I haven't written about the Supremes ruling in re (part of) Obamacare, 'cos, well, it's depressing. No real surprise that one part of fed.gov has upheld the expansion of another part of fed.gov; it is the nature of the beast to grope toward totality, after all.
--But the whole-heartedness of it all, the it's-okay-to-tax-you-so-we'll-call-a-fine-a-tax cynicism makes me want to throw up.
And then, then, the very last straw came when Mitt "Mittens" Romney promised he'd fix it, by gum, if we'd just let him at the controls: he'd do his very best to toss out that nasty fine (how?) and the "individual mandate" that it enforces and leave the entire rest of Obamacare in place. When he said that, he showed just how little hope there is for the future: essentially, none.
In a better world, the entire Federal apparatus would get from the electorate what Caesar got from the Roman Senate, only with baseball bats, leaving nothing but bloody mush behind. That, of course, is not going to happen, and I am not suggesting it should. Besides, we'd run out of bats before the job was half done.
But I'm never voting for a Federal incumbent again; and if any member of the two halves of the Warfare/Welfare/Boot-on-our-neck party wants my vote, he'll have to promise to commit seppuku to get it.
Romney, Obama -- they're different faces of the same guy. Oh, their masks wear different shades of lip gloss but they're both gleefully shoveling tomorrow's babies into the fire to fuel the engines of bread, circuses and power for the sake of power and they don't realize -- or care -- how near the precipice they dance or how far the fall will be, just as long as they can keep on keepin' on. After all, the Feds have been dancing on the brink for a long, long time, and they've never fallen over it yet. Never, ever happen, right up unti-- Whups!
All those Politburo involuntary-retirees must be nigh unto laugh-sick with the anticipation of schadenfreude, praying they'll live long enough to see it.
Way I see it, promising to close the "mandate/tax" is gonna be the next promise to close Camp X-Ray.
ReplyDeleteAnd the extra salt in the wound is that the current lizards can't even spin it as a tax. No they have to keep pulling the "it's just a penalty" line.
Dude, you guys *like* punitive taxes. You love taxing smokes, booze, guns, wealth all that stuff.
Is it too much effort so spin this as a tax now?
Apparently, so. Which shows the real effect of the ruling. Now any old law that does anything will magically become a tax to pass the 9 in robes and switch back to a penalty on those that hate kittens and puppies afterwards.
The thing that keeps my humor up is the dark mirth that these mandates are, so far, legal because:
1) the IRS is in the catbird seat
2) you can bribe your way out of the law by
a) paying the State
b) or by bribing the right corporation/private citizen/friend of the Senator's.
4) It's a "regressive" tax (much like fuel and sin taxes)
5) And all the "family values" goons will be looking for their own moral mandates and traditional values taxes.
So I do get a a grim smile at seeing all the progs cheer naked corporatism rent seeking (why make your product something people want to buy when you can lobby to make it mandatory. Newspapers I'm looking at you) and tyranny though taxation.
That they were opening the doors and rolling out the red carpets for all stripes of moralizing busybodies was already internalized.
Heckuva job!
" they're different faces of the same guy"....
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to excuse me while I jump up and down, and flap my arms in agreement.
I'm voting against You-Know-Who anyway. Lightning might strike. And I know what's on the way if the Choomlord retains his power. I don't want him making any more appointments, or bowing to any more El Presidentes or cannibal kings.
ReplyDeleteI know that's not much help.
Mike James
"Romney, Obama -- they're different faces of the same guy."
ReplyDeleteHalf way to enlightenment, Grasshopper. :~)
The next epiphany is the realization that voting and elections, as we know them, are complete scams. Claire got it right when she opined that, "If voting did any good it would be illegal." People refuse to accept that because it rubs their noses in the reality of their powerlessness with regards to having any effect on the political process. No one has ever voted their way to freedom.
We live in interesting times.
Woody: Yeah, but I'm not so completely hopeless yet that I'm willing to consider the other paths.
ReplyDeleteGary Johnson 2012!
I'm with ya Jerry, but for one thing: you know, that-issue-that's-not-an-issue but comes up in every election from dogcatcher to president: Pro-Choice / Pro-Life.
ReplyDeleteNot that either position has a bearing on why I'm voting against Teh Won and most incumbents this time around. It's just that I don't think there IS a good / correct answer.
But I AM tired of being given a choice between a broken leg and pneumonia.
No fear, rickn8or, pretty soon you'll get to have both at once.
ReplyDeleteIf I could get one amendment added to the constitution, it would be that every 50 years all federal laws would be repealed, all current and former elected representatives and employees would be ousted and no longer eligible to serve in the federal government. It would be a year of jubilee.
ReplyDeleterob k, better make it every ten years, every fifty is way to long
ReplyDeleteweredragon
I really wish you were wrong, but years of seeing this same dance to oblivion has shown me that you are probably correct.
ReplyDeleteStill until the violence starts ill keep trying the non-violent way.