Letter: Obamacare ruling came with questionable tactics

From: Sherry Grimes

Columbus

In response to the Dec. 10 letter from John Vanderbur, I shall address some of his points one by one.

He states that the silent majority is the people who voted for Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, not all of the silent majority cast ballots on Nov. 8, so millions of quiet, law-abiding Americans remain silent. They did not vote for Donald Trump, but they did not vote for Clinton, either. Furthermore, Mr. Vanderbur wrote that Clinton received 2.5 million more popular votes than Trump. To put these totals in perspective, she won in California alone by over 4.25 million votes. Without California, Trump would have won the popular vote. Do we want one state (currently nearly $500 billion in debt) deciding the presidency?

Yes, I am well aware of the Supreme Court’s decision regarding Obamacare, as well as the critical role played by Justice Roberts. I accept the court ruling, but it came with questionable tactics. By calling the penalty for not buying health insurance a tax, the Supreme Court circumvented the Constitution. By calling it a tax, as opposed to the original penalty, it now “legally” falls under Article I, Sec. 8 of the Constitution. It is convenient that the power to tax belongs to Congress, considering that not a single Republican member of Congress voted for Obamacare.

Since Mr. Vanderbur did not highlight any specific racist remarks by Trump, I cannot respond to anything specifically. I will note that wanting to keep out/send home illegal immigrants is not racist. It is called protecting the homeland and enforcing the law.

Mr. Vanderbur said, “You have freedom of speech and you may express yourself within the confines of civility and law.” There is nothing in the First Amendment about civility. In 2014 on the 50th anniversary of the free speech movement, University of California Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks stated that the right to free speech “requires that people treat each other with civility.” He had to backtrack on that when scholars became concerned that “civility would be used as an excuse to repress legitimate political debate.”

That trend has continued. A number of noted conservatives, including Ben Carson and Condoleezza Rice, have been forced to cancel speeches at universities due to various forms of pressure from students and school administrators. Even Trump had to cancel a rally in Chicago in March due to safety concerns for his supporters. Trump’s rhetoric had been blamed for the violent confrontations at some of his previous rallies, but we found out late in the campaign that Democrats hired people to protest and disrupt Trump speeches. Displaying the American flag is sometimes considered uncivil and has been banned from clothing, in offices, on vehicles and on school campuses. So, the First Amendment protects the burning of the flag, but not the right to display it?

Mr. Vanderbur obviously has not kept up with Trump’s position on Obamacare. He has continually reiterated his support for protecting those with pre-existing conditions. Move on.