Killing ObamaCare
The ObamaCare disaster is in its early stages and already, Americans of every political stripe are in shock as millions of insurance plans are canceled, premiums skyrocket, hours are cut, jobs are lost, businesses are decimated, and our choices evaporate. Even the left-wing media are beginning to realize that Obama's signature domestic achievement is a catastrophe.
The complete flop of the http://www.healthcare.gov/website launch has deeply embarrassed Barack Obama and the Democrat Party that created the ObamaCare monster in the dead of night. Using shady parliamentary maneuvers and against the will of the American people, they imposed and inflicted upon the entire nation a bill they hadn't read and didn't understand. And now their chickens are coming home to roost as government (and their own) incompetence is put on full display.
But it is possible that We the People can stop this thing before it's too late and before Barack Obama's socialist makeover of America becomes permanently entrenched. We should stop feeding this beast and allow it to die a slow, lingering death.
We should starve ObamaCare.
Since www.healthcare.gov went live almost four weeks ago, the fear of this very thing has descended upon the left and their media buddies. It goes like this:
The ObamaCare website launch is a PR disaster of epic proportion which strains the credibility of Barack Obama as super-genius and the entire concept of ObamaCare. If people do not have faith in the system (or its chief proponent) they may not enroll in ObamaCare and if they do not enroll, especially the younger and healthier types, ObamaCare may actually fail. If only very poor, very unhealthy people enroll, the signature domestic policy achievement of Barack Obama (force-fed to the American public) will collapse.
An even bigger fear on the left is that the ObamaCare debacle will cause Americans en masse to question the cardinal doctrine of leftism. Namely, that the government is the best instrument for delivering the basic necessities of life and establishing social justice by redistributing wealth. When the people stop believing that government is the answer to our problems, liberalism will have been dealt a serious, possibly fatal, blow.
So, what would happen if young people and middle-aged and older folks just refused to participate?
What if we all just... said... "NO!"?
What if millions upon millions of Americans refused to be a part of the ObamaCare national takeover and refused to purchase insurance through the exchanges?
What if tens or hundreds of thousands of young, healthy people refused to purchase health insurance at all?
Answer: ObamaCare would fall.
This would mean buying coverage outside of the exchanges or not buying it at all. Due to ObamaCare's coverage mandates, buying insurance outside the exchanges will be costly as insurers implement new requirements. One answer may be to purchase a high-deductible plan at a lower cost and then purchase supplemental plans that will help pay your deductibles and out of pocket costs. Many licensed health agents understand this process called "bundling" and have used it for years to help their clients. Still, you'll probably pay more for health insurance than you're paying now.
However, buying insurance through the ObamaCare exchanges is to accept tax credits and subsidies which are nothing more than redistributed wealth stolen from our fellow Americans. Much of it, $700 billion, stolen from our parents and grandparents by Obama's raid of Medicare. Participating through the exchanges therefore, helps to empower the socialist agenda of the radical left and, if at all possible, it must be avoided.
Clearly, we are talking about a rebellion of sorts. A massive demonstration of civil disobedience (typically beloved by the left) which would certainly cause panic in the White House and liberal halls of power as regular Americans defy the strong-arm tactics of Barack Obama and his Democrat allies.
Some might think this is a radical idea. But, when a government becomes destructive of the God-given rights of the people, the people have no choice but to disobey. Any laws passed by government that are clearly unconstitutional or destructive of the natural rights of free men and women must be opposed. Our most effective weapon is the tried and true practice of peaceful, nonviolent civil disobedience much like that witnessed in the 1960s.
Of course, this type of action may come with a price tag for those who choose this path. In the 1960s, civil rights protesters were attacked with dogs, water cannon, beaten with batons, and assassinated.
But, the cause was worthy of the suffering endured.
And so it is today.
Civil disobedience is not for the faint of heart. In this battle, the IRS may come knocking and seek to penalize those who do not purchase health insurance. For the moment, the IRS's primary mechanism for penalizing such people is to withhold their tax refunds. So, what if we saw to it that no excess funds are withheld from our paychecks? When the IRS goons look to seize our tax refunds as a penalty, they'll have nothing to withhold. If millions of Americans adopted this approach, the IRS would be unable to effectively enforce ObamaCare's penalty provisions.
In 1776, fifty six men signed the Declaration of Independence and pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. Every one of them paid a price for his patriotism and refusal to yield to the tyranny of King George III.
Today, America is in peril. We face an encroaching tyranny which is as profound as that faced by the signers of the Declaration. Our federal government is lawless, out of control and shows no respect for the Constitution. The ability of our children and grandchildren to live as free people is under tremendous threat from radical leftists who seek nothing less than the total transformation of our nation into a socialist state.
ObamaCare is the linchpin of that transformation.
Absent the actions of the American people, the radicals will succeed, resulting in a continual and perpetual loss of personal freedom until America is America no more. We and our descendants deserve to live in freedom. Our families and our ancestors paid for it in blood. It is our birthright.
Faced with such an existential danger from within our own federal government, the act of civil disobedience is no longer a choice for free men and women. It is a moral and patriotic imperative.
How do we battle this onslaught?
Defiance.
Refuse to comply with immoral and illegal laws.
Refuse to participate in ObamaCare. Defy its mandates and penalties.
Refuse to accept ObamaCare's subsidies and tax credits stolen from fellow Americans.
This is where this American generation must draw the line and where we must make our stand for freedom.
Today, the barbarians aren't at the gates, they are within them -- within the White House and the United States Congress.
The fight over ObamaCare is for all the marbles. It is the cornerstone of the radical leftist transformation of America and it must be defeated.
"An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law"
-- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Jay Clarke is a businessman and life-long conservative from Southern California. Write him at americanheirs@gmail.com.