"We warned the president -- don't ever, ever agree with the Republicans," [View all]

[MadHound]

"The individual mandate in the health care law was originally proposed by the Heritage Foundation, the most conservative think tank in the country. It was supported by almost every Republican in the country, including the first President Bush, Mitt Romney and conservative stalwarts like Orrin Hatch. Simply put, it was a conservative idea. There is no question about that; it is a fact.

Let me immediately digress to point out how terrible our media is since about 2% of the country knows that fact. If you asked the average American now, I'm sure they would say it was a liberal idea originally proposed by Barack Obama. Another fact -- Barack Obama was originally opposed to the mandate during his campaign for president."
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/06/25-5

It amazes me how many Democrats continue to defend the mandate. A radical RW proposal that guarantees corporations huge profits, yet somehow, someway, this became a Democratic idea, bill, law. A sad statement on Democrats in general, and a damning indictment of this administration, that the party and this president has willingly embraced, and now fought for, Republican policies.

What is liberal or progressive about forcing people to buy a product from a for profit institution simply as a condition of being alive? A proposal, crafted by the Heritage foundation, supported by Bush, Romney and Hatch among others, yet since Obama flip-flopped and supported it, somehow, someway the mandate is supposed to now be all good? I don't think so.

It is for actions like this that many feel that there isn't a dime's worth of difference between the two parties. When you have a Democratic president and Congress pushing supporting and advocating for Republican policy, it becomes difficult to discern where those political lines fall.

Hopefully the Supreme Court allows their hatred for all things Obama to rise up and strike this mandate down. Otherwise I fear that a corporately controlled Court will allow this monstrosity of a mandate to become law of the land, and we will see even more and more of our money go trickling up to the top. We will become poorer and poorer, while the elite will become richer. That is what this Republican mandate means.