No Obamacare: Whole Foods CEO John Mackey plans to open private office for employees to get free healthcare

Glenn has had a bit of a love-hate relationship with Whole Foods over the years (let us not forget the story about the torture of lobsters during transport), but he has always had a tremendous amount of respect for Whole Foods co-CEO, John Mackey.

Mackey is a libertarian at heart, who has managed to gain favor with the left and the right because of his tremendous business sense and the company he has created. Glenn has been talking a lot about the “Golden Circle” lately – the idea that it is the ‘why’ not the ‘what’ that matters most in business. Mackey’s latest book, Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business, tackles these themes and explains the importance of capitalism and the entrepreneurial spirit.

On radio this morning, Glenn interviewed Mackey about his latest book and the business model that has made Whole Foods so successful. View the full transcript of the interview below:

GLENN: Hi, John. How are you?

MACKEY: Very well. How are you doing?

GLENN: I’m really good. I’m thrilled to see someone stand up for capitalism, but a different kind of capitalism that I think is what we all want capitalism to be. Too many people are not doing it.

MACKEY: Yes. Capitalism is the greatest creation humanity has done for social cooperation. It has lifted humanity out of the dirt. In statistics we discovered when we researching the book, about 200 years ago when capitalism was created, 85% of the people alive lived on $1 a day. Toady, that number is 16%. Still too high, but capitalism is wiping out poverty across the world. 200 years ago illiteracy rates were 90%. Today, they are down to about 14%. 200 years ago the average lifespan was 30. Today it is 68 across the world, 78 in the States, almost 82 in Japan. This is due to business. This is due to capitalism. And it doesn’t get credit for it. Most of the time, business is portrayed by its enemies as selfish and greedy and exploitative, yet it’s the greatest value creator in the world.

GLENN: I’ve been reading a lot of 19th century history, especially around Edison, and Tesla, and GE. There is – there was back then, and there is now, the greedy capitalist that doesn’t care, and then there’s the capitalist that does care, the Westinghouse of the day that is trying to do the right thing and sees his product as something with value, sells it at a proper price but is trying to create something of real value and holds to his principles. When that happens you have happy employees; you have happy customers; and you create value all around. However, even in today’s world, look at what the symbol of the person that represents capitalism, at least if you’re a conservative, I guess would be Donald Trump. That doesn’t seem like happiness at all. The ‘why’ is: my name is in gold and I’ve got a whole bunch of money in the end.

MACKEY: Business is judged, unfortunately, by its worst actors. There are greedy doctors too, and there are plenty of greedy lawyers. There are bad actors in every profession. Business tends to be judged by its very worst practitioners: the Enrons, the World Coms, and the Bernie Madoff’s. And they are the ones that capture the media’s attention, and it’s extended to all of business. Most business people though are ethical, and they create value for their customers, for their employees, for their suppliers, their investors, and the communities they are a part of. Business is fundamentally about voluntary exchange for mutual benefit. And it shouldn’t be judged by its worst actors any more than all doctors should be slandered because a doctor misdiagnosed a disease or took out the wrong kidney. That doesn’t mean all are bad. That means there are a few that are. I think that is the same way in business.

GLENN: The name of the book by John Mackey is Conscious Capitalism. Tell me the difference – you talk about it here – but can you sum it up – the difference between what you’re talking about and corporate social responsibility.

MACKEY: The biggest difference between corporate social responsibility and conscious capitalism is corporate social responsibility takes the standard sort of profit centric model of the purpose of business is to maximize profits, and then it grafts on to what it calls corporate social responsibility, which is usually a department that reports through public relations and marketing in an attempt to help the brand image of the company. It may just be skin deep. It may not have any authenticity to it, whereas conscious capitalism starts with the principle of creating a business having a higher purpose than just making money and creating value for all of its interdependent state holders, which includes the community. So creating value for stake holders including the community is at the essence of the conscious business or the conscious capitalistic company. It’s not an add on. It’s not grafted on. It’s why the business exists in the first place. That’s the biggest difference.

GLENN: I have – the Ayn Rand people have a problem with me, and I don’t have a problem with the Ayn Rand people, they have a problem with me because I believe in charity, and I believe in doing good. But I don’t believe in forcing anybody. That’s why I have a problem with a lot of our tax structure. You’re forcing me to do it, and it doesn’t change my heart in a good way. It changes my heart in a bad way. I lived in New York for a while. You eventually end up saying, ‘Why isn’t the city taking care of this?’ instead of you doing it. You know the Ayn Rand philosophy is much of just the greed is good and go make it because you want to do it, and you want to build something, and it only belongs to you. Where I think if you are doing part of that – if you are following that, you are following your passion. Your passion is because you want to it but also because it is doing something good. That’s where the real magic happens.

MACKEY: I tend to – on this particular discussion I happen to side with you on it.

GLENN: Hang on just a second.

MACKEY: A lot of the Ayn Rand people don’t like me either for a similar reason. But I admire Ayn Rand’s novels a great deal.

GLENN: So do I.

MACKEY: They are wonderful novels and had an impact on me particularly when I was younger. But I think she is fundamentally wrong when she makes a distinction between the kind of a straw man that people are completely self-interested or they’re altruistic. It seems obvious to me that humans are both self-interested but we also care about others. We also have ideals. We also want to do good. And so I don’t see it. She’s fundamentally, I think, wrong. Glenn when you consider the fact that Gallup shows that the overall approval rating of big business in America is down to 19%. That means 81% do not approve of it. So I think when you say it’s all about selfishness and greed then you have basically fallen into the – you’re reinforcing the critics perspective and it’s harming the overall brand image and reputation of business in the world. Business is about creating value for other people and voluntary exchange. It is the greatest value creator in the world. It’s what’s making all the different. But if we are going to let it be portrayed as fundamentally selfish and greedy, we’ve already lost the argument before we even begin it.

GLENN: There’s no problem with making money. If you are in the banking or Wall Street industry, at the end of your days you can say, ‘I helped create business. I helped lift people out of poverty.’ But the creation of money in and of itself – money is a tool. It’s not a destination. It’s a vehicle.

MACKEY: I agree.

GLENN: And too many people don’t understand that.

MACKEY: The money is produced through exchange, through voluntary exchange. You create value. You create goods and services that other people voluntarily buy because it is in your best interest to do so. You usually have competition for their money and their time, and their energy. If you’re producing a profit, it’s because – and I’m not saying there’s not crooked businesses out there, but they are rare and not the most common ones. If you produce money it’s because you’ve created value for others and they’ve exchanged with you. Your profit is justly earned through the creation of value for other people.

GLENN: I will tell you John, when I first saw Whole Foods, I didn’t go into your store. I think I rolled my eyes when I first saw your store because I thought, ‘oh is this the new marketing thing now? Oh look at us.’ I think that’s the problem with business now. We’ve been marketed to our whole life. If you were born past 1950, you’ve been marketed to your entire life. And so you can spot a fraud now really pretty fast. And everybody seems to be a fraud, and I think that the media, and way we spin stories and everything else tends to make everybody a fraud. Over time all I had to do was walk into one of your stores you can feel the difference. You can tell when a company means it and when it’s just a show. And that is extraordinarily difficult to do.

MACKEY: Well, thank you. I do think that the world and people today, you are absolutely right, we have been marketed to. We’ve been spun to. It’s one of the reasons we have trouble liking most of our politicians. We don’t feel like they’re telling us the truth. We always feel like they are telling us, they are spinning to us, they are deceiving us. Politicians do that. Advertisers do it. There’s a strong desire for basic authenticity, for basic integrity, and truth telling. And we want that in our products. We want that in with the businesses we trade with. We like to have it with our politicians. I do think Whole Foods is very authentic. I appreciate you for recognizing that.

GLENN: I’ve got two issues, if you don’t mind me having a private session with you here for a second. I have two issues. One, I refuse to dump my employees into government healthcare because it stinks, and I don’t even want to dump my employees into cheaper healthcare. I currently pay 100% of the deductible. They don’t put anything in it. We have the best healthcare money can buy. But it is increasingly becoming more and more difficult for me to do that. I want to think out of the box. I’ve told my employees if it comes down to it, if I can I’ll build my own damn hospital and hire our own doctors. But we have to think out of the box. A, do you know anything on the horizon that is good for healthcare that is reasonable. Two, how do you move a company and make sure that it stays on that course as it grows? Six years ago we had six employees, and I think we’re approaching 300 employees now and it’s extraordinarily difficult especially in a fast growth business to hold that culture down. How do you do it?

MACKEY: It’s very challenging. And it’s good you’re asking these questions. First on that – we’ll get back to the culture in a second – I applaud you for your idea. It’s interesting you say that about the hospital. Whole Foods is going to do a similar experiment. We’re going to open a doctor’s office in L.A. that will be free for all of our team members and their dependants.

GLENN: That is exactly what we are thinking.

MACKEY: And if that works, we’re going to spread it to other cities around the country, where we have our stores.

GLENN: May we watch and learn from you?

MACKEY: Sure, we believe that 80% of what we spend on healthcare in America are for diseases like heart disease and stroke and obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and autoimmune diseases, and they really correlate very closely with what people eat, and the type of lifestyle we live. So the best way we can cut healthcare costs and help our people to be healthier is to help educate them and teach them. We can’t force them, and we don’t want to force them. But we want to help educate them to eat healthier, and have a healthier lifestyle. We think that will be beneficial to people’s health, and cut down on healthcare expenses so it’s a win win. We think we need to do that best with doctors. With doctors that people trust and they know, and will tend to all of their medical needs while we’re trying to educate them. We’re going to do that experiment. I’m pretty excited about it. We’ve got our office located. We’ve hired our doctor. We’ll be getting going on that in a month or two.

GLENN: Good for you. Good for you.

MACKEY: So good luck with your hospital.

GLENN: Thank you very much. Well, we’ll probably start with one doctor in an office.

MACKEY: Your second question was about culture, and how do you maintain that culture as you rapidly grow. I think it’s important that you create what your own higher purpose is for your organization, and make sure everybody knows that. You’re the entrepreneur, so you may have a vision but you’ve got to be able to communicate what that vision is and get other people to understand it and share it. And then you need to consciously begin to create the culture that will reinforce that purpose. Decide the cultural traits that your organization needs to have. We write about that in the book. Things like empowerment and love and care trying to manage without fear are very important culture traits, and so you have to pay attention to that because if you don’t your culture will get created anyway, and it may not be the way you want it to be in terms of the goals you want to see your organization achieve. It’s good that you’re becoming more conscious about culture, and if you’re conscious about it you can act in ways to help your organization flourish.

GLENN: John, it’s a real pleasure to talk to you. And I applaud you for what your company has done. I applaud your stance on capitalism, and applaud you for your book on trying to awaken more entrepreneurs and more capitalists. Capitalism has to be saved and the only way to do it is to actually start to highlight those people who are doing it right and proving that it is the greatest system for compassion in the history of the world.

MACKEY: Thank you Glenn. Interesting statistic that I don’t know if your listeners know about it, but Of course the United States for the longest time had the highest degree of economic freedom in the world. In as short a period of time ago as 2000, we ranked number 3 behind Hong Kong and Singapore. Now in 2012 we fell down to number 18.

GLENN: Geez.

MACKEY: And as our economic freedom declines so does our prosperity – 7.9 percent unemployment. In the last decade we’ve actually seen for the first time in American history, the disposable income per capita actually declined. It’s the first time over a ten year period. We’re losing our economic freedom and with it our prosperity. I think the first step is for business to begin to defend itself in a more cogent way, and that starts with purpose, and stake holder philosophy, and those are the principles we outline in the book.

GLENN: John. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

MACKEY: Thank you so much, Glenn.

GLENN: God bless. Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the heroic spirit of business. A must, must read by John Mackey. Available everywhere. Finally somebody with some clout is doing it.

  • http://www.artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm snowleopard (cat folk gallery)

    So as a mans actions are done, so the truth of his character is presented unto the larger world for all to see and understand.

    For too long substance has been allowed to rule over honesty and integrity, its far past time to return to telling not only what we do, but why we do it and living it as well. Across the board all need to be held to account for their deeds, especially among the political elitists who have forgotten they work for us, and not the other way around.

  • http://www.artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm snowleopard (cat folk gallery)

    Glad to see that the Whole Foods company will stand against Obama-care, it will only be a matter of time before the administration arranges via regulation and fines to crush these private health centers as well, to try and force everyone to depend fully upon the government backed medical system.

  • Draxx

    Honor, Truth, and Integrity are things that make Good People that Stand-Up for what’s Right!!!

    But, it is amazing how many people of the America & the World that are Lacking These Virtues (and of course it is hard to enslave people who understand this, that is why they are Destroying These Virtues to Control People).

    How come we can’t make enough people see the light…?

  • Draxx

    Thanks, John Mackey for doing what is Right!!!

  • Anonymous

    Unfortunately a lot of his employees did what was wrong and voted for Obama.  I really resent the fact that they did so and are not going to have to live with their health care consequences of their stupidty.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am glad there are folks like Mr. Mackey who will do what is right.  I just feel that there needs to be adverse consequences for the aholes who put Obama back in office.

  • http://youtu.be/xm1F7ub00gk Sam Fisher

    Capitalism rocks! Take that Marxist!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/3A3NID5NQBMNTWCEOUNJOJ2RSU Not all it seems!

    Wish I could say I worked for either one of these smart men rather than be paying the $1500 a month health insurance that pays absolutely nothing towards any of my doctor bills.  Who can afford to pay the deductible when the monthly cost is so high? 

  • http://www.artinphoenix.com/gallery/grimm snowleopard (cat folk gallery)

    Draxx – we cannot, nor ever shall be able to, make people see the light. We can only show them the light and let them decide on accepting truth or rejecting it in the end. 

    In my opinion, for what its worth, I think many people are so confounded when the truth presents itself that it shakes their world to the foundations, and only a few will step forward and accept what is truth to sweep away the lies.

  • Anonymous

    Capitalism rocks, as long as business owners get to take advantage of taxpayer-funded roads, transport systems, inspections, quality assurance, police protection, etc. etc.
    You didn’t build this by yourself.

  • Anonymous

    You resent the fact that they voted for the candidate of their choice?
    Okay, fascist.

  • Anonymous

    Stand all you like, it’s the law. Break it and be subject to penalties. 

  • Anonymous

    Taking care of the needy is what’s right. That’s what Jesus said.

  • Megan Cellucci

    This reminds me of Sam Walton and what WalMart used to be.         

  • Megan Cellucci

    true. But that comes from a person’s heart – not from their wallet. The corruption and waste that comes with any gov’t program is the problem with our system. People feel they are already helping the less fortunate b/c they are being taxed. They don’t get involved themselves and THAT is what changes hearts.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000566016427 Bill Roe

    Capitalism created the financing to build those roads, bridges, police departments, etc. It didn’t just pop up out of thin air. The infrastructure could not have been built without the tax money paid by capital ventures, employees and business in general. They created the tools, the technology, the knowhow. Yeah – they did build it themselves, in an incremental way over the last tow centuries.
     This administration seems to be gong out of its way to destroy what has been built.

  • Megan Cellucci

    I believe businesses pay their share of taxes.

  • Megan Cellucci

    the penalties are cheaper than the premiums. Do some research.

  • Anonymous

    Taxpayers and the government paid for those things.

    “ This administration seems to be gong out of its way to destroy what has been built.”

    That’s absurd. Bush destroyed the country, but now we’re on the way back.

  • Anonymous

    When Obamacare kicks in, your health insurance bills will be much less.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Peacock/100001241183282 David Peacock

    capitalism equals work, equals prosperity ; OBAMACLAUS equals low esteem ignorant social failures also known as nig6666ers.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Peacock/100001241183282 David Peacock

    clarification;  when I gleefully use the term ni666ger, I am referring to the dictionary meaning prior to the advent of the renown terrorist revisionism  of Bill Ayers; also known as the chicago a666hole.

  • Anonymous

    Sure Knowitsome, but the problem is there are little that are needy and too many like you who are Gimme….Gimme….

  • Anonymous

     Lol, Knowitsome, the Company that I work for already sent out letters before Christmas that our premiums will be going up and all us employees will be paying an additional 8% out of our paychecks to cover for Obamacare. Now if they take more from my take home pay, I do believe that’s a negative unless you are a Liberal. My friends that work at Walmart are having their hours cut so they fall below 28 hours a week to avoid Obamacare costs. Are my friends now taking home more money or are they taking home less and will need to find more part time work? Everywhere Obamacare has increased costs and passed the pain onto working Americans.

  • Anonymous

     Knowit does not need bothered with the costs of Obamacare. His stuff is free thanks to the producers.

  • Anonymous

    “Only one thing can save us. We have to increase our mastery of the world. All this damage has come about through our conquest of the world, but we have to go on conquering it until our rule is absolute. Then, when we’re in complete control, everything will be fine. We’ll have fusion power. No pollution. We’ll turn the rain on and off. We’ll grow a bushel of wheat in a square centimeter. We’ll turn the oceans into farms. We’ll control the weather—no more hurricanes, no more tornadoes, no more droughts, no more untimely frosts. We’ll make the clouds release their water over the land instead of dumping it uselessly into the oceans. All the life processes of this planet will be where they belong—where the gods meant them to be—in our hands. And we’ll manipulate them the way a programmer manipulates a computer.“And that’s where it stands right now. We have to carry the conquest forward. And carrying itforward is either going to destroy the world or turn it into a paradise—into the paradise it was meant to be under human rule.”

    from: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn

  • Anonymous

    so… what is the truth?

  • Anonymous

    which marxist are you referring to? or are you referring to marxists?

  • http://www.facebook.com/sharon.l.perez Sharon Love Perez

    So are they hiring?!?! :)

  • Anonymous

     Obama care goes against the constitution, therefore, it breaks the law, the penalty for Obama Care will result in civil war.

  • Anonymous

     Taking care of the needy, just to gain political advantage over your opponent, is not in the principle of what Jesus taught. I think what his idea was… was to “teach a man how to fish”, therefore, that person can take care of himself and not be dependent on the public dole for a lifetime, watching free cable on his new large-screen tv, all the while smoked out of his mind on prescribed medical cannabis. Keep trying though Knownothing, hang around here long enough and who knows, you might eventually learn something, God knows you certainly deserve a break from the illogical liberal brainwashing you’ve received.

  • SoThere

    Libtards like knownothing don’t believe in Jesus. He’s an idiot.

  • Anonymous

     on our way back to the stone-age

  • SoThere

    Bush unemployment never went above 7 1/2%, more revenue was collected during the Bush administration.  It was people like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd that destroyed the Country.

    The Government didn’t pay for anything, it’s the taxpayers who pay for everything.

    You’re a Libtard and an idiot. You don’t know shit.

  • Anonymous

    Wow, I always thought Whole Foods was a liberal place. Now I’m glad I shop there! (They have awesome food!) It’s true, Capitalism is amazing, the only thing that works and ever will work. We shouldn’t take it for granted. I hate it how liberals blame it for everything.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Eric-Siverson/1570995808 Eric Siverson

    Granted greed and corruption are the problem . But just becuase you work for the state does not eliminate greed and corruption . But it can insulate the enterprizer from being forced to compete with other greedy and corruptible captalists .  So the more power the state has ultimately decreases competition , which tends to increase corruption and costs for evreyone

  • Anonymous

    apatalism made this country great, but Obama is hell bent on destroying it

  • http://www.facebook.com/john.martinez.961 John Martinez

    The interview was good, and if he is so interested in the shipping of lobster why is he NOT interested in stopping GMO foods in his stores? 

  • Anonymous

    On a related theme…

    If you have not done so already, please visit breitbart.com and view the inspiring, uplifting, funny, and “speaking Truth to Power” video at:

    http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2013/02/07/Dr-Carson-Prayer-Breakfast-Speech-That-Slams-Obama-Debt-Right-In-Front-Of-Him

  • Richard Morgan

    We need to be certain that we understand that he said the needy not the wanty. He also said that you should work lest Ye not eat. It also says it is a sin to be slothful. I agree 100% that it should be in everyone’s heart to help those who CANNOT help themselves. One of the greatest problems with being able to do that are the people in our society who are perfectly capable of providing for themselves but just by choice and fraud live on the dole, who take from those who work through Government entitlement programs which is paid for by taxing the incomes of the working people to the point that it takes away or reduces the capacity the people would have to voluntarily help the needy.

  • Anonymous

    People, especially the younger ones, are having the ability to recognize TRUTH “programmed out of them.”

    We are each BORN WITH a conscience (the ability to recognize and accept and live the TRUTH), but it is quickly perverted and distorted in today’s “anything goes” world. Without proper parenting, spiritual and moral guidance, and a decent educational system, things are not likely to turn around any time soon.

    Each one who still has access to a conscience (and recognizes the difference between “the Ring of Truth” and the “hollow, discordant, jarring noise of LIES”) must take it upon himself or herself to LIVE THE TRUTH and be an example to others. IMO.

  • Anonymous

    He also said “The poor you have always with you.”
    He probably meant we will always have opportunities to help others, and the biggest help one can offer is showing them that POVERTY begins in one’s consciousness, i.e., being convinced of LACK (which is the LEFT’s monotonous theme to those already poor in spirit: “YOU LACK, and it is the FAULT OF THE RICH/CONSERVATIVE/OLD/WHITES,” etc. The real way to HELP the “poor in spirit” is to teach them that they have the potential to change their destiny.

    See this inspiring video on Breitbart for a living, shining example of this:

    http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2013/02/07/Dr-Carson-Prayer-Breakfast-Speech-That-Slams-Obama-Debt-Right-In-Front-Of-Him

  • Anonymous

    Actually, I think they believe they are Jesus, go figure?

  • Anonymous

    Pull your head out of your butt and get some oxygen to your poor brain. Even the CBO has told us in the last week or so that EVERYONE’S healthcare costs are going up. Obozo knew that and so did Botox Nan, no matter her fake outrage when Joe Wilson correctly called Obozo a liar.

    Go back to your OWS buddies and stop talking with the adults. Isn’t there a cop car for you to crap on, libtard?

  • Anonymous

    The company I work for just changed our healthcare plans in anticipation of the enema that is Obozocare. To help us out, the opened a clinic that is free for all employees and their families that also gives out standard medicines free of charge. I’m glad that I work for a company that is doing all it can to help us make it during these years when an f’ing Marxist and his Botox-brain-damaged f’tards are doing all they can to destroy this country…

  • http://www.facebook.com/olivia.fischer Olivia Fischer

    Good interview — great idea about the doctor’s office. If there’s downtime for the doctor there’s no reason WF can’t offer a membership to area businesses or to ex-employees.
    Also, I never got that Rand was against charity at all — I think she said don’t kid yourself you’re being selfless when you do it (look at me! I’m charitable! Admire me!) and that she opposed the idea that we have a moral duty to serve other’s interests before our own.  Think of the emergency pamphlet in the airplane: put your oxygen mask on first, THEN help others. You have to close your own loop before you can link up to bolster others.
    Also, the most money grubbing curmudgeon who pushes good employees away ends up serving people better than the guy who bankrupts himself and his business via purported “charity” and “good will”.  
    And it’s not like these are new concepts — bible mentions teaching people to fish for a damn good reason. Look at Africa: what charity has done is fund dictators and warlords while simultaneously destroying entrepreneurship and the chances of building capital and local economies while famous people stroke their egos over all the “good” they have done. What would really help Africa? Buy their goods — support their businesses. And invent something that improves standards of living and sell it!

  • Mark MacAuley

    Lead by example. Attraction not promotion. Do the right thing whether someone is looking or not. Do the next right thing. Maintain a feeling of gratitude no matter what. Help others without doing it for them. A win-win is when both parties feel better after signing a deal then before they started discussing it

  • Anonymous

     Look, I don’t agree with Obozocare either, but seriously you don’t do our side any favors by posting this nonsense.  The Constitution says the US Supreme Court IS the final arbitrator of what is and is not constitutional — and they found it to be structured as a tax, and did NOT approve it as an individual mandate.  That’s the fact — get over the “goes against the Constitution” crap — it doesn’t go against it.  The Constitution’s own process validated that.

  • Anonymous

     And Nonothingsome is a empty-headed moron.

  • http://www.facebook.com/latuana.bolduc Latuana Bolduc

    I heard on a Christian talk radio show that the Department of Homeland Security bough over a millio rounds of hollow-point ammunition and thousands of automatic assult riffles. Would you please investigate and report on this issue?

  • Anonymous

    Give man a fish… teach a man to fish.”
     
    The problem is that the state (all levels of government) is running a “free” sushi bar, and what we need is a bait and tackle shop.
     
    In reality, the sushi bar starts at least by age 5 in kindergarten. For many, it start much earlier than that, in “Headstart” (which excludes a head start*, but includes a ball and chain). Subsidized day care gets others before they’re potty trained.
    * The positive effects of Headstart disappear by age 8.
     
    What government has done to the family would be considered an assault were it any other entity doing it. They have weakened the ties between generations using antiSocial inSecurity (Don’t worry about your aging parents, we’ll tax your neighbors’ children and take care of that for you). They have undermined the connections between children and parents using government-run, tax-funded welfare schools (don’t worry about the obligation to educate your children, we’ll tax your neighbor and take care of that for you). They have corroded the link between fathers and their children’s mothers using welfare (dont worry about feeding and clothing your children, we’ll tax the guy down the street and take care of that for you).
     
    This constant and powerful eroding effect creates what government desires above all else: a populace that needs it to grow. And this is by design, for government’s goal is to grow in power and scope. But strong families do not need (or want) much government. Weak families demand it.
     
    Mr. O’bama, will there ever be any Jobs?

  • Anonymous

    Well said.

  • Anonymous

    The US Supreme Court was not established to make law…but to uphold existing law. The reason Obama-Care became law was due to the influx of an overwhelming liberal body who make up today’s run-a-muck-supreme-court. The US Government has no validity in its bogus claim that any commodity what-so-ever can be forced down the throats of the population.

    Included in the new American Healthcare Plan – Free Sterilization (for 15 year old girls) – Abortion – Birth Control and even Free Cannabis to name but a few of the bizarre contents.

    These not only go against the grain of what our Founding Fathers envisioned but they absolutely go against the ideas and principles set down by God himself for mankind to adhere to.

    On the contrary, Obama and team (especially Nancy Pelosi) have disregarded these honorable Godly principles and are in the process of playing God themselves. By doing this, they have set this nation on a path to destruction.

    Say’s Kimberly Strassel (from the Wall Street Journal) after Obama-care passed, “It was dirty deals, open threats, broken promises and disregard for democracy that pulled Obama-care to this point, and yesterday the same machinations pushed it across the finish-line”

    We must remember that not one Republican voted for the bill, even 34 Democrats deserted ranks and voted against it. The bill narrowly passed by just seven votes (219 to 212) Without the frantic persuasion by Obama and Pelosi in the final days – calling on anyone who owed them a favor, this unconstitutional new healthcare package would have been wrapped up and set out to the road as the trash it is.

    You may call back-door deals made in secrecy “LEGAL” – I say its a load of crap and anyone who buys into it is foolishly blind to reality.

  • Anonymous

    If you are a employer in the US it’s your obligation to “Provide” healthcare to your workers if you do not choose to do that take your business to another country and don’t ever come back. Also please keep your superstitions (religious believes) in your home and don’t force them on your employees

  • Anonymous

    See, now you are just spouting political talking points instead of actually referring to the Constitution.  Whether any Republican voted for it, or how it was written, is completely irrelevant to constitutionality.  Furthermore, the Supreme Court DID NOT “claim that any commodity what-so-ever can be forced down the throats of the population” — get your facts straight!  The Supreme Court DID find (not claim) that the Constitution DOES allow the government to “force any tax down your throat” it wants to.  I’ve also studied the Founding Fathers extensively — I’ve found NOTHING with respect to “Included in the new American Healthcare Plan – Free Sterilization (for
    15 year old girls) – Abortion – Birth Control and even Free Cannabis to
    name but a few of the bizarre contents.” being mentioned ANYWHERE in their writings.  And while people may or may not be religious, any religiously-based canon like Sharia Law, for example, does not apply — so whether God likes Obamacare or not is also completely irrelevant.  Quit trying to make a Constiutional point by writing like a political zealot.  The points that can be fought are mostly along the administration’s regulations promulgated during implementation — but the foundation of the law itself has been tested and determined to be yet another tax-and-spend program, something the Founding Fathers DID, in fact, approve of.  And they DID foresee the problem of this power getting into the hands of the incompetent or unscrupulous — and warned us that we would suffer the consequences if we let that happen.  THAT is what is going on — all the rest of your post is political activist noise.

  • Anonymous

    “Whether any Republican voted for it, or how it was written, is completely irrelevant to constitutionality”

    In a nation void of conscience, you may have a point. I would like to think that there is yet some vestige of hope for our people. When the new majority force irresponsible bills, and then, pawn these idiotic progressive rendering’s off as law, we’re in deep trouble.

    The US constitution has over the years, been manipulated into something never deemed logical in its origination. There lies the problem, and again, it is not up to the supreme court justices to render law, but to uphold existing law. Renaming a basic commodity, and calling it a “normal protocol” of tax and spend composition, doesn’t do a thing for making it legal or constitutional.

    Truth be told, Obama himself guaranteed, “tax’s would not increase whatsoever” – ironically though and strange as it is – it was tax’s that actually pushed the health bill through. Obama is a lying wonder and will resort to any dastardly ploy to have things go his way.

    In years past, the supreme court would have thrown this out and called it what it is – an unwarranted attempt to force health insurance on the backs of the general public.

    Former Department of Justice attorneys David Rivkin and Lee Casey make an important point. “The document that enumerates the powers of congress is the constitution. No where does it grant powers to the legislative branch the right to force people to buy health insurance or any other commodity for that matter.” They refer two supreme court cases (United States vs Lopez – 1995) and (United States vs Morrison 2000)”The Supreme Court specifically rejected the proposition that the commerce clause allowed congress to regulate non-economic activities merely because, through a chain of casual events, they might have an economic impact. These decisions reflect judicial recognition that the commerce clause is not infinitely elastic and that by enumerating its powers, the framers denied congress the type of general police power that is freely exercised by the states.” Aug 22 2009 – Washington Post

    That is where the Obama Bill has become illegal, they have side-stepped normal procedure, and have used, much to their advantage, a highly liberal and partisan Supreme court to do its bidding for them. The tax and spend scenario was just what the doctor ordered and presto, Obama Care is now mandated law.

    Whatever a person calls it….this new bill will be the final straw that breaks the camels back. This kind of political manipulation is exactly what our founders were trying to avoid, but given enough time, someone, somewhere down the road would finally figure a way to push their illegal policies through and that is why it is illegal because the majority of the population did not want it and now, as you rightly point out, are just beginning to suffer the consequences.

  • Anonymous

    Humanity’s Economic Disease: Capitalism

     

     

    By Frank Scott

     

    “ Our
    situation may not only be stranger than we suppose; it may be stranger than we can suppose.” J.B.Haldane

     

    People demanding governmental change are not united in focusing
    on the political economics at the root of most global problems but they are
    moving in that direction. This shows that many can understand the situation,
    however strange it may seem. But that  understanding does not transmit to much  of what passes for global leadership. Leadership’s
    inability to cope with, or its desire to maintain “our situation” , even with the
    potential for planetary disaster, reinforces the egotistical greed of private
    profit and perpetuates the anti-social problem of public loss. That problem has
    reached a point at which it threatens all humanity and not just divided and
    conquered national, religious, racial or other falsely labeled identity groups.

     

    Many people understand that we have reached a critical turning
    point that demands radical change in how and why we produce the means of supporting  life to the advantages of a shrinking
    minority which amasses incredible wealth while the vast majority are living in
    or fast approaching a status close to poverty. But that reality is more often
    completely denied by global leadership, especially in the western world. Since this
    is where the problem originates and is sustained, it becomes more important
    that  the west play a greater role
    in the movement to radically change global policies, starting by transforming
    national leadership. That has begun in some parts of  the world like Latin America but here in the USA, it might as
    well still be the 20th century for all the “change” in the power of
    tiny minorities to run a supposed democracy by buying and occasionally selling
    its leadership the way all commodities are traded in the profit and loss marketplace.
    That is the serious situation in which humanity finds itself, and Americans,
    despite a taught notion of positive exceptionalism, play the most negatively exceptional
    role in the creation of waste where there was plenty, and war where there was
    peace .

     

    Current policies to maintain empire at all costs are misread
    by many who accept affirmative action for capitalism as the substance of social
    change. When people of diverse cultural, ethnic, racial or sexual sectors
    preside over as well as participate in the mass murders of foreigners in wars
    to perpetuate minority domination, many imagine that the dead smile happily at
    having been slaughtered by such a wonderful collection of minority groups
    exercising democratic power. More important, redistributing tokens in a system threatening
    disaster for humanity hardly changes anything but for a few who will – very briefly
    - be most comfortable while their societies are flooded, destroyed by wars or
    disintegrated in some other form by an angry nature taking its measure of a
    species that draws closer to outliving its sustainability.

     

    We need to follow at least some of the advice offered by  groups like the Royal Society of London
    and Another World Is Possible. Despite their differences in funding and
    outlook, one being establishment and the other seeking alternatives to that
    establishment, in confronting our problems they come to many of the same
    conclusions. Both clearly call for a reorganizing of social priorities and an
    end to the  wasteful commodity
    culture of the west as the only way to end the poverty suffered by billions
    and  begin making a better life
    possible for all humanity. Both highlight the dangers posed by climate change
    and clearly identify political economics at the root of our treatment of the
    planet and its people. They use slightly different language and propose
    slightly different programs, but they are united in saying that another world
    is necessary if humanity is to survive and progress. That will call for a
    totally different economic and political foundation even if these groups do not
    state that fact in the same words.

     

    The warfare culture that treats human welfare as a secondary
    consideration should not only be obvious from the perspective of those killing
    and being killed by the massive military organizations supporting an equally
    massive market force of comfort for some at the expense of deprivation for
    most. People far removed from the military battlefields and who sincerely profess
    reverence for deities , preach humanitarian unity and practice sincere if
    primitive forms of democratic politics still tolerate tens of thousands of
    humans living in the streets, sleeping under bridges and in doorways , while
    tens of millions of pets live in comfort in the homes of the same good people.
    Social and humanitarian priorities are skewed under the domain of profit and
    loss capital which forces all good people into situations that provoke bad
    things.

     

    The domestic priorities of a market system which finds
    animals more valuable than people is the same one making foreign wars that find
    some humans even less valuable than those same animals. This has little to do
    with any individual acting in bad faith and much more to do with a system of
    political economics which cannot help but benefit some by treating others as a
    lower life form than our pets. We would do well to stop seeking individual
    villains, though there certainly are many, and pay much closer attention to the
    system in which wonderful people – and they are far more in number – cannot
    help but perpetuate growing disaster simply by following the teachings of
    business as usual and accepting that profits on one side that create loss on
    the other are some form of decency and humanity when the evidence is, and
    becoming more so with frightening speed, quite the contrary.

     

    “Our society is run
    by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for
    maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing
    that. That’s what’s insane about it.” John
    Lennon

     

     

     

    email: fpscott@gmail.com

     

    Frank Scott writes
     political commentary and satire which is available online  at Legalienate

     

    

http://legalienate.blogspot.com


     

     

    Humanity’s Economic Disease: Capitalism

     

     

    By Frank Scott

     

    “ Our
    situation may not only be stranger than we suppose; it may be stranger than we can suppose.” J.B.Haldane

     

    People demanding governmental change are not united in focusing
    on the political economics at the root of most global problems but they are
    moving in that direction. This shows that many can understand the situation,
    however strange it may seem. But that  understanding does not transmit to much  of what passes for global leadership. Leadership’s
    inability to cope with, or its desire to maintain “our situation” , even with the
    potential for planetary disaster, reinforces the egotistical greed of private
    profit and perpetuates the anti-social problem of public loss. That problem has
    reached a point at which it threatens all humanity and not just divided and
    conquered national, religious, racial or other falsely labeled identity groups.

     

    Many people understand that we have reached a critical turning
    point that demands radical change in how and why we produce the means of supporting  life to the advantages of a shrinking
    minority which amasses incredible wealth while the vast majority are living in
    or fast approaching a status close to poverty. But that reality is more often
    completely denied by global leadership, especially in the western world. Since this
    is where the problem originates and is sustained, it becomes more important
    that  the west play a greater role
    in the movement to radically change global policies, starting by transforming
    national leadership. That has begun in some parts of  the world like Latin America but here in the USA, it might as
    well still be the 20th century for all the “change” in the power of
    tiny minorities to run a supposed democracy by buying and occasionally selling
    its leadership the way all commodities are traded in the profit and loss marketplace.
    That is the serious situation in which humanity finds itself, and Americans,
    despite a taught notion of positive exceptionalism, play the most negatively exceptional
    role in the creation of waste where there was plenty, and war where there was
    peace .

     

    Current policies to maintain empire at all costs are misread
    by many who accept affirmative action for capitalism as the substance of social
    change. When people of diverse cultural, ethnic, racial or sexual sectors
    preside over as well as participate in the mass murders of foreigners in wars
    to perpetuate minority domination, many imagine that the dead smile happily at
    having been slaughtered by such a wonderful collection of minority groups
    exercising democratic power. More important, redistributing tokens in a system threatening
    disaster for humanity hardly changes anything but for a few who will – very briefly
    - be most comfortable while their societies are flooded, destroyed by wars or
    disintegrated in some other form by an angry nature taking its measure of a
    species that draws closer to outliving its sustainability.

     

    We need to follow at least some of the advice offered by  groups like the Royal Society of London
    and Another World Is Possible. Despite their differences in funding and
    outlook, one being establishment and the other seeking alternatives to that
    establishment, in confronting our problems they come to many of the same
    conclusions. Both clearly call for a reorganizing of social priorities and an
    end to the  wasteful commodity
    culture of the west as the only way to end the poverty suffered by billions
    and  begin making a better life
    possible for all humanity. Both highlight the dangers posed by climate change
    and clearly identify political economics at the root of our treatment of the
    planet and its people. They use slightly different language and propose
    slightly different programs, but they are united in saying that another world
    is necessary if humanity is to survive and progress. That will call for a
    totally different economic and political foundation even if these groups do not
    state that fact in the same words.

     

    The warfare culture that treats human welfare as a secondary
    consideration should not only be obvious from the perspective of those killing
    and being killed by the massive military organizations supporting an equally
    massive market force of comfort for some at the expense of deprivation for
    most. People far removed from the military battlefields and who sincerely profess
    reverence for deities , preach humanitarian unity and practice sincere if
    primitive forms of democratic politics still tolerate tens of thousands of
    humans living in the streets, sleeping under bridges and in doorways , while
    tens of millions of pets live in comfort in the homes of the same good people.
    Social and humanitarian priorities are skewed under the domain of profit and
    loss capital which forces all good people into situations that provoke bad
    things.

     

    The domestic priorities of a market system which finds
    animals more valuable than people is the same one making foreign wars that find
    some humans even less valuable than those same animals. This has little to do
    with any individual acting in bad faith and much more to do with a system of
    political economics which cannot help but benefit some by treating others as a
    lower life form than our pets. We would do well to stop seeking individual
    villains, though there certainly are many, and pay much closer attention to the
    system in which wonderful people – and they are far more in number – cannot
    help but perpetuate growing disaster simply by following the teachings of
    business as usual and accepting that profits on one side that create loss on
    the other are some form of decency and humanity when the evidence is, and
    becoming more so with frightening speed, quite the contrary.

     

    “Our society is run
    by insane people for insane objectives. I think we’re being run by maniacs for
    maniacal ends and I think I’m liable to be put away as insane for expressing
    that. That’s what’s insane about it.” John
    Lennon

     

     

     

    email: fpscott@gmail.com

     

    Frank Scott writes
     political commentary and satire which is available online  at Legalienate

     

    

http://legalienate.blogspot.com


     

     

     

  • Anonymous

     Okay, I’ll try to explain it one last time.  I’m not surprised you don’t get it, because Chief Justice Roberts found a reasoning chain that I hadn’t foreseen, nor had anyone else apparently.  First off — the court DID NOT support the Commerce Clause, and in fact RULED AGAINST IT EXPLICITLY.  It doesn’t matter what any pundit or Progressive claims otherwise — Obamacare DOES NOT have the authority or power to MAKE you buy health insurance.  Period.  That is spelled out in black and white in Justice Roberts’ majority opinion.  What Justice Roberts’ used, though, is the fact that Congress has the power to tax, and to do so based on behaviors.  Congress awards people for buying houses by giving them a mortgage interest deduction. They give tax breaks for child care.  They give tax breaks for buying a Prius.  They give tax breaks for putting solar panels on your roof.  What Justice Roberts pointed out was, Congress also has the power of NEGATIVE tax incentive.  Congress can tax you for NOT doing something.  Congress therefore taxes you for NOT buying insurance — again, it is not supporting the individual mandate — it is taxing you for NOT doing something.  While this is an as-before-unique example, and to my knowledge Congress never before taxed people for NOT doing something, nonetheless, as Justice Roberts pointed out, it is not the role of the Supreme Court to save the people from the folly of their electoral choices.  If we don’t like the taxation provision, we are left with the recourse of voting out the orginators and replacing them, because from a Constitutional standpoint, taxing and spending ARE ones of the ENUMERATED POWERS of the US Government.  Whether a tax-and-spend program is smart, or a wise expenditure of funds, or popular, or whatever else is also irrelevant — and Lord knows the history of Congress is awash in assinine programs wasting our money.  And absolutely none of that makes one bit of difference from a Constitutional legality standpoint.  You clearly have not read the Supreme Court ruling because you make so many factual errors with regard to what it actually says.  Go read it — then you might understand.

  • Anonymous

    I am a big Ayn Rand fan but, unlike her, I am also a Christian who is charitable. So just because one agrees with some things Ayn believed in, it doesn’t mean altruism is dead. That’s what liberals like to do; accuse, attack and lump all people in groups for their own use.

  • Anonymous

    Saw the video in question and posted to FB and emailed it out. Dr. Carson needs to be heard. Osama looks like a dumb/fool sitting there listening to a man who stands against everything he’s for and makes the best case why.

  • Anonymous

    Does the Osama cyber monkey mean anything to you?

  • Anonymous

    http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/print-friendly/52923

    Thought you might enjoy reading about Osama’s cyber monkeys. It will explain the trolls on here.

  • Anonymous

    Yes and those taxes go towards use of said roads. Megan, Some here need to take an economics class along with a math class. Social skills are also lacking…..Obama cyber monkeys syndrome!

  • Anonymous

    Trying to educate the clueless is futile. We saw that on Nov. 6, 2012.

  • Anonymous

    They have that right. They should also be charged for their healthcare.

  • Anonymous

    Well I must say, your expertise concerning constitutional law is commendable, even admirable. Thank you for spelling it out in such detail. So then, what we are faced with is a run-away government who’s devices are in the keen manipulation of the specific wording of our American constitution, and just because “it says MOO”, doesn’t necessarily mean its a cow. I guess that is what troubles me most, the length politicians will travel to meet their self-centered objective, not caring in the least, if what they desire is good for all the people or just a select few. Well anyway, when I get more time on my hands, I intend to read the bill in full and see for myself, just what Justice Roberts conveys.

    Warning…..I may get back in touch with you if I discover anything that might shed some light on a solution to overturn this bill…that is, other than the next presidential election, or civil war. Thanks for your time ZEROGON.

  • Anonymous

    One doctor for all his employees? Great plan.

  • Anonymous

    Osama? Fuck are you talking about? The President had him killed.

  • Anonymous

    Relax, nobody is lumping you anywhere. Aren’t you lumping all liberals together with your generalization? Think about it. If you’re not all the same, neither are we.

  • Anonymous

    It’s amazing what changing one letter in a name stirs. Osama’s cyber monkeys! LOL.

  • Anonymous

    You sound angry. Maybe that free clinic can give you something to calm you down.

  • Anonymous

    Osama was killed by the President, genius.

  • Anonymous

    Who told you that?

  • Anonymous

    OMG! When? LMBO!

  • Anonymous

    You are dumber than a door nail. I call Barry Osama genius!
    Don’t bother replying to my posts….I don’t acknowledge trolls. This will be my last post directed at you.

  • Anonymous

    Good work. If you do a search, you can find other (free) items online that show Dr. Carson giving speeches in other places. Also Netflix.com has the film “GIFTED HANDS” which is a touching biographical film of Dr. Carson’s life. Also, his website offers ways to get involved with his work:
    http://www.carsonscholars.org/dr-ben-carson/general-information

    Yes, America needs MORE of this. This gifted man is a breath of fresh air–his message and his work offer HOPE (and HELP) to many.

  • Anonymous

    OK, well, good luck with that.  You and several million other people have been trying to find the Achilles Heel in Justice Roberts opinion, all without luck.  What they are challenging now are the implementation regulations and policies that the DHH is imposing, but not the fundamental constitutionality of the law itself.  Free contraception is one of those regulations and policies — the law itself does not state that all will have free contraception, for example.  So we can nibble and pick at the implementation details, but we can’t get away from the abysmal core of Obamacare — because Democraps decided to do something that, while constitutionally legal, is certainly morally and ethically questionable in my book.  Negative tax incentives are a Pandora’s Box of infinite abuse — what’s next, I pay a $5000 tax if I don’t buy a Government Motors car?  $10,000 tax if I don’t buy solar panels? $20,000 tax if I don’t put a windmill in my back yard?  The negative incentive line is unending and viciously oppressive.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you for the links. I will watch the movie; this gentleman is or should be an inspiration to all whether liberal or conservative.

  • Anonymous

    it stirs some amusement. that’s not very amazing. but maybe you don’t get out much.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah ’cause if you heard it on Xian talk radio, it MUST be true.

  • Anonymous

    So if I tell you to shut the fuck up, you’ll obey? Good. Shut the fuck up.

  • Anonymous

    so you won’t talk to me, but you’ll talk about me? very mature. lol.

  • Anonymous

    Hate to tell you, but you work at a shitty company that cares more about profits for stockholders and executives than the welfare of the employees that make those profits. You are being treated like shit, and so are those who work at walmart. 

  • Anonymous

    the day we kicked your ass?

  • Anonymous

    And you come across as an ill informed low information voter. I gotta ask: are you typing all of this on your Obamafone?

  • Anonymous

    Saw the movie today..loved it. We really need more Ben Carsons in our country.

  • Anonymous

    It is in my opinion, obviously me and millions of other alarmed Americans, that this bill can be defeated. We are just not looking in the right direction…yet.

    First thing to remember is, that all government officials upon entering office…starting with the president, must solemnly promise that, to the best of his ability, he will “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” that act is required by the constitution, which also says, that Senators and Representatives and all executive and judicial officers shall be bound by oath, or affirmation, to support this constitution.

    Most it seem, have taken the oath and then done the opposite. Obama has, to the best of his ability, purposely smeared, ignored, or undermined that document.

    Obama and those serving under him and also many preceding administrations, so its not just Obama who’s at fault here, its just that his ideas are the most blatantly radical this nation has ever witnessed. Obama’s platform in his first campaign was to “Fundamentally Transform America” And the fundamental character found written in the US Constitution which has to do with the checks and balances to keep our governmental figures honest are somehow irrelevant, or have somehow become outdated. That is not part of the oath in which these political junkies swore an oath to…just the opposite.

    In truth, the liberals have never been satisfied with our constitution, claiming it ties their hands from allowing government to be all that it can and should be. On the other hand, our founders understood full-well the dangerous implications of government-run-a-muck. So in that argument, is where I feel can be found the only solution in turning this nation paralyzing bill to the curbside where it belonged from its inception.

    Operating on the fringes, or even just outside the confines of the stated charter, is where the fight to right the ship must begin. Conservatives must find a way to show that this healthcare bill and the manipulation of its passing, were not within the law. Its not in what Justice Roberts ruled, but in the very process of this bill from the start – the libs knew that this would happen, or at least they were hoping it would and as luck would have it – well here we are. Because the way the liberals are meticulously chipping away at the very core of our most important document, means within a short time, there will be no constitution left and therefore, no law and without law there is sudden civic breakdown and chaos, leading to riots and national upheaval. If…and I know that is a big if….we can figure a way that shows there was an existing and premeditated agenda to set aside the constitution by implementation of Obama’s bill, then that is where we must begin.

    Again, I realize the road is uphill and very difficult, but as I stated before, this, I feel, will be the straw that breaks the camels back and if something isn’t done quickly to stop and reverse the new mandate – the bleeding will become uncontrollable and this nation is through. Could it be that for no other reason, Obama care was implemented only…to destroy the American Constitution. If that can be proven beyond a shadow of a doubt…isn’t that a start in the right direction? Hey you’re smarter at this by far than I…any thoughts….Z

  • Anonymous

    Boy, you got that right. And if we keep spreading the word about GREAT ROLE MODELS like this, we will have more of this INSPIRING TYPE of person for all of us to emulate. Dr. Carson and his wife have already given out over 2000 scholarships to young people they have inspired to be ALL they can be. How many can say that? :-)

  • Anonymous

    Let’s assume for the moment that everything you claim
    about intent and agenda is 100% true.  From
    a Constitutionality standpoint, it is also 100% irrelevant.  The Constitution enumerates the power of
    creating law to Congress (Article 1, Section 1), and it also allows Congress to
    define its own processes (Article 1, Sections 5 & 7).  Therefore, HOW Congress writes, debates,
    votes on, and passes bills are self-defined processes — you can’t argue them
    to be unconstitutional when the Constitution itself vests the authority for
    defining said processes solely in the two respective houses of Congress.  So you are left with proving criminal action
    – hence the outcry over the “Cornhusker Kickback”, which in itself
    was a totally Constitutional action, but was clearly the political equivalent
    of a bribe — which people find obnoxious. 
    But you are going to be seriously challenged to find a hidden intent in
    the bill — quite the opposite, Nancy Pelosi admitted she had no idea what the
    thing said or what the implications were. 
    In fact, I would conclude the exact opposite of you — the Progressives,
    as usual, had this utopian vision of their ideal communist-based world, and
    wrote law without a clue of basic economic principles, business principles, or
    even human nature.  When you have clueless
    community organizers writing law, you get bankrupting stuff like
    Obamacare.  I could only WISH somebody
    actually had a coherent agenda and plan behind half the junk that came out of
    that 2-year Congressional period.  It was
    actually 2 years of splurging on a decade of pent-up Progressive wish lists, to
    the tune of $Bs of dollars. 

     

    As for the law itself, read Article 1, Section 8.  The only limits on taxation are enumerated in
    Article 1, Section 9 — bills of attainder and capitation or other direct tax
    (which was subsequently removed in part — THANKS — by the 16th Amendment, and
    one could argue it also removed the capitation provision, albeit indirectly,
    since I could set the “direct” tax to be a set amount for everybody
    regardless of income — and presto, capitation tax.)  That is why Justice Roberts’ opinion is
    correct, even if it leaves a foul taste behind. 
    Congress SHOULDN’T use negative taxation as a coercive measure, but it
    is not expressly prohibited from doing so. 
    As Justice Roberts’ pointed out — if we don’t like it, we should vote
    out the Congress and President, and replace them with people who will repeal
    the old laws and refrain from using that taxation approach again.

     

    Will Obamacare either bankrupt us, or result in rationing
    and death panels like in Canada and Europe? 
    Undoubtedly so, and much faster than it did in those places.  That’s why Republicans used the death panels
    line during the debates — only they didn’t explain it enough.  They failed to grasp the concept that
    Progressives don’t CARE if they bankrupt the country — so they never explained
    the story enough to show that there were TWO outcomes possible, only one of
    which was “feasible” from their standpoint, but both of which were
    “acceptable” to Progressives who want to turn the US into a Third
    World country. 

  • Anonymous

    In days gone by there used to be a saying, “Should have been a Philadelphia Lawyer”…who are you and how the hell did you get so smart….seriously, I knew when I was clicking off the keys that – (in the back of my mind at least, I was hoping to set you a scrambling on a new path to outright destroy and conquer Obama’s Healthcare nightmare) but in reality, the reply you have given is pretty much what I expected. You have the canny ability of getting straight to the point…as it should be, but something tells me, if there were anyone capable enough to find a way of penetration, it would be you, or the “firm” you work for. Kidding aside,I really mean the part about your personal abilities, so start cracking that noggin of yours and put your name on the map as the one who slipped the political rug out from under the liberal ilk residing in DC.