It's Mandate Mitt from Mass.....

[justathought]

I'm just hoping Mitt will legalize polygamy. Face it Taz, if you pay taxes you are a subject.

 

[J.E.D]

why is states rights so difficult a concept for some people?

It's even hard for Mitt to understand.

Flashback: Mitt Romney hoped for “a nation that’s taken a mandate approach” - The Plum Line - The Washington Post

I’ve now obtained two more examples of Romney in the past praising the individual mandate, including one instance in which he plainly said he thought it should go national, envisioning “a nation that’s taken a mandate approach.”

Romney has tried to solve this problem by pointing out that he used the mandate on the state level, and never advocated for a federal mandate. And that’s true. But check out this exchange on Meet the Press from December 16, 2007 (via Nexis):

ROMNEY: I’m a federalist. I don’t believe in applying what works in one state to all states if different states have different circumstances...Now, I happen to like what we did. I think it’s a good model for other states. Maybe not every state but most, and so what I’d do at the federal level is give every state the same kind of flexibility we got from the federal government as well as some carrots and sticks to actually get all their citizens insured. And I think a lot of states will choose what we did. I wouldn’t tell them they have to do our plan...

MR. RUSSERT: So if a state chose a mandate, it wouldn’t bother you?

MR. ROMNEY: I’d think it’s a terrific idea. I think you’re going to find when it’s all said and done, after all these states that are the laboratories of democracy, get their chance to try their own plans, but those who follow the path that we pursued will find it’s the best path, and we’ll end up with a nation that’s taken a mandate approach.

In that appearance, Romney also reiterated that he opposes a federal mandate, and what he said above is consitent with Romney’s claim that he’s always advocated a state-based approach. But conservatives don’t care about this distinction — they hate the mandate on the state or federal level — and this now shows that Romney hoped the idea would spread to “most” states, and across the country.

 

[justathought]

They are States rights when they need to block something, but Federal enforcement when it comes time to shut down state legislated medical marijuana. What a crock. Make up your minds.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

He may know how to do it, but he sure doesn't stand behind it. Just chalk it up to another flip-flop. The guy can't make his mind up.

Or is he going to change his mind again to get elected?

why is states rights so difficult a concept for some people?

It really makes no difference, since it’s not applicable to the issue.

 

[Londoner]

I don't think RomneyCare will hurt him against Obama, who can't win the presidency with these unemployment numbers. Besides: A very real portion of republican voters are loyal to leaders over principals. Works the same way if the leader is on the other side. Meaning, they vote against the leader even when he champions their principals. This stems mostly from declining political literacy rates amongst voters. Both major parties are afflicted with this. Their political beliefs are made of slogans like "small government" and "freedom", but there doesn't appear to be depth or nuance.

Reagan's slice of the Cold War & Bush's War on Terrorism grew government more than anything ever imagined by the isolationist Republicans who opposed FDR and Truman - but you never see, nor will you ever see, the base criticize Reagan as a Big Government conservative. We have a generation of Republicans who get history from Sean Hannity, so they've never seen Reagan's spending data in comparison to Carter's.

Try talking to these people about the relationship between Reagan, the Cold War, and Big Government ... and you will get a blank stare.

God help us.

 

[Londoner]

Listen to the way Ron Paul describes the War on Terrorism. He doesn't think Big Government has the competency to change the way 1.1 billion muslims live. MEANING: he thinks that Bush was wrong to think Washington could transform the greater middle east by slowly making democratic reforms across the region. He thinks this is a dangerous form of idealism, much like you see on the Left with their desire to end poverty and change global temperatures. Worse: Ron Paul tells us that if you trust government to do these BIG things, they will waste money our children and grandchildren need. Listen carefully: Ron Paul knows something most talk radio republicans don't understand: Big Government can't solve the kind of BIG problems Bush laid out in the War on Terrorism, which handed massive power and budgets to Washington Bureaucrats. Ron Paul understands that Government will only make things worse. AND, rather than keeping us safe, government will destroy our rights, take away our privacy, and grow huge dysfunctional surveillance and defense bureaucracies. Worse: those bureaucracies will spawn lobbying groups - and they will begin to influence government in terrible ways - expensive ways. Once you add a program or agency to government, it only gets bigger, and then it begins to feed only itself using the people's tax dollars. (Republican voters never see this kind of thing when their leaders are the cause of it. They only see it when the Left does it. Why? Because they get all their information from Government, i.e., movement conservatism, which is an interlocking set of institutions that fund Rightwing radio, TV, publishing, internet, and think tanks.)

Ron Paul wants to feel safe in airplanes and skyscrapers too, but he doesn't want to give Washington massive, expensive amounts of power to do it. He realizes that total safety - like ending evil and poverty - are hopeless Lefty dreams used only to grow the power of government. Here is what the average Rightwing voter must learn from Ron Paul about Law Enforcement, Defense, and the Intelligence networks: concentrated power is as categorically fallible as the men wielding it. The bigger the lever of power, the bigger the mistake. Unlike Republican voters, Ron Paul doesn't trust Big Government to make a better or safer world. He thinks government will only make things worse because he understands something very crucial: some problems are too large for centralized control - and other problems are too large and intractable for any organized social response. Put simply: people need to accept that life is imperfect and not go bankrupt trying to save the world. If you give Washington more money to make you feel safe from evil-doers, they will only make things worse - and the country will go bankrupt. Reagan gave Washington massive amounts of power to conduct the War on Drugs - and, guess what? The program has been an expensive farce. Why didn't anybody oppose Reagan? Because the Rightwing base is too obedient. This is why they keep giving us media-chosen candidates who won't change the system: because voters are too easily controlled by the media.

The party is owned, but nobody sees it.

The party is owned by interests that won't let Ron Paul gain traction outside of Iowa.

(but nobody sees it)

Here is the tragedy. When Bush asked for these MASSIVE new government powers (for the war on terror, Patriot Act, Homeland Security), most Republican voters went along with him. Why? Because they trust leaders over principals - and they're information sources come from government (i.e., movement conservatism, which channels profits from business to the rightwing message machine, from FOX to Rush. FYI: the Right is just as bad as the Left with MSNBC). Republican voters were conditioned by Reagan never to speak ill of fellow Republicans. This means that Republicans emphatically trust dear leader. Dear Leader Mitt or Newt will be able to launch as many wars and curtail as many rights as they want.

Tragically, the Republicans are coming back in 2012. They are going to control the presidency and congress. We will see what we saw in 2000: 6 years of sodom. 6 years of using a "National Enemy" and a war to control the headlines and scare people into the voting booth.

God help us folks. -because GOP presidents always spend twice as much as their democratic predecessors. Reagan doubled Carter's spending, and Bush doubled Clinton. We can't afford for Mitt to double Obama's spending. (BUT, even if he does, the Republican base won't say a peep until he is a lame duck, i.e., 2nd term, post midterm. Why? Because the rightwing voter is hermetically sealed inside an information bubble fed only by Republican sources. They didn't attack Bush until after he was a lame duck because they are so tightly controlled. They never speak out against their Big GOP Government leaders. They trusted Bush to re-build whole Arab Nations. They trust the power of government more than any political group in history. They have bankrupted us.)

I've got bad news American: the big spenders are coming back in 2012. And they're going to grow government like they always do.

(And the Republican base will - as they did with Bush - support them every step of the way)

They lack the sense to listen to Ron Paul. They obey whoever is in the White House as long as it's not a Democrat. God help us.

 

[justathought]

Even if 1 out of ten is unemployed, that is still an A minus in your school system. 90 percent is great isn't it? That's ten percent unemployment for those who need a calculator. What type of utopia do you think you can build here when profits rule, not people. It isn't his job to create jobs you communists. He got Osama, saved the car industry, ended the Iraq war, and passed COLA for the shuffleboard players. What more do you want from the guy? The deficit was The Republicans great conservative management style. Now Obama has to spend some money to fix the mess and he somehow created the whole bill? Maybe if we didn't spend so much money trying to overthrow governments we wouldn't spend so much money fighting them when they come to kick our ass.

 

[justathought]

Doesn't it say in the Bible that Satan is the God of earth? You might wanna be careful who you are asking to help you. A fallen angel is still an angel. Why do we say seperation of church and state but ask God for help? The Bible says there are many Gods. Which God are you asking to help? Our money says in God we trust, but the commandements say what? We use this money to break them. I'd say we are cursed if you want to open that door.

 

[EriktheRed]

Is his name Obama? If not, he'll win.

"Reid will still lose."

 

[JoeB131]

why is states rights so difficult a concept for some people?

Because it's idiotic.

If I am being forced to buy a product I don't want or need, it really doesn't matter who is making me do it. I am being coerced into buying a product I don't want.

That's the long and short of it.

The problem with the Mandate is that it doesn't address the real problem. The real problem is that health care costs are balooning out of control. To the point where it is no longer viable for companies to offer health care insurance and it no longer profitable for insurance companies to be in the health insurance game.

All the Mandate does is put a bandage on the cost issue by forcing people to buy insurance who really don't need it, and pumping government money into the system for people who can't afford it. It also makes offering insurance more expensive by getting rid of exclusions for pre-existing conditions and such.

It does nothing to control costs, it just gets more of us pulling the wagon.

 

[justathought]

Car insurance, property taxes, home owners insurance, income taxes, blab blab. We are being forced to pay for products and services every day. We could always jog to the grocery store and rent our lives away. Is that the great American Dream bullshit speech we were fed? If competition is our model for reducing prices, then we need more doctors and hospitals. Do we really want bargain chronic disease care? On sale this week only...heart stints.lol.

 

[justathought]

I'm just as cheap as the next man, but even I know I'm gonna need to save up for pollup screenings. Getting old sucks and I bet the surgery to remove them sucks even more without insurance when you get the bill.