Conservatives! Wake Up And Smell The Snow Job!

There is a blizzard in July and we are all being led over the cliff on the health care/insurance exchange issue. And conservatives are going to be the first to fall … being led by Republicans. How can that be, you ask, since it is the conservative movement that has been so vocal and fought so hard against Obamacare? It’s easy. They are drinking the conservative version of hope and change Kool-Aid being served up by election year politicians who are masters of inaction and political deception.

First of all, John Roberts is not a political mastermind, genius or hero. He sold Americans out, all Americans, liberals and conservatives, with his flip-flop ruling and bastardization of the Supreme Court process. He could have, and should have, put the kibosh to this UNCONSTITUTIONAL mandate with or without influencing the upcoming election. Lest we forget, it’s not the job of the supreme court to do anything but rule on the constitutionality of law. They have no business or jurisdiction to influence the political climate, in any way, much less redress arguments to make or suppress a point by either side. Once the Commerce Clause issue was resolved, the issue was resolved. Case closed. Why are his actions permissible on any level, by any one, and where is the outrage? Legislating from the bench is an issue conservatives have been railing against for decades and now we are hailing Roberts as  hero. Seriously?

How many times do you have to tell them NO means NO?  Now Missourians are faced with yet another threat to their sovereignty regarding health care. It seems the health-care-exchange-monster just won’t go away, no matter how much protest and dissent we offer to Jefferson City. While CBS reports a “wait and see attitude” from Majority Leader, Tim Jones, perhaps we should be asking what were/are, they/we waiting for while ballot language was being written by Robin Carnahan?

However, House Majority Leader Tim Jones said he prefers a wait-and-see approach. Jones, who is in line to be House speaker next year, said that if Republican Mitt Romney defeats Democratic President Barack Obama, he believes Romney will suspend the requirement to have health insurance exchanges in each state.

The Kansas City Star reports on how the drippy, bleeding heart prose crafted by the left’s Secretary of State will read on the ballot in November:

Shall Missouri law be amended to deny individuals, families, and small businesses the ability to access affordable health care plans through a state-based health benefit exchange unless authorized by statute, initiative or referendum or through an exchange operated by the federal government as required by the federal health care act?

No direct costs or savings for state and local governmental entities are expected from this proposal. Indirect costs or savings related to enforcement actions, missed federal funding, avoided implementation costs, and other issues are unknown.

Funny, during the last election cycle, when Republicans were telling Missourians that PROP C would be the savior to all Obamacare ills, they wrote their own ballot language. And Missourians overwhelmingly supported it, because they were drinking the conservative Kool-Aid, myself included. Well, the election has come and gone, people were elected, and PROP C has left us no safer from insurance mandates, excessive taxation, or insurance exchanges, nor has it served to strengthen any other  personal liberties, but we did get to have our say, with this wonderful and nearly worthless referendum.

Has the inaction of the Republicans stacked the deck in favor of exchanges? I think so. I would like to hear from the Republican led legislature, as to just how do they plan to work to defeat the current ballot language? And why they didn’t try to write it themselves?

And finally, Brad Lager, candidate for Lieutenant Governor, is calling for a special session, during the election, of course, to take a stand against and opt out of the exchanges. It’s perfect. What better way to campaign your way into office than to do it, on a voter hot button issue, and at the expense of the Missouri taxpayer during special session? Every Republican will have the complete attention of the media as they pontificate and rail against the Democrats and their policy, and we, the taxpayers, can spend another $280,737 dollars to fund it. Also, not to be undone in election year entertainment, Peter Kinder files a law suit. Where were they when the bill was going through the legislature?

Let us not forget that the House voted unanimously for healthcare exchanges.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGN7EUx44PU&feature=plcp]

Unfortunately, we have been backed into a corner. If the ballot initiative passes, we get healthcare/insurance exchanges because the legislature and sponsors of SB 464 were grossly derelict in their duty, in the first place, as they dropped the ball and didn’t craft the ballot language, as is usual, when they passed the bill (SB 464). This feels strangely like a set up to me, and as I sail over the cliff, I don’t have confidence the rip cord will deploy, if the Republicans packed the parachute.