Reflections From a Murky Pond

President Obama has to feel like a tired boxer hung up on the ropes with his opponent pummeling away at him. First he and his agenda took a hard blow from Republican Scott Brown’s surprising and substantial defeat of Democrat Martha Coakley for the late Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts Senate seat.

Now the state legislatures across the nation are now pounding away at one of ObamaCare’s key provision, mandatory health insurance coverage for all Americans.

From Associated Press (AP) via Yahoo News:

Lawmakers in 34 states have filed or proposed amendments to their state constitutions or statutes rejecting health insurance mandates, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a nonprofit group that promotes limited government that is helping coordinate the efforts. Many of those proposals are targeted for the November ballot, assuring that health care remains a hot topic as hundreds of federal and state lawmakers face re-election.

If Scott Brown’s election could be described as a punishing body blow, then 34 out of 50 – 68% and enough, with 4 states to spare, to call a Constitutional Convention – state legislatures moving to block ObamaCare’s insurance mandate must be described as a States Rights hook and one that went straight across Obama’s chin.

Tags: Coakley | Healthcare | Insurance | Obama | Politics | Scott Brown | States Rights | Subsidiarity

This entry was posted on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

As America truly enters into the 2010 midterm Congressional Election cycle the one word that Americans, especially Conservatives of all varieties, should keep in the font of their minds is subsidiarity.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition:

Subsidiarity
Pronunciation: \,s?b-si-d?-‘er-?-t?, s?b-,si-\
Function: noun
Date: 1936

Definition(s):

1. a the quality or state of being subsidiary
2. a principle in social organization: functions which subordinate or local organizations perform effectively belong more properly to them than to a dominant central organization

Simply put, subsidiarity is the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary, or secondary and lesser, function and perform only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level. Among other things it is the foundational concept underlying the 10th Amendment to US Constitution.

This concept should be a touchstone for Americans in the 2010 Congressional elections and in any state and local elections that may arise in the upcoming months. While not the only issue that Americans should consider when choosing a political candidate, subsidiarity should be one of the key issues analyzed when making those choices.

At the local, district, and state levels Americans need to look for candidates that will “step up to the plate” and take action and responsibility, one’s willing to fight to take power back from higher, more centralized authority and hold it in trust for the People that they serve. At the federal level Americans need to look for candidates that will relinquish those improper powers currently co-opted and/or seized by the federal government back to the states.

Frankly, most of the current ills inflicted upon America are because we, the People, have allowed the federal government to take too much power unto itself, power that rightly belongs to the the people of states and the local municipalities. That can be corrected, but it will take work – and the upcoming elections are a good place to start.

Subsidiarity In 2010 – learn it, love it, vote for it.

Tags: 10th Amendment | 2010 Elections | America | Congress | Conservatives | Federalism | Freedom | Government | Politics | States Rights | Subsidiarity | The Constitution

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 7:09 am and is filed under 2010 Election, Politics. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.