Go West Young Liberals! Go West!
These elected officials have shown that history and economics certainly are not their strong suits and that serious attention to these subjects must be added to the curriculum of California schools.
But in a state that already knows the pain that letting people have “free” access to their healthcare system this maneuver is a stunning display of colossal ignorance. Hospitals, in parts of the state, are already under the stress of providing “free” healthcare for innumerable illegal aliens who don’t pay their bills.
And on even a national scale have we not seen what happens when money is confiscated from workers to pay the bills or others? Social Security and Medicare, both of which are on the fast track to insolvency, that were to be glittering gems of the socialist welfare state are perfect lessons. And heck, let’s not forget about Welfare itself which actually needed to be “reformed” in order to start getting slackers off the rolls and is still highly abused.
And let us not forget that such power grabs raise serious Constitutional issues. Two I can think of off the top of my head are the law’s restriction on the freedom to contract (prohibited under Article I, Section 10) and also the prohibition on the restriction of liberty without “due process” (Amendment XIV).
In fact this entire law smacks of a case called Allgeyer v. Louisiana (1897) in which the State of Louisiana attempted to pass a law to restrict whom their citizens could contract with for – you guessed it! Insurance!
That law was struck down.
Here we have another case where the liberty of citizens and their right to contract is clearly being infringed. And there certainly should be a legal case brought against the State for this egregious offense.
Oh, but it gets better. Proponents of the measure claim that covering all Californians would cost no more than it currently costs to cover only a portion of them. Isn’t that what they always claim? Uh, hello! How about addressing the Constitutionality of this plan first! So much for Stare decisis if it were to be upheld!
After that then maybe we can address how the plan also means increasing taxes to the tune of an 8% payroll tax on workers and another 3% in actual personal income taxes in order to make sure people pay in and the fund has money according to the Lewin Group. In essence they are looking at slapping working Californians with an effective 11% tax increase! Wow! 11% of a working Californian’s income would be required to pay for health insurance under this great state run plan? My wife and I pay roughly half that rate for our top-notch private insurance!
But that’s ok. Let’s see how long this asinine attempt at communal living lasts before the system bankrupts itself, politicians enter full hyper-whine mode about how taxes have to be raised (again) to cover the costs and send the state of California even further down the road to destruction.
Maybe we should start bussing in all the homeless and poor people from around the country just to expedite the process. Right now California is basically begging the nation’s poor, destitute and homeless to flock across their borders for a freebie that they will never see a bill for. Who could resist that deal! As people seeking the perks of being a citizen of the People’s Republic of California flood in, and the productive flee we will be left to watch what happens and point and laugh at the silliness.
So I say GO WEST! There’s gold once again in them thar hills! Except this time the “gold” is more of the same from the liberal left – government handouts of other people’s money. You know, what they often refer to a “free” [insert program here] that liberals and their constituents salivate over.
We can only wonder if this plan actually becomes law, how long it will be before Californians are flocking to Mexico or, God forbid, Canada to receive healthcare.
