Attorneys general from a dozen states say they intend to sue over the Obama administration’s contraception mandate that requires many religious employers to violate the teachings of their faith.
In a Feb. 10 letter, the attorneys general voiced their “strong opposition” to the mandate, which they called “an impermissible violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment virtually unparalleled in American history.”
They said that if the mandate is implemented, they are prepared to “vigorously oppose it in court.”
I think that Charles Krauthammer has accurately summed up what Obama has done.
[blockquote]Consider the constitutional wreckage left by Obamacare:
[b]First[/b], its assault on the free exercise of religion. Only churches themselves are left alone. Beyond the churchyard gate, religious autonomy disappears. Every other religious institution must bow to the state because, by this administration’s regulatory definition, church schools, hospitals, and charities are not “religious,†and thus have no right to the free exercise of religion — no protection from being forced into doctrinal violations commanded by the state.
[b]Second[/b], its assault on free enterprise. To solve his own political problem, the president presumes to order a private company to enter into a contract for the provision of certain services — all of which are free. And yet, this breathtaking arrogation of power is simply the logical extension of Washington’s takeover of the private system of medical care — a system Obama farcically pretends to be maintaining.
Under Obamacare, the state treats private insurers the way it does government-regulated monopolies and utilities. It determines everything of importance. Insurers, by definition, set premiums according to risk. Not anymore. The risk ratios (for age, gender, smoking, etc.) are decreed by Washington. This is nationalization in all but name. The insurer is turned into a middleman, subject to state control — and presidential whim.
[b]Third[/b], the assault on individual autonomy. Every citizen without insurance is ordered to buy it, again under penalty of law. This so-called individual mandate is now before the Supreme Court — because never before has the already-inflated Commerce Clause been used to compel a citizen to enter into a private contract with a private company by mere fact of his existence.
This constitutional trifecta — the state invading the autonomy of religious institutions, private companies, and the individual citizen — should not surprise. It is what happens when the state takes over one-sixth of the economy.[/blockquote]
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/291282/obamacare-trifecta-charles-krauthammer?pg=2
I don’t see how any person who remotely believes in constitutional government and rule of law can remotely support what this man has done. Does support for the substance of the agenda totally subsume the means for these people? Or is the destruction of the US Constitution and its scheme of government the true aim? Do the liberal/progressives truly believe that they can control unfettered government when, at last, its power is directed at them, or do they, like Robespierre, assume that they will always be in control and immune from the beast they have unleashed?
Thanks, Br. Michael. Nice catch.
I’m glad to see a dozen state Attorneys General (yes, that is the proper plural) banding together to challenge this outrageous and intolerable mandate.
As evangelical leaders Chuck Colson and Timothy George rightly noted, if any readers of T19 haven’t yet signed the Manhattan Declaration, you ought to make amends for that negligence and sign soon. As the old adage goes, “[i]All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men (sic, people) to do nothing[/i].”
David Handy+
I wish our California AG would take up the cudgel, but she won’t. She owes too much to Governor Moonbeam.