Krauthammer on ObamaCare

Below I reprint Charles Krauthammer's critically important new column about ObamaCare, which goes before the Supreme Court on Monday. The link is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamacare-the-reckoning/2012/03/22/gIQALF1QUS_story.html

Obamacare: The reckoning

By Charles Krauthammer, Published: March 22 The Washington Post

Obamacare dominated the 2010 midterms, driving its Democratic authors to a historic electoral shellacking. But since then, the issue has slipped quietly underground.

Now it's back, summoned to the national stage by the confluence of three disparate events: the release of new Congressional Budget Office cost estimates, the approach of Supreme Court hearings on the law's constitutionality and the issuance of a compulsory contraception mandate.

Cost:

Obamacare was carefully constructed to manipulate the standard 10-year cost projections of the CBO. Because benefits would not fully kick in for four years, President Obama could trumpet 10-year gross costs of less than $1 trillion - $938 billion to be exact.

But now that the near-costless years 2010 and 2011 have elapsed, the true 10-year price tag comes into focus. From 2013 through 2022, the CBO reports, the costs of Obamacare come to $1.76 trillion - almost twice the phony original number.

It gets worse. Annual gross costs after 2021 are more than a quarter of $1 trillion every year - until the end of time. That, for a new entitlement in a country already drowning in $16 trillion of debt.

Constitutionality:

Beginning Monday, the Supreme Court will hear challenges to the law. The American people, by an astonishing two-thirds majority, want the law and/or the individual mandate tossed out by the court. In practice, however, questions this momentous are generally decided 5 to 4 - i.e., they depend on whatever side of the bed Justice Anthony Kennedy gets out of that morning.

Ultimately, the question will hinge on whether the Commerce Clause has any limits. If the federal government can compel a private citizen, under threat of a federally imposed penalty, to engage in a private contract with a private entity (to buy health insurance), is there anything the federal government cannot compel the citizen to do?

If Obamacare is upheld, it fundamentally changes the nature of the American social contract. It means the effective end of a government of enumerated powers - i.e., finite, delineated powers beyond which the government may not go, beyond which lies the free realm of the people and their voluntary institutions. The new post-Obamacare dispensation is a central government of unlimited power from which citizen and civil society struggle to carve out and maintain spheres of autonomy.

Figure becomes ground; ground becomes figure. The stakes could not be higher.

Coerciveness.

Serendipitously, the recently issued regulation on contraceptive coverage has allowed us to see exactly how this new power works. All institutions - excepting only churches, but not excepting church-run charities, hospitals, etc. - will be required to offer health care that must include free contraception, sterilization and drugs that cause abortion.

Consider the cascade of arbitrary bureaucratic decisions that resulted in this edict:

(1) Contraception, sterilization and abortion pills are classified as medical prevention. On whose authority? The secretary of health and human services, invoking the Institute of Medicine. But surely categorizing pregnancy as a disease equivalent is a value decision disguised as science. If contraception is prevention, what are fertility clinics? Disease inducers? And if contraception is prevention because it lessens morbidity and saves money, by that logic, mass sterilization would be the greatest boon to public health since the pasteurization of milk.

(2) This type of prevention is free - no co-pay. Why? Is contraception morally superior to or more socially vital than - and thus more of a "right" than - penicillin for a child with pneumonia?

(3) "Religious" exemptions to this edict extend only to churches, places where the faithful worship God, and not to church-run hospitals and charities, places where the faithful do God's work. Who promulgated this definition, so stunningly ignorant of the very idea of religious vocation? The almighty HHS secretary.

Today, it's the Catholic Church whose free-exercise powers are under assault from this cascade of diktats sanctioned by - indeed required by - Obamacare.

Tomorrow it will be the turn of other institutions of civil society that dare stand between unfettered state and atomized citizen.

Rarely has one law so exemplified the worst of the Leviathan state - grotesque cost, questionable constitutionality and arbitrary bureaucratic coerciveness. Little wonder the president barely mentioned it in his latest State of the Union address. He wants to be reelected. He'd rather talk about other things.

But there's no escaping it now. Oral arguments begin Monday at 10 a.m.

Comments

[LongRifle]

Monica,
There are far biiger issues going on:

SHERIFF JOE TRACKING THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE'S REAL BIRTH PLACE---

http://www.wnd.com/2012/03/immigration-records-missing-for-week-of-obamas-birth/

[LongRifle]

Meanwhile, back at the racist rant:

Turns out the Jewish-named FL killer is HISPANIC with BLACK relatives...although he does look like Chaz Bono.

[Rafe]

Meanwhile, back at the racist rant:

Turns out the Jewish-named FL killer is HISPANIC with BLACK relatives...although he does look like Chaz Bono.

Posted by: LongRifle | March 23, 2012 at 12:27 PM

He does! LMAO.

[LongRifle]

Obama on the defensive about his energy policies:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/03/22/bloomberg_articlesM17D441A1I4H01-M1APV.DTL

Remember when candidate Obama said his "plan" would make energy prices "SKYROCKET"? He is good for his word.

[xbjllb]

Good. When they determine the unconstitutionality of being forced to buy a product, then I'm going to quit paying my car insurance, and I suggest everyone else do the same.

By the way. Mandatory was the GOP RIGHT'S idea in THE FIRST PLACE.

Driven by their Big Insura masters who thought they could stop a public option from competing.

So health would end up the same way car insurance did.

No matter. An Obama win and gaining back the House will insure only one thing:

A public option.

And if the right continues, a public option WITH NO MANDATORY REQUIREMENT, thereby FURTHER decimating Big Health Insura overnight.

Are you really sure you want to continue down this suicidal path?

Duh.

[xbjllb]

"He does! LMAO." - Rafe

Yep. But I'm still waiting where the name "Zimmerman" came from.

[LongRifle]

Good. When they determine the unconstitutionality of being forced to buy a product, then I'm going to quit paying my car insurance, and I suggest everyone else do the same.

xbj

NOT the same thing. You are not forced to buy auto insurance unless you drive. Obamacare forces ALL to buy health insurance; no matter what.

[LongRifle]

The lunacy and pc of the left:

http://www.infowars.com/geraldo-rivera-hoodie-wears-a-menace-possible-murderers/

When will they learn? First guns are evil; now sweatshirts...

[LongRifle]

"An investigative “Cold Case Posse” launched six months ago by “America’s toughest sheriff” – Joe Arpaio of Arizona’s Maricopa County – has concluded there is probable cause that the document released by the White House last year as President Obama’s birth certificate is a computer-generated forgery.

The investigative team has asked Arpaio, who is at a news conference in Phoenix live-streamed by WND TV that began at 3 p.m. Eastern time, to elevate the investigation to a criminal probe that will make available the resources of his Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

The posse says it has identified at least one person of interest in the alleged forgery of Obama’s birth certificate."
infowars.com

[Ummahgummah]

.

Silly LIEberals love crap like this. It gives them a chance to use their soapboxes. And I’m curious how this Spanish-speaking Mexican has a German/Jewish name… father? Grandfather? This isn’t a white on black thing – it is a Mexican on black thing. But leave it to a stinking LIEberal to ignore that tidbit and blame “whitey”.

LIEberals are such dipshits.

.

[mjfell]

The Tea Party vs The Status Quo

Much has been said since the November 2010 election about "establishment Republicans" co-opting Senators and Representatives elected with Tea Party support. What "establishment Republicans" evidently refuse to accept is, every Republicans elected in November 2010 owes huge thanks to the Tea Party. "Establishment Republicans" need to understand that Tea Party grassroots activists have had enough of their "learn your place and do as you're told" attitude towards the Tea Party.

In America’s recent political past, there was the “Silent Majority”. "Establishment Republicans" need to understand that the Tea Party is the “Silent Majority”. In plain spoken politically incorrect English, the institutionalized "progressive" left needs to realize that empty rhetoric about the term "Silent Majority" being code for racist is unfounded, utterly contemptible nonsense.

As the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1791 states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The Tea Party consists of concerned American citizens exercising their Constitutionally protected right to peaceably assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Despite Herculean efforts by the institutionalized “progressive” left to promote the false narrative that the Tea Party is filled with uneducated, violent, extreme, racist hillbillies, Tea Party goers are normal, average, everyday Americans who’re alarmed at America’s descent into an unconstitutional, uncontrollable, big government black hole.

Big government is taking America down an unsustainable path of continued deficit spending, crushing national debt, accelerated expansion of government programs, oppressive regulation, and ignorance of the looming costs for unfunded entitlement programs. Big government "progressives" continuously insist that the only "fair" way to balance the U.S. budget must include tax hikes. There's no need for “progressives” to explain their agenda more clearly so Americans will understand. Americans do understand. Americans don't like it and they don’t want it.

Republicans were swept into office at the expense of “progressive” Democrats as a direct result of the Tea Party's unhappiness with the fringe radical leftist agenda as legislated by the likes of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest, then signed into law by the current White House occupant.

The Tea Party, the ones who’ve awoken America to the danger of losing a Constitutional Republic to a political system that rewards an “entitled” governing class at the expense of everyday Americans must be given the respect they deserve.

"Establishment Republicans" who seek to maintain the status quo with “progressive” Democrats are complicit with government expansion. "Establishment Republicans" as a group have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. For so long as they are able keep their seat at the table, they’ll be willing to compromise with “progressives”, thereby maintaining the illusion that the Republican vs Democrat political paradigm is still meaningful.

Open dialogue, communication and cooperation, urgently required to solve America’s challenges are welcome, but “establishment Republicans” must understand that for the Tea Party, there must be no compromise with people who see the U.S. Constitution and America’s free market enterprise system as the greatest roadblock to a New World Order.

Should “establishment Republicans”, as part of the governing class, continue “going along to get along” simply to maintain their grasp on power at the expense of We The People, that will be noticed as much as attempts by “progressives” to circumvent the will of the electorate. The Tea Party spoke on November 2, 2010. Don’t think for a moment that they won’t be ready to speak again in 2012 and beyond.

http://mjfellright.wordpress.com/2012/03/23/the-tea-party-vs-the-status-quo/

[borderbriar]

Challenging Obamacare on the mandate point isn't really the smartest way. Governments have precedents of mandating things such as vaccinations. Now the Court is liable to be intimidated because Perry and now others are mandating things such as sonograms. It should be challenged on the issue that it fails to meet the necessary and proper provision of Article I. It could be argued it isn't necessary because insurance is not the right way to preserve the lives of those who can't afford insurance. It certainly isn't proper on grounds of being 2000 pages and lacking specifics as well as containing a lot of extraneous junk. It's main effect is to enrich the insurance and medical industries at the expense of tax payers. The Court should be challenged to do its duty to protect the people from a corrupt Congress and President. It doesn't have troops to back up its opinion, but with enough public support Obama would have to cave.

This would also be a good time to stop the fraud that employers pay for insurance. They are simply abusing their power by deciding how part of employee compensation which rightfully belongs to the employee is spent.

[Jay]

.

I think Creepy lives in its own virtual world, where moslems are good people and honor killings and jihad are inventions by evil white men to discredit nice peace-loving moslems---UGGY

EVIL WHITE MEN. Your narrow-minded mind is so funny.

Then, I must think of myself as an evil white men. Since, DJ88 said Scandinavians are the,"WHITEST OF THE WHITES"

[LongRifle]

Shades of Rodney King...

BLACKS ARE JUST LOOKING FOR AN EXCUSE TO RIOT (again).

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-trayvon-martin-case-jesse-jackson-20120323,0,2131299.story

[Jay]

To fat Al, xbj, JAYn and all the other pc racists:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/os-trayvon-martin-shooting-zimmerman-letter-20120315,0,1716605.story

Posted by: LongRifle | March 23, 2012 at 12:16 PM

Learned long ago that only the most vile racists consider themselves as such.

While the other, "SILENT" racists such as the irregulars on the memo.

"It's others who are racist. For they do not think as we do."

When others, not just XJLLB and myself point it out. Then, we are the evil trolls.

So, thanks for that name. Shows I was on the right track concerning the racism by the irregulars.

[LongRifle]

"Then, I must think of myself as an evil white men."
JAY

Well said. Yes, you are---ACCORDING TO MANY BLACKS like Farrakon, Jackson, Sharpton, etc..

To yourself and other PC Libs, you perceive yourself to be free of "racism", by debasing other whites who are far more realistic than you are.

[Jay]

Either way, you white supremacists lose this one, and lose so hugely you've lost the White House AND House over it.

WATCH.

Posted by: xbjllb | March 23, 2012 at 12:58 PM

XJLLB, don't you know? have seen comments from fleabaggers and other conservatives. that, they want to make the White House "white" again.

[Jay]

To yourself and other PC Libs, you perceive yourself to be free of "racism", by debasing other whites who are far more realistic than you are.

Posted by: LongRifle | March 23, 2012 at 08:00 PM

So, because I do not agree with your closed-lil mind, then I am debasing whites.

Reminds me of the Neo-nazis on YT who basically said the same thing as you did. Because I didn't agree with their viewpoints on jews.

So, thanks, LR!

[Jay]

""To fat Al, xbj, JAYn and all the other pc racists:" - longrifle

There you racist white supremacists go again, judging a man by the color of his skin and how he looks INSTEAD OF BY HIS NAME and his FRUITS.

Posted by: xbjllb | March 23, 2012 at 01:05 PM

To racists, it's color and ONLY color!
Ever seen a blind racist?

[Jay]

The lunacy and pc of the left:

http://www.infowars.com/geraldo-rivera-hoodie-wears-a-menace-possible-murderers/

When will they learn? First guns are evil; now sweatshirts...

Posted by: LongRifle | March 23, 2012 at 01:06 PM

didn't know Rivera is a Liberal!

Maybe it's more of a Conservative's typical reply. BLAME LIBERALS FOR EVERYTHING, crap!

Kids do that, so do conservatives.

[Jay]

Silly LIEberals love crap like this. It gives them a chance to use their soapboxes. And I’m curious how this Spanish-speaking Mexican has a German/Jewish name… father? Grandfather? This isn’t a white on black thing – it is a Mexican on black thing. But leave it to a stinking LIEberal to ignore that tidbit and blame “whitey”.

LIEberals are such dipshits.

.

Posted by: Ummahgummah | March 23, 2012 at 04:13 PM

While conservatives never blame whitey for anything, right UG?

Your nuke pigslam because of an UNKNOWN shooter in Norway is legendary.

[Jay]

This isn’t a white on black thing – it is a Mexican on black thing. But leave it to a stinking LIEberal to ignore that tidbit and blame “whitey”.

LIEberals are such dipshits.

.

Posted by: Ummahgummah | March 23, 2012 at 04:13 PM

No, it's a PERSON ON PERSON thing.PERIOD!

dipshit!

[Jay]

One person killing another can NEVER be a this race against that race. Thought you irregulars were educated?

Still looking for proof!

[gringoman]

Monica,
There are far biiger issues going on:

SHERIFF JOE TRACKING THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE'S REAL BIRTH PLACE---

http://www.wnd.com/2012/03/immigration-records-missing-for-week-of-obamas-birth/

Posted by: LongRifle | March 23, 2012 at 12:25 PM

Fact: The GOP is far too squishy to go near this.

Fact: Their Fatal Attraction, Willard of Wall Street, is extremely unlikely to go near this.

Fact: GOP Mental Central will say, "This is only a distraction from the economy." That's how The Squish have managed to let Obama get away with being the most secretive President in US history. "'Birthers' are stupid. They will get us distracted. See? We're not stupid. "

I strongly suspect that Newt Gingrich, like Sarah Palin, would go near this, in a measured way, with something like, "Let's see where the evidence leads." Newt and Palin would not do a Total Squish like GOP and Willard will do. (Another reason Newt is dreaded by GOP?)

However, we know that Newt has "baggage", don't we? We know that Mormon coporate raider Willard, Godfather of Obamaneycare, does not have baggage? Don't we?

Or so the current meme runs, in GOP Mental Central and Obamasuck Media. Heh.

Right, DJ?

[gringoman]

Are you really sure you want to continue down this suicidal path?

Duh.

Posted by: xbjllb | March 23, 2012 at 12:51 PM

Why doesn't troll Stinky get off his toilet-throne and take his troll mate Creepy out to some big website? Think of the platform they could have, warning about 'Big Insura', the KKK under every bed, and what will happen to Stinky's enemies in the hereafter?

Why limit the Creepy and Stinky Show?

[gringoman]

EVIL WHITE MEN. Your narrow-minded mind is so funny.

Then, I must think of myself as an evil white men. Since, DJ88 said Scandinavians are the,"WHITEST OF THE WHITES"

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 07:52 PM

A scientific mystery: How has troll Creepy managed not to disgust itself to death?

[Jay]

Flipper never can get a commented posted, that has any value. Why does He waste his time on a lil memo?

[Jay]

A scientific mystery: How has troll Creepy managed not to disgust itself to death?

Posted by: gringoman | March 23, 2012 at 09:22 PM
A literary fact. Flippy's Dictionary is 800 blank pages.

[gringoman]

""To fat Al, xbj, JAYn and all the other pc racists:" - longrifle

There you racist white supremacists go again, judging a man by the color of his skin and how he looks INSTEAD OF BY HIS NAME and his FRUITS.

Posted by: xbjllb | March 23, 2012 at 01:05 PM

To racists, it's color and ONLY color!
Ever seen a blind racist?

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 08:10 PM

Will this troll couple consider a suicide pact? Would Creepy and Stinky martyr themselves for Progistan, and the struggle against the KKK under their beds?

[Jay]

Will this troll couple consider a suicide pact? Would Creepy and Stinky martyr themselves for Progistan, and the struggle against the KKK under their beds?

Posted by: gringoman | March 23, 2012 at 09:27 PM

Will the irregulars stop being silent racists?

The "silent majority" among FLEABAGGERS?

[gringoman]

Flipper never can get a commented posted, that has any value. Why does He waste his time on a lil memo?

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 09:23 PM

How does troll Creepy not disgust himself to death? Could even Einstein explain it?

[Jay]

Einstein, whose Relativity fromula was helped by Emilie du Chatelet. A white woman who was able to get a hgher education. because of her father's high standing.

Otherwise,she would have been a typical maid!

[gringoman]

Posted by: Ummahgummah | March 23, 2012 at 04:13 PM

While conservatives never blame whitey for anything, right UG?

Your nuke pigslam because of an UNKNOWN shooter in Norway is legendary.

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 08:19 PM

Amazing! How does this troll psychopath keep getting up in the morning?

How does it do another day in the "life" of troll Creepy?

This is really astounding.

Are researchers working on the answer?

[Jay]

When will Whiner psot a comment that's worth reading?

[Jay]

how many MORE comments does Whiner have to do his damage Control? 25? 56?

He really does have a 24/7 job!

[gringoman]

Flipper never can get a commented posted, that has any value. Why does He waste his time on a lil memo?

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 09:23 PM

Why is the psychopath troll dodging the question? The question is: How does Creepy manage not to disgust itself to death?

[Jay]

All the other comments Whiner hasn't done his damage control. Why does he have a need to respond to the same ones over and over?

OCD?

[gringoman]

Flipper never can get a commented posted, that has any value. Why does He waste his time on a lil memo?

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 09:23 PM

How does troll Creepy not disgust himself to death? Could even Einstein explain it?

Posted by: gringoman | March 23, 2012 at 09:30 PM
Jay

Einstein, whose Relativity fromula was helped by Emilie du Chatelet. A white woman who was able to get a hgher education. because of her father's high standing.

Otherwise,she would have been a typical maid!

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 09:34 PM

Why won't troll Creepy answer the question instead of playing dodge ball google with itself?

The question: How does Creepy keep from disgusting itself to death?

[Jay]

The question is: How does Creepy manage not to disgust itself to death?

Posted by: gringoman | March 23, 2012 at 09:41 PM

Even his questions have no known value.

[Jay]

In reference to Whiner's DODGE BALL. Notice how he parroted what I said some time ago?

[gringoman]

A scientific mystery: How has troll Creepy managed not to disgust itself to death?

Posted by: gringoman | March 23, 2012 at 09:22 PM
A literary fact. Flippy's Dictionary is 800 blank pages.

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 09:24 PM

Why is Creepy troll still playing dodge ball with itself? Why won't it answer the question?

How does Creepy keep from disgusting even itself? How can it be the only exception? It disgusts everyone else.

What is Creepy's secret? Why won't Creepy tell?

[Jay]

Still Whiner parrots what I said weeks ago, Why do conservatives play one person Dodge Ball?"

Why can't they get past their THREEZIES?

Hopscotch? For Conservatives? Forget it. They have trouble standing on one foot!

[Jay]

It disgusts everyone else--Whiner

ONLY narrow minded people.

[LongRifle]

Kids do that, so do conservatives.

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 08:16

Jay STILL can't compose a simple sentence. Ignoring proper context, construction, and grammar to make a point are the weaknesses of the uneducated.
(Not to mention the fact that he NEVER disproves any Conservative comment; he only insults them in an infantile manner)

[gringoman]

The question is: How does Creepy manage not to disgust itself to death?

Posted by: gringoman | March 23, 2012 at 09:41 PM

Even his questions have no known value.

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 09:47 PM

The "value" is known to everyone here except Creepy.

So why won't Creepy troll stop playing dodge ball and tell us how he manages not to disgust himself?

Of course, shrinks know the answer. Psychiatry understands Creepy.

But we want to hear Creepy's explanation. We want troll Creepy to explain why he does not disgust himself.

If the queation is too difficult for Creepy, maybe his troll Stinky can help out?

[gringoman]

The question is: How does Creepy manage not to disgust itself to death?

Posted by: gringoman | March 23, 2012 at 09:41 PM

Even his questions have no known value.

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 09:47 PM

The "value" is known to everyone here except Creepy.

So why won't Creepy troll stop playing dodge ball and tell us how he manages not to disgust himself?

Of course, shrinks know the answer. Psychiatry understands Creepy.

But we want to hear Creepy's explanation. We want troll Creepy to explain why he does not disgust himself.

If the queation is too difficult for Creepy, maybe his troll Stinky can help out?

[Jay]

Why does he have a need to respond to the same ones over and over?

OCD?

Posted by: Jay | March 23, 2012 at 09:44 PM

Maybe Whiner's way of playing TWOZIES!

[LongRifle]

didn't know Rivera is a Liberal!

Jay

Of course you didn't, because you are intellectually-challenged. Then again, compared to you, he isn't.

[Jay]

Looks like by Whiner's last 2 posts. he does love playing TWOZIES!

How long can a person get Whiner to just respond to one comment?

[xbjllb]

"NOT the same thing. You are not forced to buy auto insurance unless you drive. Obamacare forces ALL to buy health insurance; no matter what." - longrifle

NOT so! If you're not breathing you don't have to buy health insurance.

You're only forced to buy health insurance if you breathe.

Doesn't nix the fact either that mandatory was the GOP right's idea.

Or that a public option will bring competition, a REAL free market, and bring down prices as it ends Big Insura extortion.