Backdoor legislation? Huh? WTF are you talking about willis? The court does not rule on merit, it rules on constitutionality. You folks got in a tizzy cause they called the tax a mandate. Mandate is just another word for fine/fee/tax/penalty etc. No different than any other government taxation subsidy, fine, penalty, deduction, etc.
Exactly. They're all doing the same thing - dictating behavior without going through the process of legislating law. It's simply Congress doing an end-run around the limitations of their enumerated powers.
We elected democrats to run both houses and the white house. We did that. They voted to punish us with unaffordable health care taxes, mandates, and fines. We did that. Not the SCOTUS.
Elected officials are bound by the limitations of the Constitution. They can't simply vote to override them whenever they feel like it. If they want to do that, they are required to pass amendments.
The end run around the limitations placed on the federal government by our consitution as it was originally written is a very old story. For the most part the end-run began at the end of the civil war with the due process clause in the 14th amendment, and then was made somewhat permanent by the 16th amendment, with giving congress the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. You'll note there is no limitation on spending or any purpose applied to the 16th. They can tax us for anything. They can tax us for walking, breathing, spitting, pissing...
Then to make matters worse we let the senate fall to tyranny of majority just like the house and president are elected, thus removing that check on tyranny and perhaps putting the last nail in the coffin for the republic. I see no check on tyranny left other than the majority deciding liberty is more important than authority to screw others. And I don't see us having a majority that believes in liberty any more.
Sadly, I agree. I wonder if Heinlein was right, when he posited that we'll need to get off the planet before freedom will light up again.
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