Democrats Broke It, Democrats Own It…
Two articles today touch on various aspects of the Supreme Court’s impending ruling on the constitutionality of the individual mandate. First, writing in Bloomberg View, former Obama Administration budget director Peter Orszag makes the case for the next government mandate – this one involving compulsory voting. He outlines the policy case for such a change, and then makes an important concession: “Moving to compulsory voting would probably require a constitutional change…” Over and above the obvious policy implications, Orszag’s statement presents a constitutional conundrum: Why do liberals like him believe mandatory voting requires a constitutional amendment, but mandatory health insurance does not?
Separately, the Wall Street Journal has a story anticipating fallout from the Supreme Court ruling, which includes analysis of how both parties may react:
In the Senate, senior Democrats plan to put the onus on Republicans to make the next move if the court kills the law, since they are the ones who backed the court cases against it. “You break it, you buy it,” said one Democratic leadership aide.
In other words, the party that rammed through a 2700-page bill “real fast” on a straight party line vote, using unprecedented tactics, which neither the Speaker of the House, nor the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, nor the Senate Finance Committee Chairman had bothered to read, and which took constitutional questions as not being “serious” wants to blame REPUBLICANS should the Court strike down this monumental act of legislative hubris? Good luck with that.
While the health care system prior to Obamacare was certainly flawed, it was Democrats’ law itself that broke it, with massive new mandates, regulations, and tax increases. In other words, Democrats now own all of the health care system. And regardless of how the Supreme Court rules, Democrats will own that outcome too.