Regardless of how the Court rules, we commend an article in the June 25 New Yorker ("Unpopular Mandate" by Ezra Klein) that offers a brief history of the idea at the heart of the bill.
The mandate was a Republican idea, first championed by the GOP back in 1993 as an alternative to the Clinton healthcare reform bill. Its primary sponsor? Senator John Chafee, a Rhode Island Republican.
Over the past three-and-a-half years, it has been a source of amazement to P&J that the GOP would abandon the idea as soon as President Obama picks up on it. But, of course, Republicans would never do something so transparently hypocritical just to win the next presidential election, would they?
Send sparklers and Pulitzer-grade tips to p&j@phx.com.
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