WH delays implementation of equal coverage provsion thus enabling corporations to

[Savannahmann]

40. It's called selective enforcement

The Government chooses not to enforce the law, allowing people to violate it at will with no repercussions. Many of those policies we have cheered have been nothing more than selective enforcement, agreements not to prosecute or penalize people for breaking the law. Some we have screamed in frustration about wondering how they could do that.

Examples, the stays on deportations. The law in black and white says that the Government will deport those undocumented workers. The Government says they're not going to do that, and so it's not done. This was the policy a few months ago for teenaged children which the Rethugs called anchor babies if you recall.

Another example is the EPA deciding not to require as much ethanol use. The law in black and white said that there must be X amount of ethanol mixed into the gasoline. The EPA waved the higher standard, by agreeing not to penalize the oil companies for not meeting it.

Banks that were obviously complicit in the meltdown. They were never prosecuted. This is not because they did nothing wrong, but because the Government decided to give them a pass.

All of those were nothing more than selectively deciding not to enforce the law. Is it technically illegal? You bet it is, but who can force the Government to do the right thing? Nobody has that kind of power. If you tried to file a lawsuit to get a judge to order the Government to enforce the law, the judge would rule that you don't have standing to do so, and that the enforcement of the law is at the whim of the Justice Department. This by the way is why poor people are more likely to be penalized for tax errors while the rich get passes for far more egregious violations.

So by delaying enforcement, all the Government is doing is saying that we know you are breaking the law, but we won't mind unless you continue breaking it later when we say it's finally in effect, then we'll penalize you.