The United States Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with the Obama Administration’s view that taxpayer-subsidized health insurance plans should be available to all Americans, even if they live in one of the three-dozen states that did not set up their own health insurance exchange.
As the law was originally written, it specifically limited such subsidies to health insurance exchanges “established by the states.” In spite of open admissions by the law’s architects that they were indeed referring to the 50 states, the majority opinion of the Court decided the language referred to “the State,” or the government in general.
On Thursday’s episode of Yellowhammer Radio, host Cliff Sims unloaded on the Court for allowing politics to take precedent over a strict interpretation of the law.
“They are actually changing the meaning of words,” he said, referring to the Court’s interpretation of what the writers of ObamaCare meant by the word “state.” “That’s why we have Justice Antonin Scalia stepping in and saying, ‘words no longer have meaning.’… And that is why I say we are witnessing the death of absolute truth. Even the Supreme Court of the United States — supposedly the pinnacle of rational, objective truth — has succumbed to relativism, to subjective truth.
“You hear people say, ‘I’ve got to find my truth — speak my truth.’ It’s not the truth anymore, because that would suggest there is an objective truth.
“I was born a man but I feel like a woman. That’s my truth. I was born white but I feel black. That’s my truth… I’m just speaking my truth, living my truth. The law says ‘established by the states’ but we feel like they didn’t exactly mean it that way. That’s our truth.
“And that is why I say we are witnessing the death of absolute truth in the United States and all of the things I just mentioned are examples that we are seeing in our culture. And it has become so pervasive that even the United States Supreme Court has succumbed to relativism and subjective truth over objective truth — over the truth.”
Sims also noted the President’s reaction to the Supreme Court ruling, in which he asserted, as he has in the past, that healthcare is a “right.”
“That is a perversion of what our Founders believed,” Sims snapped. “I have the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. I don’t have the right to force someone else to sustain my life or make me happy. Our founding documents are heavy on ‘negative’ rights, the rights not to have something done to us. I have the right not to be killed, not to have my property confiscated, not to have my free speech abridged. These rights do not place obligations on anyone else.
“Now, liberal progressives believe in positive rights,” he continued. “Give me health care. Give me housing. Give me clothing. And the government can’t do any of those things without violating someone else’s rights by taking something away from them… There’s a huge difference between a need and a right. Health care is a basic need and the government cannot infringe on our right to pursue it, but no one owes it to us. Liberals say that’s greedy and selfish… In reality, it’s pretty easy for liberals to be ‘compassionate’ when they force others to pay for it… Health Care is too important to be left to the government. I’d argue the least compassionate thing you could do is turn over health care to the same people who run the VA.”
In spite of Thursday’s ruling, many conservatives say the fight over ObamaCare is far from over.
“The Supreme Court ruling on King v. Burwell is a disappointment, but it’s not the end of our fight,” said FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon. “The state exchanges are running multi-billion dollar deficits and are unsustainable. Premiums and deductibles keep rising to the point where people can’t afford the insurance they’re forced to buy. This decision doesn’t save ObamaCare, only delays its inevitable collapse.”
Republican Presidential candidates are also expected to make the repeal of the healthcare law a ubiquitous plank in their campaign platforms, as Republican control of both the legislative and executive branches of government is now likely the only path to victory for conservatives.
Yellowhammer Radio airs daily in central and north Alabama from noon-1 p.m. on Superstation 101.1 WYDE and can be streamed online or through the TuneIn app. Audio of Thursday’s ObamaCare segment can be found below.
Like this article? Hate it? Follow me and let me know how you feel on Twitter!
— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.