The founders believed that a monarch (or dictator or any sort of legislative body) should not have the power to force anyone to do anything. Of course this doesn’t apply to rules governing civil society such as criminal laws against things like rape or thievery, but we aren’t discussing that here. We are discussing being forced to buy something, possibly against your will. In otherwords, inactivity.
The federal government, with Obamacare, is forcing Americans to buy health insurance. It is not free. It must be bought and paid for.
Poor people will get reimbursed when they file their taxes, but they will still have to fork out the monthly premium. They might get the money back at the end of the year, but they will still be forced to buy it, even if they can’t afford the monthly premium. This seems to be a detail that most liberals gloss over in their rush to declare a human rights victory of some sort.
Just where is a 19 year old going to get the 600$ a month to pay for their own health insurance on minimum wage (round that off to 9.25$ an hour for 40 hours a week and that’s 1480$ a month) for a single person? This is 40% that hypothetical persons income. Employers aren’t going to offer it as a benefit of employment if all Americans are forced to buy it themselves. Where is a family of 5 living on an income of 1450$ a month going to get 1200$ a month for Health insurance? Or does the insurance company bill the Fed? But wait, isn't the IRS is going to have the power to garnish tax returns and or force filers to pay an additional fee (which is what exactly?) at tax time if they don't prove they bought health insurance? No one seems to know how this is going to be done unto us.
Hold on a minute here, you mean legislators didn’t think of these things? Didn’t they read the thousands of pages in the bill? Oh right, the House of Representatives and Senate didn’t read it before voting on it, it was just too complicated... sorry about that America. We just have to wait until it's implemented to find out.... If that doesn't make you uncomfortable, then nothing will.
Let's illustrate just what this means in real life, because Liberals try to liken health insurance to flood insurance or car insurance in the vain attempt to justify it. The absence of logic in these arguments/comparisons is astounding to say the least.
A given person chooses to live in a flood plain, perhaps to own and drive a car. A person chooses to do these things, which then creates certain obligations which are known beforehand. So in choosing to enter into these specific actions, it puts a further known burden on that person, by that persons deliberate choice.
Did you choose to be born and take your first breath? No, you didn’t, of course not. But because you were born and lived, you must buy health insurance? According to Obamacare you do.
The difference is glaringly simple; you can opt out of those other burdens (car insurance or flood insurance) by choosing not to engage in those activities, actions or purchases. But because you breathe and were born in and live in America you must now buy health insurance.
Lets stick to the hypothetical car comparison so popular with liberals. If the government can force you to enter a given market... what is to stop the federal government from forcing one to.... buy a GM car? Yea, you have a car already, but because you are an adult with a drivers license and already own a car, what is to stop the federal government from dictating that you must now buy a GM car or you are not a legal American - subject to all of the tactics used by the IRS in collecting monies “owed” as a remuneration for NOT owning a GM? Does that not mean you must now buy a GM/Chrysler car if you intend to ever cross a state boundary? Wait, wouldn’t that mandate that the government can force you to carry papers stating that you also own a GM car if you happen to be driving your second car, a Ford…? And force state border crossings to make sure everyone is in compliance? Yep, you betcha it would.
What is the difference between buying health insurance and buying a car?
If Obamacare is upheld as a legal and constitutional bill, absolutely nothing.
Nothing.
You weren’t in the market for a GM (in other words you were inactive in the auto market), but you will be forced into buying one in order to drive from Portland Oregon across the 3500 foot long interstate bridge to Vancouver Washington with out paying a mandated government fine enforced by the IRS which also has the power to take out leins on your home and seize your checking account.
If the federal government can regulate inactivity, which is what they are doing with health insurance, then they can dictate that you must do anything they tell you to do - with no limits.
Obamacare dictates to those who would not otherwise be in the market for a given item (health insurance), they must enter into it. Would you like to be forced to buy a hand gun under a conservative government? How about be forced to work cleanup duty for 40 hours a year in the local trash dump - a working week out of your life? Or how about buying 6000$ worth of Molybdenum a year? Don’t know what that is? Doesn’t matter, you have to buy it because it’s “for the good of the nation” that you buy it.
Enforced by the IRS.
You name it; it’s on the table if Obamacare stands. This is what happens in a dictatorship. The dictator tells you what to do, then you must do it or face the wrath of the government agency in charge of compliance. In this case, the IRS .
This puts the IRS buying thousands of shotguns into a whole different sort of light now doesn’t it?
These simple truths being self evident, how would you like to live in North Korea? Don’t worry about the costs of moving, it will be just the same here in the United States of America, no need to leave home.
This is what the slippery slope of Socialism/Communism leads to; the government telling you what to do, what to buy, and when.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think government of the United States of America should have that sort of power.
