Opinion
Letters to the editor, July 7
TBO.com
Published: July 7, 2012
GOP cluckingPublished: July 7, 2012
After the Supreme Court verified the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act on June 28, Republican leaders announced a stream of horrendous disasters that will befall America because of the health insurance law: swarms of locusts will crawl across the country eating all the crops; boils will sprout all over our bodies; floods will spread over the nation; and fire will rain down from above.
The new name for the Republican Party should be the "Chicken Little Party" because the sky is surely falling down around them.
Bill Fanning
Hudson
Up to Congress
It is obvious that Chief Justice John Roberts has undermined the Affordable Care Act with his "political activism," which labels the mandate as a tax.
Congress has a right to make laws that are uniform throughout the states. Because President Barack Obama has exempted so many of his supporters from participating in the act's costs, it is no longer uniform as a tax throughout the states and penalizes the people in right-to-work states more than union states. It should fail as a law on these grounds alone.
It is now back to Congress to undo an unjust law.
Good job, Mr. Chief Justice.
Paulette Spaay
Hudson
Memory lapse
During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chief Justice John Roberts twice likened a judge's role to that of a baseball official. Roberts said: "Judges are like umpires. Umpires don't make the rules, they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical to make sure everybody plays by the rules."
Later in the hearing Roberts stated, "I'll remember that it's my job to call balls and strikes, not to pitch or bat."
It seems obvious from his Affordable Care Act opinion that Roberts has either had a memory lapse or became totally intimidated by Sen. Patrick Leahy and other liberals who said the court would be nothing more than partisan political hacks if the act were overturned.
Sadly, Justice Roberts caved in to politics in declaring the individual mandate a tax. The Obama administration has always said it is not a tax.
Charles "Chuck" Salzmann
New Port Richey