Best Medicine Available to Obama: Put the Scalpel Down

One of the only fair defenses of the stimulus bill is its immediate psychological effect.  At the time it was passed, the nation was very, very scared. The general sense was that the government needed to “do something.”  Everyone knew that the new Democratic administration wasn’t about to cut taxes as a means of [...]

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Health Care Debate Proves Boehner Was the Right Choice for Leader

Lost among the frenzy of last Saturday’s health care debate were two discordant notes within the Republican caucus.  Both were the brainchild of Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ), who challenged Minority Leader John Boehner for his position during last winter’s the 2006 leadership elections.  I was a Shadegg guy then.  Now I’m glad the caucus voted [...]

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The Health Insurance Mandate: In Case There Was Any Doubt…

The House Ways and Means Committee confirmed today that the mandate provisions in Pelosicare will follow the form we’ve all expected: obey or go to jail.  While it’s an unconstitutional, brutal, and outrageous provision, it does crystallize the legal issues in a way the Senate bill does not.  These people have abandoned any pretense of [...]

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The Health Insurance Mandate: Why Constitutionality Matters

As you know, this blog has explored several ways whereby the proposed mandate that everyone obtain health insurance is unconstitutional.  Ignoring entirely the advice of this blog, the Senate Finance Committee reported out a bill that included a mandate, albeit a watered-down one.  In fact, it appears that any bill that will be voted on [...]

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Five Easy Pieces: Simple Solutions to Obama’s Quagmire

Perhaps the most amazing thing to me about President Obama’s popularity tailspin is how easy it would be for him to get out of it.  People still like the guy (although that may be changing, as well) — they just don’t like his policies, and they don’t think he’s listening to them.  Any one of [...]

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On the Marque, 10/13/09

The word of the day is “decline”:

If you read nothing else for the rest of the year about the Obama presidency and the direction it is taking the country, read Krauthammer in this week’s Weekly Standard.  No, really – go read it.  I’ll wait.
Riffing on Krauthammer’s theme, Mark Steyn dishes up lugubrious drollery as only [...]

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On the Marque, 10/8/09

James Capretta explains in precise detail why the CBO score of the Baucus bill is a sham.  Sen. Grassley agrees.
Over at RealClearPolitics, David Paul Kuhn assesses the importance of the growing willingness within the comedy class to make fun of Obama.  Of course, some of us have been making fun of Obama for months, but [...]

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The Health Insurance Mandate: Is It Involuntary Servitude?*

In an earlier post, I explored whether the Obama health insurance mandate was constitutional in a positive sense — is the federal government empowered to take this action?  But through the very interesting debate that resulted from that post, it occurred to me that there is a second question that needs to be asked.  Does [...]

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The Health Insurance Mandate: A Policy in Search of a Power

The federal government has three ways it can obtain a law-abiding American’s property:
1.  It can tax you.  Taxation is the power of the government to force transfers of cash from owners to itself.  It is a broad power, expressly stated in the Constitution:
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and [...]

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Inside the Polls on Racism and Health Care

Several outfits have polled the question raised by former President Carter: are those who oppose Obama’s policies motivated by racism?  Fox News did a version of this, with the following question:
Thinking about Barack Obama’s policies, some people say [A:those who oppose Obama's policies are mostly motivated by racism], while others say [B: opposition to Obama's [...]

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