Virginia judge allows lawsuit about healthcare mandate to continue

You know, it seemed to me and well, a whole lot of people, that it was clearly unconstitutional for the government to force individual citizens to buy a product - even health insurance. I mean, how could anyone think otherwise? And so, I think everyone believed that some right-thinking court of law would strike this provision down. But we've all been very naive to believe that Obama and Company did not anticipate this very objection from the beginning and have their plan already set before passing the legislation. Here's the way it worked: Those opposed to the healthcare mandate are vocal in their opposition and tell us that it amounts to a tax. Buy it or be taxed. The WH and Dems deny that this is a tax, even though it will be collected and fines imposed by the IRS under the tax code. In a famous interview with George Stephanopoulos in September '09, Obama repeatedly scoffs at the interviewer's attempts to assert the mandate amounts to a tax. "Mr. Obama: "No, but—but, George, you—you can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase." "I don't think I'm making it up," Mr. Stephanopoulos said. He then had the temerity to challenge the Philologist in Chief, with an assist from Merriam-Webster. He cited that dictionary's definition of "tax"—"a charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes." Mr. Obama: "George, the fact that you looked up Merriam's Dictionary, the definition of tax increase, indicates to me that you're stretching a little bit right now. . . ." Mr. Stephanopoulos: "I wanted to check for myself. But your critics say it is a tax increase." Mr. Obama: "My critics say everything is a tax increase. " Fast Forward to August 2010 - The bill has passed, the constitutional challenges have begun and guess what? The legal position of the White House is that it IS constitutional because the mandate is an exercise of the government’s "power to lay and collect taxes." So, they spend months denying that it's a tax, because they know the public won't like tax increases. Then when it is challenged, they defend it by admitting that it is a tax and defend it as such in court. You see, the commerce clause doesn't have anything to do with taxes, and if Congress is levying a tax, it is constitutional. The American public needs to stop listening to the rhetoric and stop being derailed by the fringe arguments. At the core of all of this is the very nature of our nation, its government and its future direction. The government has just played an end run around the Constitution and the people. I can only say that it makes me sick to think where we are heading.