polifrog
What would we call a tax on people who choose not to vote?
A poll penalty? a poll penalty/tax? a penalty poll tax?or perhaps a poll tax penalty?
I suspect such a poll 'penalty/tax', as Pelosi might call it, could easily become be a potential source of future voting power for Democrats as it would drive the shiftless dependent class to the polls more than making up for losses in traditional liberal voting blocks elsewhere. Labor, for instance.
Contemplate the moralizing, though. Is coercion of the vote any more moral than erecting barriers to the vote?
I suspect Democrats would find such coercion as moral as ObamaCare coercion. Perhaps even more so.
And I imagine progressives would also find moralizing the ID's necessary for the policing of such a penalty/tax quite easy as the end (near 100% voter turnout) would easily justify the means in their thinking. I doubt even the necessity of IRS enforcement which would undoubtedly fall more heavily on those least likely to vote, the Democrat's voting block of poor dependents, would be much of a moral hurdle. If troubled American progressives might argue something along the lines of What's the Matter with Kansas? or simply claim, it's for their own good.
As we have learned from our experience with ObamaCare, the end justifies any and all means when it is for their own good, for the good of society, for the good of the mother country.
out
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Brad Miller (NC-13) Armed Potential Victims Lead to the Kind of Carnage We Saw in Aurora......
polifrog
News Record:
What emptiness would drive Brad Miller to argue for disarming would be victims? Perhaps Brad Miller should search his heart, his soul, and find the humanity within that would allow him to trust his fellow citizen over the soulless, inanimate government he seems more inclined to not only entrust his well being to, but force others to entrust their well being to as well.
And what is it within liberals in general that drive them to entrust inanimate government over real people with their well being? I am sure there is a term that describes such a psychosis. Whatever that psychosis it is surly highly related to the dehumanization of the disarmed victims their arguments necessarily force upon them. While liberals seem prepared to argue for disarming potential victims, I doubt those same individuals would argue for de-clawing cats prior to throwing them to the wild.
What drives liberals like Brad Miller to dehumanize their fellow citizens and treat them as less than cats? What drives them to disconnect from their fellow citizen and embrace inanimate governance?
In the case of Brad Miller, his immorality in such matters are of little significance in terms of his governance, he has lost his gerrymandered district to his extremism. But as a private citizen he will still be able argue for his cold, inhuman, and inhumane liberal immorality and that is his right.
out
News Record:
U.S. Rep. Brad Miller , D- 13th District, counters those fears assume “a tyrannical government.” He said the idea that armed citizens serve as an effective check on a modern military is “kind of a fantasy.”
“Given the power of the military now, the weaponry available to the military and the powers of the government, the idea that armed citizens are an important check on government just seems unrealistic,” Miller said. “And it leads to the kind of carnage that we saw in Aurora.”
And what is it within liberals in general that drive them to entrust inanimate government over real people with their well being? I am sure there is a term that describes such a psychosis. Whatever that psychosis it is surly highly related to the dehumanization of the disarmed victims their arguments necessarily force upon them. While liberals seem prepared to argue for disarming potential victims, I doubt those same individuals would argue for de-clawing cats prior to throwing them to the wild.
What drives liberals like Brad Miller to dehumanize their fellow citizens and treat them as less than cats? What drives them to disconnect from their fellow citizen and embrace inanimate governance?
In the case of Brad Miller, his immorality in such matters are of little significance in terms of his governance, he has lost his gerrymandered district to his extremism. But as a private citizen he will still be able argue for his cold, inhuman, and inhumane liberal immorality and that is his right.
out
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
It is Chick-Fil-A day...
polifrog
I am making a run to Danville Va. over lunch and I am looking forward to taking advantage of some Chick-Fil-A salad and soup for lunch while there. Unfortunately there is no Chick-Fil-A in Eden NC.
If you, like me, support a newspaper corporation's right to free speech, support Chick-Fil-A's right to freedom of religion...
It's Chick-Fil-A day for me.
out
I am making a run to Danville Va. over lunch and I am looking forward to taking advantage of some Chick-Fil-A salad and soup for lunch while there. Unfortunately there is no Chick-Fil-A in Eden NC.
If you, like me, support a newspaper corporation's right to free speech, support Chick-Fil-A's right to freedom of religion...
It's Chick-Fil-A day for me.
out
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Struggling Through a Depression Amid Food Truck Regulation and Crony Capitalism...
polifrog
Greg Robinson:
No. The problem is that regulatory nexus between government and business upon which crony capitalism takes root, strangling innovation and forcing many to do without while the few exchange dollars for favors.
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Greg Robinson:
If we are setting up food carts, food wagons, that compete with those restaurants the aren't paying, for example, the assessments ... the same things that those property owners are paying to provide the amenities downtown, uh, that could be a problem.
No. The problem is that regulatory nexus between government and business upon which crony capitalism takes root, strangling innovation and forcing many to do without while the few exchange dollars for favors.
The taxes these "brick and mortar" businesses pay entitle them to no claim to public property. Some people just want to feed themselves and their families while others simply wish to enjoy food cart wares, but when government caters to some over others we all starve.Michigan Teen Opens Hot Dog Stand to Help Disabled Parents – City Shuts Him Down:
In Holland, Michigan, a 13-year-old entrepreneur thought he would be able to sell hot dogs and financially help his disabled parents with the purchase of a food cart. Unfortunately, city zoning officials have shut down his business, based on an ordinance that prohibits competition to brick-and-mortar restaurants from mobile food vendors. Nathan Dusynski wanted to help out his family and raise money for college. His mother has epilepsy and his father has multiple sclerosis. But the city shut him down. The hot dog stand violated a city ordinance. Michigan Capitol Confidential reported:
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Of Skewing and Skewering ...
polifrog
out
Bottom line in a poll 46% Democrat and 35% Republican, yet with an 11 point advantage the president only manages a 6 point lead.
...
One of the topics asked about was Obamacare, according to the internals 40% of the respondents favored it while 44% opposed it.
So in the poll the number of people who supported Obamacase was 13% below the total number of Democrats in the poll, while the number of people who opposed Obamacare was over 25% greater than the number of Republicans polled.
out
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Obama: "We Tried Our Plan and it Worked" ...
polifrog
... and Rush hoped Obama would fail because Rush understood that if Obama's plan worked the nation would find misery.
We found that misery; Obama's plan worked.
out
... and Rush hoped Obama would fail because Rush understood that if Obama's plan worked the nation would find misery.
We found that misery; Obama's plan worked.
out
YOU DIDN’T BUILD THAT MASSACRE YOURSELF. SOMEONE ELSE BUILT IT FOR YOU:
polifrog
When government is the source of all, it is responsible for all.
Well, now we know how he could afford all those guns. Uncle Sam!
When government is the source of all, it is responsible for all.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Obama Has Made the Mistake of Defining Liberalism as What it Really is......
polifrog
..;. the coward's course to Marx
Washington Examiner:
Tyrrell is head cheerleader of the effort to hang the fading of liberal policy on the president, writing in his book that Obama is the "pallbearer" of liberalism.
out
Ice T on Gun Rights Amid the Colorado Shooting....
polifrog
I do not believe this was the conversation Martin Bashir was expecting.
out
I do not believe this was the conversation Martin Bashir was expecting.
Rapper Ice-T Defends Gun Rights: Rapper and actor Ice-T gave a succinct interview in which he explained why the right to bear arms is not the cause of the recent shooting in Colorado:
Of course Ice T is correct. Nuts do nutty things.
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Saturday, July 21, 2012
Would it Have Turned Out Differently if They had Been There to Kill People?
polifrog
Perhaps if old fart had been disarmed...
Trust your citizens not your government.
out
Perhaps if old fart had been disarmed...
Trust your citizens not your government.
out
Lord Govt...
polifrog
Iowahawk:
...
31 The Lord Govt was in wrath, and said, “For I am the Lord Govt, creator of Eden! 32 I gave unto you the roads and bridges, and schools and cops, brought unto you of gentle showers of Tarp and Stimulus and rivers of Subsidy, I am the purifier of the waters, cleanser of the air, without which you and your profits would not exist. Thus all that thou have created is created by Us. Thus ye shall render unto Govt what is Govt's, and this is the Word of your Lord.”
...
out
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
If Government Was the Source of Prosperity it would not be Taxing the Private Sector...
polifrog
"If you've got a business, you didn't build that..." - Obama.
out
"If you've got a business, you didn't build that..." - Obama.
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Monday, July 16, 2012
Our un-American President's Ever Lengthening List of American Hate...
polifrog
Only an un-American individual can say and believe that government is the source of prosperity when it was and is the prosperity of the private sector that funded government...
look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.)
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.
Perhaps Obama simply hates America.
=======================
- Look to our friends in Eastern Europe. Both the Chech Republic and Poland thrown to the Russian bear. A gift to Russia.
- Look to Honduras: following their constitutional law and removing a man from power for unconstitutionally attempting to remove his term limits. Who does the administration support? The would-be tyrant and friend of Chavez, of course.
- Now this below...
A strong communist nation is good for our would and should not be contained? Could an American President have said this? Sadly, yes. The O.
Is there a communist/socialist or tyrannical nation not supported over a democratic nation by this man?
Looking...
But, of course, he can fall back on his educated cultural sensibilities (recall "merci beaucoup") and:
Perhaps video of the photo above will better explain:
How many times did he bow? I lost count...
But what is his history in this respect? How about this video:
Perhaps he feels it is prudent to show respect. Lets see how expresses his respect for one of our closest allies:
Sigh: Perhaps President Obama is attempting to meet cultural expectations. Can he meet the expectations of his own country?(H/T Ace) :
Again. Who is this man?
Update:
In yet another move, apparently to humiliate an ally of the United States, Obama disrespects Netanyahu.
Bejamin Netanyahu was left to stew in a White House meeting room for over an hour after President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of tense talks to have supper with his family.
(Obama) immediately presented Mr Netanyahu with a list of 13 demands...
When the Israeli prime minister stalled, Mr Obama rose from his seat declaring: "I'm going to the residential wing to have dinner with Michelle and the girls."
As he left, Mr Netanyahu was told to consider the error of his ways. "I'm still around," Mr Obama is quoted by Israel's Yediot Ahronot newspaper as having said. "Let me know if there is anything new."
For over an hour, Mr Netanyahu and his aides closeted themselves in the Roosevelt Room on the first floor of the White House to map out a response to the president's demands.
"There is no humiliation exercise that the Americans did not try on the prime minister and his entourage," Israel's Maariv newspaper reported. "Bibi received in the White House the treatment reserved for the president of Equatorial Guinea."
The true embarrassment is our imperialistic President of arrogance. Any president who disrespects a visiting head of state, an ally, in this manner is a lost soul.
Perhaps soulless doesn't cover it. Obama also ushered the Dali Lama out of the back door of the white house past the garbage.
What kind of man treats allies and friends with such disrespect. Who is Obama?
------
In Nov 2009 Obama was busy bowing to Chinese President Hu Jintao. At around the one minute mark Obam gives multiple bows and one that is quite deep...
Update: 4/12/10
Sigh...Yet another bow to Chinese President Hu Jintao.
out
It's About Time Romney Put Fast and Furious on the Table...
polifrog
Here's to hoping Romney is no McCain...
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Here's to hoping Romney is no McCain...
out
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Keynes - Clashing With Reality bit Still Standing...
polifrog
Peter Ferrara
In other words we traded real debt for no lasting gain. Keynes failed, FDR failed. The nation suffered.
We saw it again with the conclusion of WWII which was followed not by boom but by bust in the recession of 1945.
And in the most glaring example there is Japan which continuous the feel good Keynesian stimulus that has resulted not in boom, but a full generation of economic stagnancy. In Japan we see firsthand the real loss that was transferred to the unborn when Japanese leaders chose Keynesian solutions.
Those unborn are now young adults enduring the fiscal abuse metered out by elders who asked themselves:
out
Peter Ferrara
The now once again thoroughly discredited, failed Keynesian economics survives intellectually only because it provides cover to the politicians, and to their leftist media cheerleaders, to do what they want to do, which is spend like spoiled children, and not pay for it. But it is long past time for the rest of us to recognize Keynesian doctrine for the now outright intellectual corruption it is, and to hold the Keynesians personally accountable for it.
...
Worst of all are the most ardent, hysterical and blind media advocates of Keynesianism, like Paul Krugman, who after Obama and his runaway all time government spending spree has taken America to the brink of fiscal insolvency, like a drunken back seat driver belches us on to accelerate even faster on our current course into the inevitable crash and burn.
That needs to be recognized as a form of personal lunacy, for which the only real solution appears to be the restoration of the laws providing for involuntary commitment.
In other words we traded real debt for no lasting gain. Keynes failed, FDR failed. The nation suffered.
We saw it again with the conclusion of WWII which was followed not by boom but by bust in the recession of 1945.
And in the most glaring example there is Japan which continuous the feel good Keynesian stimulus that has resulted not in boom, but a full generation of economic stagnancy. In Japan we see firsthand the real loss that was transferred to the unborn when Japanese leaders chose Keynesian solutions.
Those unborn are now young adults enduring the fiscal abuse metered out by elders who asked themselves:
Why not leave our children and grandchildren with debt? Why do they get to be the special generation with no debt?and chose poorly.
out
Thursday, July 12, 2012
The Obama Effect -- Reliving the Past Ignoring the Present
polifrog
Reliving Hope denied does no favors to a record of failure.
Enjoy Hollywood:
McCarthy was right.
out
Reliving Hope denied does no favors to a record of failure.
Enjoy Hollywood:
McCarthy was right.
out
Rob Portman: Taxes Suck and Obama Lies...
polifrog
Ohio Senator Rob Portman:
This is nothing new....
out
Ohio Senator Rob Portman:
Analysis of the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) final report on what caused the January 2001 projection of a $5.6 trillion 10-year surplus to turn into an actual $6.1 trillion deficit over that 10-year period shows that:
The tax policies enacted a decade ago are responsible for just 16 percent of the swing from surplus to deficit. Furthermore, given that only about one-fourth of the tax cuts went to upper-income earners, just 1/25th of the decline from surpluses to deficits resulted from upper-income tax cuts. (NOTE: Given that CBO does not take into account any of the positive impact of tax cuts on investment, savings and economic growth, the percentage was actually even smaller than the 1/25th estimate)
...
In a second report, the CBO said that in both 2008 and 2009, the highest-earning 20 percent of taxpayers paid 94 percent of the total income tax burden – up from 86 percent in 2007, and 81 percent before the 2001 tax cuts. In other words, higher-income Americans have been paying a bigger and bigger part of the total tax burden under the so-called “Bush tax cuts.”
This is nothing new....
out
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Romney Earning My Respect...
polifrog
Romney speaking before the NAACP...
National Journal:
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Romney speaking before the NAACP...
National Journal:
Undaunted, the man seeking to unseat the nation's first African-American president stood calmly before a group of his most fervent supporters and informed them that he, not Obama, is the one they've been waiting for.
"If you want a president who will make things better in the African American community, you are looking at him," Romney told the crowd, pausing for added emphasis. As scattered boos echoed throughout the audience, Romney offered an unscripted -- and uncharacteristic -- display of bravado. "You take a look," he nodded.
out
American Leftists Pursuing Leftist European Collapse...
polifrog
Government is too large and has stifled private sector productivity.
The well has run dry in Europe.
It is a fact that as government spending (as a percent of GDP) increases, real GDP growth decreases. So says the totality of the data provided by the IMF. No Krugman-esk slicing an dicing of the data here:
Dan Mitchell of CATO has it right on FOX:
out
Government is too large and has stifled private sector productivity.
The well has run dry in Europe.
It is a fact that as government spending (as a percent of GDP) increases, real GDP growth decreases. So says the totality of the data provided by the IMF. No Krugman-esk slicing an dicing of the data here:
Dan Mitchell of CATO has it right on FOX:
out
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Tax Cuts for Those Making Under 250K...
polifrog
Of course, this is not a call for tax cuts for those making under 250k - will anyone's taxes decrease from what they pay now? - it is a call to take money out of the private sector during a depression by raising taxes on those making more than 250k.
What is most galling?
Obama:
we cannot afford to spend on tax breaks for the wealthy.
That your money, that thing you trade your time on Earth to accumulate, is assumed by Obama to be government's first when he refers to people keeping their time on Earth, their money, an expense to government.
If our time on Earth is Obama's first, which is the only way the only way keeping our time on Earth can become an expense to him, then Obama considers us all slaves to him.
Allen West is right when he says of Obama:
He does not want you to have the self-esteem of getting up and earning, and having that title of American. He'd rather you be his slave.
Should We Really Focus on What Romney Does With His Money Rather than What Obama Does With Ours?
polifrog
--- And should we really consider removing more money from our leaden economy?
Brain-trust Obama believes so...
out
--- And should we really consider removing more money from our leaden economy?
Brain-trust Obama believes so...
out
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Has Obama freed black Americans from the liberal plantation by showing them just how awful it is?
polifrog
First it was Morgan Freeman, then it was Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, now it is Black Pastors:
Politics et al:
Has Obama freed black Americans from the liberal plantation by showing them just how awful it is?
out
First it was Morgan Freeman, then it was Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, now it is Black Pastors:
Politics et al:
Black Pastors: Pride In Obama Has Turned to Shame | The Gateway Pundit
A group of 1,300 black pastors called on blacks to withhold their support for Barack Obama.
Newsmax reported:
Has Obama freed black Americans from the liberal plantation by showing them just how awful it is?
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More African Amercian Distancing from Obama...
polifrog
First it was Morgan Freeman, now it is Tavis Smiley and Cornel West:
Is the failed presidential leadership (Black unemployment "ticked up" to 14.4% from 13.6% in May) of Obama so great that he is fracturing the black-liberal vote?
out
First it was Morgan Freeman, now it is Tavis Smiley and Cornel West:
PBS Host Questions Obama's Genuine Love for Black People
Is the failed presidential leadership (Black unemployment "ticked up" to 14.4% from 13.6% in May) of Obama so great that he is fracturing the black-liberal vote?
out
Friday, July 6, 2012
Even African Americans are Distancing Themselves From Obama"s Failed Presidency....
polifrog
Morgan Freeman --- 'He's not one of us'.
Twitchy:
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Morgan Freeman --- 'He's not one of us'.
Twitchy:
Appearing on NPR’s “Tell Me More” to promote a new film, actor Morgan Freeman said he is “disheartened” by the current political climate and lamented that “America’s first black president hasn’t arisen yet.”
First thing that always pops into my head regarding our president is that all of the people who are setting up this barrier for him … they just conveniently forget that Barack had a mama, and she was white — very white American, Kansas, middle of America. There was no argument about who he is or what he is. America’s first black president hasn’t arisen yet. He’s not America’s first black president — he’s America’s first mixed-race president.”
out
Iowahawk at His Best...
polifrog
Iowahawk:
Too good.
out
Iowahawk:
WASHINGTON DC - Jubilant scientists at the DNC's High Speed Word Collider (HSWC) announced today they have conclusively disproven the existence of Roberts' Taxon, the theoretical radioactive Facton particle that some had worried would lead to the implosion of the entire Universal Health Care System.
"I think it's time to pop the champagne corks," said HSWC Director David Plouffe. "Then blaze some choom."
The landmark experiment in Quantum Rhetoric began early this week after legal particle cosmologist John Roberts published a paper in the Quarterly Journal of Tortured Logic that solved the long-debated Pelosi's Paradox in Universal Health Care Theory.
"Pelosi's Paradox states that in order to find out what is in a health care bill, it would have to be passed," explained physicist Steven Hawking. "But in order to be a law it would have to be constitutional, which means someone would have to know what was in it, which would mean it couldn't have been a bill in the first place. Think of Schroedinger's Cat, except with a lobotomy."
To solve the paradox, Roberts proposed the existence of the Taxon - an ephemeral, mysterious facton particle that in theory would allow the Universal Health System to be constitutional, without directly observing what was in it. DNC scientists at first cheered Roberts' findings, but it soon came apparent that it opened an even deadlier dilemma.
"If Roberts' Taxon were really to exist, and was woven throughout the Health-Government-Time continuum, the merest realization of it would create [...]
Too good.
out
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Liberalism's Broken Albatross of a Win....
polifrog
Posted as a comment over at WordUp:
My initial response to Roberts was that he gave us a lot for a loss. That was before I drifted toward frustration toward him. At this point I am not ready to call what Roberts did in supporting ObamaCareTax masterful, but I am quickly finding my way back in that direction and will be firmly there if the electorate does its part.
My concerns are threefold. One, ObamaCareTax did not die - two, the decision was dependent on the use of judicial activism - and three, there is the possibility that congressional taxing powers have been expanded.
But when I score this decision I do not come out with a win for liberals.
=== 1) The Commerce Clause has taken a hit. I know Levin says otherwise and although I respect him I do not agree with him. A majority held that that while Congress can regulate commerce, it cannot compel individual commerce. (Strike One for liberals)
=== 2) A 7-2 majority also found that withholding a state's medicare funds for not creating state insurance exchanges is unconstitutional. This opens the door to state nullification by well over half of the states. Many have already nullified ObamaCare to some extent or another. (Strike Two for liberals)
=== 3) The expansion of the congressional power to tax --- Roberts did not find that coercion via congressional taxing power was constitutional. He found that it was not coercion if what the government provided in return was of equal or greater value than the tax. He also found that if the tax were greater than what the government were to provide in return, that at that point the tax would become a coercive penalty and as such unconstitutional.
The example of broccoli is used by many conservatives when they argue that congress's taxing authority can now be used to force one to buy broccoli. No it can't. The reason is that the government in the broccoli scenario is not providing something in exchange for the tax that is being used as a penalty for not buying broccoli. If nothing is being provided in exchange for the tax then the tax becomes coercive thereby making the whole broccoli scenario an unconstitutional act. (Strike three for liberals who thought the government had been grated coercive powers. Also the concern over coercive taxation goes down.)
=== 4) The Necessary and Proper Clause too was prescribed by the court in that SCOTUS found that the Necessary and Proper Clause could not be used to coerce commerce. Again, liberals had hoped otherwise. (Strike four for liberals who thought government could coerce commerce)
This leaves me wondering just what liberals got out of this decision.
=== 5) Liberals and Obama got ObamaCare. Conservatives wanted ObamaCare ended. That did not occur. (This is clearly a strike for conservatives)
But what is and where is ObamaCare now? It can't force insurance exchanges on the states and as such the states can now choose to opt out. This alone makes what was politically an albatross two years ago a broken albatross today.
Furthermore, ObamaCare is once again at the mercy of the electorate. If the electorate decides to end ObamaCare by voting in the right representatives and limp conservatives can grow backbone enough to do the hard work of killing ObamaCare, the conservative electorate can do what Roberts could not. (Down goes my concern over ObamaCare not have been ended by the court.)
This was Robert's gamble. In entrusting the death of Obamacare to the electorate Roberts was able to sell his support for the bill to the liberals on the court at an astronomical price, one that allowed him to close all the paths to government coercion a future ObamaCare or similar contrivances might utilize in attaining enactment.
All liberalism got in this decision was a win, one that broke ObamaCare's state enforcement mechanism, a win that allows for no second chance at ObamaCare, and the distinct possibility that ObamaCare will be stuck down by the electorate.
Roberts may have created the conditions for a checkmate if only the electorate is still in the game.
What of the justices? Were the liberals on the court so desirous of a win that they could not see the cost of siding with Roberts? They were forced to accept his reading, one that found ObamaCare constitutional by rewriting the bill in question, in exchange for his support of ObamaCare. Could it be that the liberals on the court so deeply denied the existence of judicial activism that they could not see it being used against them?
(Reminder - of the three concerns I listed earlier only one remains --- the question of Robert's use of judicial activism.)
Liberalism may come to realize just what judicial activism is and come to hate it as much as conservatism currently does when they fully understand the magnitude of the loss they may have suffered at the hand of one man wielding judicial activism.
Perhaps when we all come to despise judicial activism its use will end. And with it the last of my three concerns.
I'm not there yet, though.
[edited from the comment for clarity]
out
Posted as a comment over at WordUp:
My initial response to Roberts was that he gave us a lot for a loss. That was before I drifted toward frustration toward him. At this point I am not ready to call what Roberts did in supporting ObamaCareTax masterful, but I am quickly finding my way back in that direction and will be firmly there if the electorate does its part.
My concerns are threefold. One, ObamaCareTax did not die - two, the decision was dependent on the use of judicial activism - and three, there is the possibility that congressional taxing powers have been expanded.
But when I score this decision I do not come out with a win for liberals.
=== 1) The Commerce Clause has taken a hit. I know Levin says otherwise and although I respect him I do not agree with him. A majority held that that while Congress can regulate commerce, it cannot compel individual commerce. (Strike One for liberals)
=== 2) A 7-2 majority also found that withholding a state's medicare funds for not creating state insurance exchanges is unconstitutional. This opens the door to state nullification by well over half of the states. Many have already nullified ObamaCare to some extent or another. (Strike Two for liberals)
=== 3) The expansion of the congressional power to tax --- Roberts did not find that coercion via congressional taxing power was constitutional. He found that it was not coercion if what the government provided in return was of equal or greater value than the tax. He also found that if the tax were greater than what the government were to provide in return, that at that point the tax would become a coercive penalty and as such unconstitutional.
The example of broccoli is used by many conservatives when they argue that congress's taxing authority can now be used to force one to buy broccoli. No it can't. The reason is that the government in the broccoli scenario is not providing something in exchange for the tax that is being used as a penalty for not buying broccoli. If nothing is being provided in exchange for the tax then the tax becomes coercive thereby making the whole broccoli scenario an unconstitutional act. (Strike three for liberals who thought the government had been grated coercive powers. Also the concern over coercive taxation goes down.)
=== 4) The Necessary and Proper Clause too was prescribed by the court in that SCOTUS found that the Necessary and Proper Clause could not be used to coerce commerce. Again, liberals had hoped otherwise. (Strike four for liberals who thought government could coerce commerce)
This leaves me wondering just what liberals got out of this decision.
=== 5) Liberals and Obama got ObamaCare. Conservatives wanted ObamaCare ended. That did not occur. (This is clearly a strike for conservatives)
But what is and where is ObamaCare now? It can't force insurance exchanges on the states and as such the states can now choose to opt out. This alone makes what was politically an albatross two years ago a broken albatross today.
Furthermore, ObamaCare is once again at the mercy of the electorate. If the electorate decides to end ObamaCare by voting in the right representatives and limp conservatives can grow backbone enough to do the hard work of killing ObamaCare, the conservative electorate can do what Roberts could not. (Down goes my concern over ObamaCare not have been ended by the court.)
This was Robert's gamble. In entrusting the death of Obamacare to the electorate Roberts was able to sell his support for the bill to the liberals on the court at an astronomical price, one that allowed him to close all the paths to government coercion a future ObamaCare or similar contrivances might utilize in attaining enactment.
All liberalism got in this decision was a win, one that broke ObamaCare's state enforcement mechanism, a win that allows for no second chance at ObamaCare, and the distinct possibility that ObamaCare will be stuck down by the electorate.
Roberts may have created the conditions for a checkmate if only the electorate is still in the game.
What of the justices? Were the liberals on the court so desirous of a win that they could not see the cost of siding with Roberts? They were forced to accept his reading, one that found ObamaCare constitutional by rewriting the bill in question, in exchange for his support of ObamaCare. Could it be that the liberals on the court so deeply denied the existence of judicial activism that they could not see it being used against them?
(Reminder - of the three concerns I listed earlier only one remains --- the question of Robert's use of judicial activism.)
Liberalism may come to realize just what judicial activism is and come to hate it as much as conservatism currently does when they fully understand the magnitude of the loss they may have suffered at the hand of one man wielding judicial activism.
Perhaps when we all come to despise judicial activism its use will end. And with it the last of my three concerns.
I'm not there yet, though.
[edited from the comment for clarity]
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Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Is it Really Bizarre to Not Allow Votes Cast to be Changed if it Changes the Outcome of the Vote?
polifrog
Apparently the AtlanticWire believes so in NC's fracking mis-vote.
It is also likely the Atlantic played a lot of un- scored soccer and have yet to outgrow those diapers.
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Apparently the AtlanticWire believes so in NC's fracking mis-vote.
Even more bizarrely, House rules prohibit changing your vote if doing so would affect the outcome. (In other words, you can change your vote on a bill, but only if won't make any difference.) So the override stays in effect and fracking is now legal in North Carolina.
It is also likely the Atlantic played a lot of un- scored soccer and have yet to outgrow those diapers.
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Monday, July 2, 2012
We are not Just in a Depression, We are in a Keynesian Depression...
polifrog
Depressions are created by Keynesian interventions as such interventions interfere with the market finding equilibrium. Bubbles are unable to deflate and prices become dependent on government pumping. The market stalls.
It happened in 1937 after six years of Keynes. It has happened in Japan, No ir is happening again in the US.
Now there is ObamaTax....
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA):
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Depressions are created by Keynesian interventions as such interventions interfere with the market finding equilibrium. Bubbles are unable to deflate and prices become dependent on government pumping. The market stalls.
It happened in 1937 after six years of Keynes. It has happened in Japan, No ir is happening again in the US.
Now there is ObamaTax....
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA):
“The economy has not recovered… I think it’s a depression.”
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Liberal confusion over the meaning fascism has as its source an attempt at self denial.
Fascism finds no home under liberty as embraced by our founders, as embraced by libertarians, as embraced by the Tea Party, or as embraced by conservatives.
Fascism does, however, find a home where individual liberty is rejected and where government is embraced as moral - the liberal heart.
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