[quote=CONCHO]Something else to consider: When in the history of this country has the government ever compelled its citizenry to comply with an order (buy health insurance) or face fines/sanctions? This is as authoritarian/autocratic as it comes and very few people seem all that outraged by this.
Let’s see:
1) Purchase auto insurance or face fines.
2) Pay state/federal income taxes or face fines and or jail.
3) Pay property taxes or face fines.
4) When the draft is active, join military service or face fines and or jail.
I can go on and on but I won’t.
Not saying this healthcare bill is good. It isn’t, it’s just a giveaway to the insurance companies and isn’t going to help anyone get better care.
We are all doomed.
Return to your discussion.[/quote]
CONCHO: Well, given that the draft isn’t active and hasn’t been for a long while, it isn’t applicable.
Property taxes and auto insurance also don’t fit the bill, since those are local and state issues, not federal, and federal income tax isn’t the same, either.
My argument had to do solely with being forced to purchase a federally mandated product or face the risk of sanction. This is nothing like having to pay federal income taxes (which isn’t a product at all). While I’m sure you do indeed have plenty of examples, I’d be willing to bet none are like this one, because this is a first.
And, no, this health care bill isn’t good. As with all things Obama, we’re finding out more and more that he is woefully unprepared for the tasks he has undertaken.
If you want an interesting read, Google the “Oldspeak” interview with Nat Hentoff. Very enlightening. And, for all the Leftists who will cry foul that Hentoff is some sort of Rightist stooge: Not even close. Hentoff is a hugely respected scholar of the Constitution, and an expert on civil liberties. He finds Obama even more frightening than Dubya, which should send us all fleeing for Canada (where at least we’d get better health care, right?)
