Editorial: High Court takes a bite out of ACA

The nation got something of a birthday present from the Supreme Court Monday, sending conservatives’ hearts soaring and unleashing the usual drivel from the left.

Just in time for Independence Day, the court ruled 5-4 that the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, violates the constitutional rights of Hobby Lobby and similar private businesses by requiring them to offer their employees contraceptives that the business owners say are contrary to their religious beliefs.

The decision is being hailed as a victory for religious freedom in that the government is prevented from making an employer doing something contrary to his or her religious tenants. Democrats, however, are wringing their hands that women might have their employers all up in their business – so to speak – in terms of what contraceptives they can have.

This is not the case, of course. Women are free to go get whatever contraceptive they want. The court just says the government can’t compel your employer to pay for it through your job’s health insurance.

It’s not surprising the outrage from the left on this topic. Democrats don’t have any problem with the government sticking its nose in all our private health care matters. In fact, the president’s answer to this ruling is that he will simply find a way for the government to pay for contraception for women who are adversely affected by the decision.

The real outrage is that the government is even involved in this issue at all. It is most unfortunate that this is just a narrow ruling dealing. It does nothing to overturn Obamacare. It is simply another chink in the armor that demonstrates how flawed the law is.

The High Court, led by John Roberts – who is either incompetent or a traitor, maintains that the ACA with its individual mandate is constitutional. But the Supreme Court has made mistakes before, and this is one of them. Obamacare violates the very spirit of the Constitution and only through Roberts’ delusions or blatant misinterpretations can one say that the Founders ever intended such a bureaucratic monstrosity to be foisted upon the American people.

The court needs to revisit the law as a whole and tackle some basic questions. Why should employers be required to provide health insurance at all? What gives the government the authority to tell businesses they have to provide this level of coverage or that level coverage? And in what alternate universe is it okay for the government to require citizens to buy a product (in this case health insurance) just as a condition of existing?

Your health care is or ought to be your personal business. This is about business and ought to be controlled by the free market. You have no right to “free” contraceptives. If you want it, you should have to go buy it. If you can’t afford it, then keep your pants on. That would solve a lot of society’s problems anyway.

Meanwhile…

Clarendon celebrates its 137th July Fourth this week, and we take pleasure in presenting you our annual Pioneer Edition of The Donley County Leader, recapping the news of yesteryear.

For history buffs like your editor and Donley County Historical Chair Jean Stavenhagen, it is easy to get lost in the research. We set out looking for something, and then become distracted by some point of trivia or an unrelated story that simply begs us to read it.

It is always striking to see so many themes repeating themselves in our history. The issues that face our people don’t change much as evidenced by our article selections this year. Recent rains have given us relief from a torturous drought, but we’ve had droughts before and will again. The Black Sunday storm from 1935 drives home the point that things are not as bad as they could be… or might be.

As our Chamber of Commerce Board continues to reinvigorate that organization and consider such issues as dues and management, it is somewhat reassuring to know that we are not the first to deal with those issues. It was topic for discussion 67 years ago.

And as excited as we all are over the new playground being dedicated this week, that too is history repeating itself. For in 1947, the Lions Club and several other organizations installed new equipment for children in the park. And sadly, we find in our files that feeding hungry kids was also a hot issues then as well. But six decades later, good people are still rising to meet that challenge.

This is the story of our people. We face obstacles and overcome them. We try to do right and leave things a little better than we found them, and then we pass it to the next generation, hoping they will do the same.