Supreme Court and Health Law Constitutionality: Spin, Spun, Done

Where you stand depends on where you sit.

Nelson Mandela (born 1918)

March 15, 2012 - Rarely in the course of human events has Nelson Mandela’s quote been more on spot than in the case of the upcoming Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of the health reform law.

Where you stand on the individual mandate depends on your politics if you lean right, you think it’s unconstitutional. If you lean left, you regard it as constitutional.

How do I know? I listen to the political spin. The spin and the polls tell me it is so.

Democrat and GOP Spin

A handful of Democrats are extolling the law on the campaign trail and in websites. Top Obama officials are crisscrossing the country, speaking at staged events to celebrate the health law’s 2nd anniversary. They’re saying people inevitably get sick so we all ought to pay.

The GOP spin? If government can force you to pay for care, it can force you to pay for anything and everything. There’s no limit. It could even force you to eat broccoli or tax you for eating Big Macs.

What Common Folk Think

Meanwhile the Kaiser Family Foundation and Pew Group are polling the common folk, the “average American,” to see what they think. In a poll released on March 14, Kaiser found only 33% of these folk thought the mandate would survive However, among Democrats and left-leaning independents, 74% said the mandate was constitutional. But among GOP supporters and right-leaning independents, 83% said the mandate should be struck down as unconstitutional.

Among common folk, 53% thought the Supreme Court decision would hinge on legal analysis and objective interpretation. But 50% held that the view of the “average American” should be what counts. The catch, according to Pew, was that the “average American” was equally divided on the mandate.

What I Think

I say, when all the spin is over and the spun is done and the deal is done. Let’s all stand where the Court stands. It’s over and done.

Tweet: No matter where one stands, in the end we’ll all have to stand where the Court stands on the individual mandate and move on.