Health Care Mandate

The thought that the supreme court may decide to give congress the power to tax us if we do not buy what they want, is a little scary to me. With congress under the influence of special interest, and displaying poor judgement time and again, what will be next. There will be a "next" because this isn't the first.
In 1937 the supreme court ruled in favor of the social security act in the decision, Steward Machine Co. v. Davis. In dissent Justice Sutherland, with Van Devanter, wrote "The threat implicit in the present encroachment upon the administrative functions of the states is that greater encroachments, and encroachments upon other functions, will follow."[1]Recently Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg stated "there's something very odd about that, that the government can take over the whole thing and we all say, oh, that's fine, but if the government wants to preserve private insurers, it can't do that."[2]

Justice Ginsburg seems to be overlooking the fact that we do not all say that's fine and never have. I don't think that the federal government needs to inact another tax to preserve private insurers, I think that they are generally profitable. The administration calls it a fine but if it passes the supreme court it will likely be considered a tax by the court. In a another decision in 1937 Helvering v. Davis the supreme court upheld the social security act because "The proceeds of both [employer and employee] taxes are to be paid into the Treasury like internal-revenue taxes generally, and are not earmarked in any way."[3] Now look, its bad enough that we have to pay taxes on the things we buy, but please don't tax us on the things we don't buy.

* [1] wikipedia.org/wiki/Steward_Machine_Company_V._Davis
[2] burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID22012120328002
* [3] wikipedia.org/wiki/social_security_act
* only wikipedia articles that cite sources are used.