It's The Law

Be magnanimous in victory and gracious in defeat. That's what we try and teach to our children. We call this "being a good sport." It's not exactly what Winston Churchill proposed: "In war: Resolution. In Defeat: Defiance. In Victory: Magnanimity. In Peace: Goodwill." If Winston had been watching the ruling from the Supreme Court this week on the Affordable Care Act, he might have wondered about the Republican response. They definitely got the defeat/defiance part down, but isn't the overall scheme of things to bring things to the Supreme Court and let them sort it out. They are kind of our legislative Ro Sham Bo. Isn't it time to be gracious in defeat, or does the war continue to rage on?

If you missed it, on Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court  upheld the provision of tax subsidies under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama’s signature health care law. It was the second time in three years the nation’s highest court has handed the Obama administration a key victory in its fight to defend the law, which has been under near constant attack from conservatives since its passage. Five years. Aren't there other things on which we could spend our litigation? 

Probably not, since this one has the guy's name on it. By calling it "ObamaCare," conservatives have done everything they could to cheapen it by making it a personal vendetta. Never mind the millions of Americans who will be covered by medical insurance because of it. Just keep twisting the dial that says "Obama." It took Marco Rubio two separate tweets to get his thoughts out: "I disagree with the Court’s ruling and believe they have once again erred in trying to correct the mistakes made by President Obama..." along with "...and Congress in forcing ObamaCare on the American people." The division was pretty clear: Democrats called it The Affordable Care Act, while Republicans insisted on ObamaCare. Democrats weren't uniformly magnanimous in their victory, and we can all wince in anticipation of the next year and a half as "common sense solutions" are put forth by all those Republican candidates and their brain trusts. Like Rick Santorum: "Today's Supreme Court ruling is another reminder that if we want to get rid of #Obamacare, we must elect a conservative President." Kind of hard to argue with that logic, even if it is quite circular.

In the meantime, I am considering mounting a constitutional challenge to the Second Amendment. I figure that will keep me busy until the election is over.