When The Law Of The Land Isn't The Law Of The Land

Yesterday Ted Cruz launched his filibuster against obamacare. For a variety of reasons, most having to do with the arcane rules of the senate, Cruz was doomed to fail. However, that doesn't mean he was wrong. For all the blather from obamacare supporters that it's 'the law of the land,' it's a badly flawed law that has even its supporters and the people who voted for it clamoring to be exempted from it.

That doesn't sound like something that should be 'the law of the land' to me.

First, the pragmatic arguments against obamacare:

The doctors are leaving in droves because of Obamacare. The IRS doesn’t want Obamacare for its employees even though that agency will administer it, Congress just got an exemption from Obamacare from the president, hundreds of politically connected companies and unions have gotten exemptions, the Teamsters have warned that Obamacare threatens the middle class, the law is so complex that an army of “navigators” must be hired to sign people up, and the Democratic Senator Max Baucus, who is the outgoing head of the Finance Committee referred to the effort to administer the law as a potential “train wreck.”

(If you're interested, here's a list of the 729 unions and companies exempted from obamacare - so far...)

(And here's a link to a couple of charts illustrating more of obamacare's failings - thanks to the Whited Sepulchre.)

Now the moral arguments against it:

James Madison, in Federalist Paper #57, said, "(Congress) can make no law which will not have its full operation on themselves and their friends, as well as on the great mass of the society." This was intended to protect the American people from the emergence of an authoritative ruling class.

Fast forward to today.

Under pressure from Congress, the White House has carved out a special exemption for Congress and its staffers from ObamaCare—the law it recently deemed necessary for the entire country. No Republicans voted for ObamaCare. Yet it appears that some of them support the exemption President Obama approved on his own—so they would not have to go on record with a vote for or against it.

This is the height of hypocrisy, and worse, a trampling of the Founders' code of equal application of the law. Having forced a health law on the American people, the White House and Democrats now seek to insulate themselves from the noxious portions of the law, and from the implementation struggles, indecision and uncertainty that many other Americans face today.

Congress's health care premiums will not rise, but ours will.

Congress can keep their health plan, but more and more of us are losing ours.

Congress can keep their doctors, but we may have to find new ones.

Sounds like an authoritarian ruling class to me.

A few congresscritters (Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Senators David Vitter (R-LA) and Mike Enzi (R-WY)) -- whether out of moral outrage, political considerations, or a guilty conscious -- have introduced legislation to end Congress' special exemption from obamacare. Their reward?

In response, several Democratic senators have reacted by drafting legislation that would punish anyone who votes for Sen. Vitter's plan by permanently blocking an exemption from them and their staff, even if Mr. Vitter's law doesn't pass. It doesn't get more vindictive and petty than that.

Here's the backstory:

All this began when Congress passed the Affordable Care Act in 2010. It compelled Congress and its staff to participate in ObamaCare and its insurance exchanges like other Americans who don't have employer-provided plans. But in their haste and confusion over legislation so long that few even read it all, some members of Congress voted for the law without realizing that the final bill had no mention of the very generous premium contributions the government makes to federal employees as part of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

Imagine the horror when these elected officials, who make $174,000 a year, realized that not only must they and their staffers be subject to inferior-quality health exchanges like the millions of ordinary Americans, but they might also have to shell out thousands of dollars for increased premiums if they exceed the subsidy income cutoff.

The White House, under heat from Congress, directed the Office of Personnel Management to carve out special rules so that the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program can continue to contribute to the health plans used by Congress and congressional staff.

Congress complains that without its special subsidies the Hill will suffer a "brain drain" as staffers leave their jobs because of increasing out-of-pocket insurance costs. Heaven forbid Congress suffer the same fate as private companies like UPS, which recently had to cut health-care benefits entirely for employees' spouses; or labor unions, like the 40,000 International Longshore and Warehouse Union workers who recently left the AFL-CIO citing as one factor ObamaCare's tax on their "Cadillac" health-care plans.

Bottom line: If Obamacare is so good why were members of Congress which wrote the legislation so desperate to get out of it?

Because they can.

And we can't...