S. Constitution that you weren’t able to “figure out” (your words).
Bruno
July 1st, 2012
10:21 am
There are always consequences for not paying a taxes and when you get caught for not paying taxes those consequences can be very discomforting.
MHS–It’s been pretty discouraging watching the Lib response to the SCOTUS ruling. All they know is that they won—something. What that something is, they have no idea. Add to that their naivete regarding the perceived lack of penalties for not paying the new fines, and I see a disaster in the brewing.
The Roberts ruling perhaps rightly put the decision back in the hands of the voters. I only wish I had more confidence in my fellow Americans to be able to think clearly and vote for freedom instead of tyranny. The few shekels on the table, unfortunately, is likely to sway the Free Lunch crowd into turning out in numbers. It’s up to Mitt and the Republicans to clearly articulate what’s at stake here.
Bruno
July 1st, 2012
10:24 am
LBB–BTW, I think I earlier had you confused with another former Bookman blogger. If I recall correctly now, you do bring a few facts to the argument. As such, I have no problem starting with a clean slate with you here. The only bloggers I have a problem with is those who are all abuse, no facts.