Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE
President Obama has used many trick plays on congress and the American people to get his agenda passed. Now he is trying one on the judicial branch of government. I have pointed out the trick plays used during the healthcare debate.
President Obama has also used trick plays with the off shore drilling crisis, the banking crisis, the financial reform act, and passage of the stimulus package.
The details of all these tricks are interesting. They demonstrate President Obama’s cleverness. More importantly they demonstrate his disregard for the will of the people and his disrespect for congress.
President Obama’s goal is to increase government control over the economy, our freedoms and the American way of life.
President Obama’s latest trick play demonstrates that he believes the end justifies the means.
“In April 2010, State attorneys general wasted no time filing legal challenges to President Obama’s healthcare reform law, swinging into action with legal filings in Florida and Virginia within minutes of the White House signing ceremony on Tuesday.”
States claim the law is unconstitutional. The major constitutional violations are the mandate for citizens to buy healthcare insurance and the federal government infringement on States rights.
“This lawsuit should put the federal government on notice that Florida will not permit the constitutional rights of our citizens and the sovereignty of our state to be ignored or disregarded,”
The issue is federal infringement on free choice and the infringement on the duties of the states as defined in the constitution.
“The multi-state lawsuit maintains that new law infringes the liberty of individual state residents to choose for them whether to have health insurance. It also says the states themselves are victims of a federal power grab by leaders in Washington.”
President Obama and his attorney general Eric Holder immediately claimed the States were wasting taxpayers’ money. The lawsuit would be dismissed. The state did not have standing in the lawsuit.
The traditional media supported President Obama. The media did not provide much coverage of the facts in the case. The public was starved for the facts. Much of the public perceived the healthcare law as an attack on freedoms.
“ Deputy U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ian Gershengorn argued that Virginia lacks standing to challenge the “minimum coverage” provision because it applies to individuals and not to the state. Gershengorn also defended the mandate, calling it a necessary step to control skyrocketing health care costs and ensure that uninsured individuals pay for the health care they receive.”
A deputy to Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli argued that the federal law collides with a new state statute that protects individuals from being required to purchase health insurance.
“U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson presided over a two-hour hearing in a packed Richmond courtroom, peppering lawyers on both sides with pointed questions about the constitutionality of the federal health care law and Virginia’s efforts to combat it. Hudson said he will issue a ruling on the federal government’s dismissal motion within 30 days.”
President Obama and his administration sensing, Judge Henry Hudson would rule against the government, changed their argument on July 16th. They now said this provision is not a mandate it is a tax.
The federal government has the “power to lay and collect taxes.” This is being said, President Obama asked the judge to dismiss the case. President Obama is trying to avoid a negative judgment.
“And that (taxes) power, President Obama says, is even more sweeping than the federal power to regulate interstate commerce.(impose an individual mandate)”
President Obama and the administration now defend the insurance mandate as a tax.
In September 2009 during an interview with George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News President Obama vehemently denied the mandate was a tax.
“For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase,”
“When Mr. Stephanopoulos said the penalty appeared to fit the dictionary definition of a tax, Mr. Obama replied, “I absolutely reject that notion.”
Please watch this video in full. President Obama says what he has to in order to increase government power over the people and circumvent the constitution. He has not minded contradicting his pledges to the American people.
President Obama has used another trick play changing the mandate to a tax at the last minute.
“J. Kenneth Blackwell, former Treasurer of Ohio and a professor at Liberty University School of Law and Kenneth A.Klukowski, special counsel at the Family Research Council and senior legal analyst at the American Civil Rights Union and coauthors of "The Blueprint: Obama's Plan to Subvert the Constitution and Build an Imperial Presidency" (Lyons, 2010) wrote an recent article in the Wall Street Journal. They defined the differences between a tax and mandate.”
“They concluded that with either definition the healthcare reform act is unconstitutional.”
“A tax is when the government takes money from individuals, puts it in the Treasury, and plans to spend it.”
“With the health-insurance mandate, the government is not taking money from private individuals; rather, it is commanding them to give their money to another private entity, not to the Treasury.”
“If individuals don't obey the mandate, they pay a penalty to the Treasury. But penalties aren't taxes. The mandate is legally separate from the penalty.”
It does not matter what words President Obama uses. A mandate is a mandate and not a tax. Even if it is accepted as a tax, the tax is unconstitutional.
“Even if the Justice Department were to get the mandate considered a tax, it would be an unconstitutional one.”
“Unlike the states, the federal government has limited jurisdiction. Under the 10th Amendment, the federal government has only those powers enumerated by the Constitution, and all other powers are reserved to the people or the states.”
“Every federal action must be authorized by a constitutional provision. If there is no such provision, then the action is unconstitutional. No provision of the Constitution authorizes the federal government to command people to buy insurance.”
President Obama has disrespected the congress. He is now disrespecting the intelligence of the judicial branch of government.
I do not think he will get away with it.
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.
What do you guys think of EMR systems? My opinion, i think that it is going to really help out the medical profession and help bring efficiency to the medical profession.
Posted by: Electronic Medical Records | August 21, 2010 at 10:55 AM