Last week, leading Constitutional scholar Randy Barnett wrote an op-ed in USA Today about the chance that Republicans have to eliminate Obamacare. But he missed the most important factor – the states.
In his op/ed, Barnett described the Obamacare situation from a very federal-centric perspective and gave the recommendation for Congress to propose an Obamacare replacement. He believes this would help influence the Supreme Court to muster the courage needed to derail President Obama’s signature achievement. He wrote:
Until the Supreme Court agreed to hear King v. Burwell, which challenges the legality of the IRS rule allowing Obamacare subsidies in states that have not built their own insurance exchanges, the conventional wisdom was that Congress would pass a symbolic bill to repeal Obamacare that everyone knows would be vetoed by the president. Then they’d move on. Obamacare would survive at least until 2017.
But the decision to hear King changes everything. Insiders know that this challenge has a decent chance of success. Rather than asking the court to establish some grand constitutional principle, the justices are merely being asked to hold the IRS to the actual wording of the law, which is not nearly so heavy a lift.
The key point being omitted by Prof. Barnett is that this resistance isn’t happening because of the election, or the court, it’s happening because 36 states decided to not participate in Obamacare. It was this important first step by the states that set the stage. Denying compliance with the health care exchanges and Medicaid expansion provisions of Obamacare has harmed the unconstitutional program. It was this resistance that led to the King v. Burwell case going before the Supreme Court and has put Congress into a position to potentially be useful for once.
The first, and most important action to stop Obamacare has always been state refusal to participate. Not by an amendment, not by filing a lawsuit, but FIRST – by refusal. That’s the first step towards victory, and that should always be the first step forward without exception. State refusal can slow down bad legislation while building increased awareness of the problem so the Congress and the courts can eventually follow our lead.
That is what our 4 Step Plan to Defeat Obamacare is all about. It is a way for you to work around Washington DC and its immense corruption to defend your health freedom. Obamacare is such a gargantuan colossus of a program that it falls to pieces without state assistance. With our plan, you can deny the feds the assistance they need to destroy your medical care. That way, we won’t even have to worry about the capricious whims of federal judges and bureaucrats.