Funny thing about the rule of law: liberty disappears everywhere once the government is freed from the obligations law places upon it. Once the "law" becomes a one-way street - a dictator declaring that the law is whatever he says it is today - we aren't really talking about law any more, but the raw exercise of power. There might still be a few theoretical impediments to what the dictatorship can do, provided the people still have the ability to vote against it, but when those votes are always months and years away, there's plenty of time to dismantle the political restraints on power. That's why such restraints are no substitute whatsoever for legal restraint. The great project of the Left has been a largely successful campaign to make voters forget all that, fooling them into thinking their anticipated revenge at the ballot box is enough to scare Big Government straight.
Instead we get garbage like ObamaCare, which is so fundamentally incompatible with American government that we're expected to jettison the First Amendment now, because free speech would destroy it. In the course of reviewing the latest illegal modifications to the Affordable Care Act, Fox News drops this little bombshell:
The latest announcement comes after the administration heard from businesses about their concerns with the looming ObamaCare rules. However, the change is sure to raise more questions about the health and implementation of the law. Fewer workers getting insurance through their employers could mean more individuals on the ObamaCare exchanges seeking subsidized coverage, increasing the cost to taxpayers.
Some lawmakers, though, have claimed that the mere threat of the employer mandate is causing companies to shed full-time workers in the hope of keeping their staff size below 50 and avoiding the requirement.
Administration officials dispute that this is happening on any large scale. Further, Treasury officials said Monday that businesses will be told to "certify" that they are not shedding full-time workers simply to avoid the mandate. Officials said employers will be told to sign a "self-attestation" on their tax forms affirming this, under penalty of perjury.
Officials stressed that the latest reprieve applies to a relatively small percentage of employers - albeit companies that employ millions of workers.
If they're serious about this, it's the stuff of revolution - a naked and flatly illegal attempt to nationalize the payroll practices of entire industries by executive fiat. Every business owner in the land, large and small - even those supposedly unaffected by this diktat - should stand as one and say, in a voice that rolls across Washington like thunder: I will not comply.
Of course it wouldn't be difficult to get creative on this paperwork and "certify" that you didn't cut the latest truckload of hours to avoid ObamaCare's tentacles. How would the goon squads go about "proving" such certifications were false and arresting dissidents? The regime - and that is the correct term for what Obama presides over; it is no longer merely "administrative" - would use those false certifications to "prove" the coming unemployment apocalypse was not the President's fault. Every Obama loyalist would chirp that excuse in unison on the Sunday shows, even as under-employment soared and the workforce collapsed - hey, it's not because they're cutting hours to deal with ObamaCare, we have in our possession signed papers to that effect!
But don't give them the satisfaction, or the political documents they need to escape accountability for what they have done. Just say no. Resist. Send back those "I didn't cut hours because of ObamaCare" forms covered with patriotic slogans, maybe sketch a Gadsden flag if you're feeling artistic, or just leave the form blank and write "Who is John Galt?" or "Nuts!" in the signature line. Let's get a website going where we post scans of the non-compliance responses, and people can vote for the funniest and most creative acts of defiance.
We should all do this together, because we are Americans, and resistance is in our blood. Also, you don't fight tyranny by making little compromises with it. And those of you who comply with this demand may soon find that enforcement is more of an art than a science. You might discover that your loyalty to the regime in other matters plays a large role in whether your certification of compliance gets challenged. Remember, the Internal Revenue Service is a political organization now.
Are you getting the picture yet, America? ObamaCare's survival means the demise of the republic. Nothing will remain of your essential liberties by the time this is done. Barack Obama interprets this misbegotten law as a writ of unlimited power, a license to disregard every shred of representation and personal liberty. The rule of law is long gone. It's more obvious than ever we could repeal ObamaCare overnight by simply insisting on its lawful implementation. The repeal bill would whip through Congress in an emergency session and pass with a supermajority, a day after passage of the bill that says "The Affordable Care Act shall be implemented as written, subject only to lawful amendment by Congress." Of course, we're not supposed to need bills like that, any more than we need an act of Congress affirming that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow. But here we are.
Let me give all of Obama's loyal servants a little statement to chew on: There is nothing wrong with firing people to avoid the ObamaCare mandates. It's unpleasant, sure. It would be awful to see your hours cut or eliminated for that reason. But it's not a crime. It's not illegal for the free people of the United States of America to begin, or end, contracts of employment for any reason they see fit, including response to government action.
If you think politicians should control those decisions - not even by legislative action, but by executive fiat - the system you support is not "democracy" or "capitalism." It does have a proper name, but you have been told to forget it. I'll give you a hint: Version 1.0 was also very big on forcing people to sign submissive paperwork.
Why not also require certifications, subject to inquisition and punishment, from corporate executives that they're not cutting hours in response to higher minimum wages? Higher corporate taxes? Higher energy costs? I have no confidence that question won't be asked seriously soon enough - perhaps as soon as the minimum wage increases. What a great populist base-goosing message that would be, and how the Left would love to have a trove of signed documents "proving" that minimum wage increases don't kill jobs... even as the mounting legal hurdles to terminating employment brought job creation to a complete halt.
