Yes, it sounds melodramatic, but I honestly believe this will change the whole fabric of how our society works.
The problem with Obamacare is not that it's impractical, that it won't work, that it will have unintended consequences, drive up costs, and decrease the quality of life in America. All of these things are true, but they are not the fundamental problem. The essential and fundamental problem with Obamacare is that it is immoral.
It is immoral to force me to pay for a stranger's medical care at the point of a gun. Period.
I'm not under any illusion that I woke up the morning of the SCOTUS decision and white was turned to black, good was turned bad, and a perfect system was turned upside down and made evil. We had a system that already had lots of evils in it, because of the regulations and socialism that was already there. It was simply made worse by this bill and by the Supreme Court.
The recent Supreme Court Ruling has got me looking around more often when I'm out in public. It's got me looking around and studying all the bad decisions people are making that I will end up paying for.
It used to be a free country. I used to be able to look at pre-diabetic morbidly obese people in the grocery store buying 10 bags of Cheetos and 5 gallons of maple syrup to pour all over their breakfast sausage in the morning, and not have to care. I could look at them and say, "Hey, it's a free country." Don't get me wrong, I love Cheetos, maple syrup and breakfast sausage, but everything in moderation, people.
I used to look a the guy driving down the freeway on his Harley at 80 mph without a helmet and say, "Hey, it's a free country." Not anymore. Yeah, I see that patch on your ugly black leather jacket that says "Loud Pipes Save Lives." Well, so do helmets, asshole.
I am invested in those people's choices. I am part of the 50% that pays my taxes. So I will be paying for the health care of the other 50%, and for fixing all the problems they encounter due to their poor life decisions.
Again, some of this was already true as long ago as the 1960's when Medicare was created. But the reality of socialized medicine has been solidified. It's not a free country anymore.
The even worse thing is that many people will recognize this, and support well-intentioned but misguided and further draconian measures to protect us against these unintended consequences; things like stiffer penalties for breaking helmet laws, seatbelt laws, or sin taxes on junk food. They have the same problems as Obamacare: they are immoral. They further control our lives and limit our choices.
At any rate, here are some good links.
- A pre-requisite for any health care discussion: Health Care is Not a Right
- Richard Salsman has a similarly titled piece on Forbes, and Forbes has a lot of good stuff on this topic.
- Nine things you should know about Obamacare
...good luck to the IRS trying to collect this penalty/tax. The penalty/tax has no criminal or civil penalties for failure to pay and interest doesn’t accrue. Finally, the IRS is limited in its collection powers. Basically, taking it out of your refund is the biggest bat the IRS has. Look for this causing headaches for the IRS as some folks who traditionally got a refund now limit their withholding so that they owe the IRS money at the end of the year (and avoid the penalty/tax).Look to this guy to be one of them when costs start getting higher. I already owe every year on purpose. This just gives me one more reason.
- Forbes: 7 tax hikes on under 250k earners
- Forbes: The individual mandate quacks like a tax
- A free market solution to address the problem most often used to argue for socialized medicine: WSJ: What to Do About Pre-existing Conditions
- Even more links at: WeStandFIRM.org
That's socialism for you: a compassionate, brotherly, sympathetic civilization.
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