IT'S BOTH A MANDATE AND A TAX...SO STOP THE SEMANTIC BICKERING

Out here in the hinterland of realityville, I am really sorry to see this argument over whether Obamacare is a mandate or a tax.  For crying out loud, folks.  It is a "mandated" tax on a "mandated" activity, and/or non-activity.  Got that?  Yeah, me, too.  So it is both, is it not?

First, every citizen (except those favored who got waivers) is required to have health insurance under Obamacare.  Bingo. That is a MANDATE!  Next, as I have read the last few days in several credible articles, citizens are required to pay taxes on their newly mandated insurance policies.  Bingo.  It is a TAX.  

If it isn't a tax, then why is the IRS tasked with collections?  If it isn't a mandate, then why must we all comply with this gross exaggeration of government power?  If it is a penalty for inaction....oh wait a minute....now that is both a "fine" and a mandate. 

So Romney sides with Kennedy and Scalia and says it is a mandate, not a tax? Quote from The Hill  And the Obama administration says it is a mandate, not a tax?  The Chicago Tribune   And the Chief Justice Roberts (or is that the Dread Pirate Roberts?) says it is a tax, not a mandate? I can just see that argument in the national presidential debates.  Romney: "It's a mandate."  Obama: "It's a mandate."  

 Man in Black: All right. Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right... and who is dead.
Vizzini : But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

Oh, so they both agree with each other, but disagree with the Dread Pirate Roberts?  "No, no, it's a tax!"

(Westley: Roberts had grown so rich, he wanted to retire. He took me to his cabin and he told me his secret. 'I am not the Dread Pirate Roberts' he said. 'My name is Ryan; I inherited the ship from the previous Dread Pirate Roberts, just as you will inherit it from me. The man I inherited it from is not the real Dread Pirate Roberts either. His name was Cummerbund. The real Roberts has been retired 15 years and living like a king in Patagonia.'
Fezzik: [pretending to be the Dread Pirate Roberts] My men are here! I am here! But soon *you* will not be here! )

Is your head spinning yet?  I think we are dealing with Rodents of Unusual Size about now.  Death panels soon to follow.

Westley: Where am I?
The Albino : [raspy voice] The Pit of Despair! Don't even think...
[clears throat]
The Albino : ... don't even think about trying to escape. The chains are far too thick. Don't dream of being rescued, either; the only way in is secret. Only the Prince, the Count, and I know how to get in and out.
Westley : So I'm here till I die?
The Albino : Until they kill you, yeah.
Westley : Then why bother curing me?
The Albino : Well, the Prince and Count always insist on everyone being healthy before they're broken.
Westley : So it's to be torture?
The Albino : [nods enthusiastically]
Westley : I can cope with torture.
The Albino : [shakes head enthusiastically]
Westley : Don't believe me?
The Albino : You survived the Fire Swamp, so you must be very brave, but no one withstands The Machine. 

(I love "The Princess Bride." I guess you can see that now.)  You can laugh while they are killing you, and me, and oh, the nation, too.  Bickering will get us everywhere...just ask Obama!

CAIN IS NOT MY MAN, AND NEITHER IS ROMNEY

I have to say that Herman Cain's rise to the top has been interesting to watch. He is a likeable personality, a highly successful businessman, and has captured some vocal quarters in the Republican Party and the Tea Party.

But at this point, I see Herman Cain as serving two purposes. He is the anti-Obama candidate of the day. Which proves the Tea Partiers and the Republicans are no where close to being racist. This was not needing to be proved, but I think there are those on the Republican side still trying to prove it. And being the anti-Obama candidate of the day means he is also the anti-Romney candidate of the day. (I say that because Romney and Obama are pretty much evil twins in my book.) Being the anti-Romney candidate is why Cain won the Florida Straw Poll. Conservatives are trying to show the RNC that they don't want Romney. Count me in on that. I don't want Romney and I'm sick of seeing him confidently defending the indefensible, which is Romneycare. The other night he proudly boasted that Massachusetts didn't have to raise taxes to implement Romneycare. What he didn't say was that insurance rates have increased 14% to cover the cost of Romneycare, so more of the poor and middle class cannot afford insurance. This is the basic set up of Obama's slide into government run health care, i.e. make private insurance unaffordable so the government is the only safety net and we end up with socialized medical care. Thank you so much Mitt Romney. I have to try hard not to throw my shoe at the television set every time he launches into the subject.

But back to Cain. 9-9-9 is the slippery slope into the Fair Tax. Just like Romneycare is the slippery slope into socialized health care, the Fair Tax is the slippery slope into government tracking of every consumer action in the U.S. with the attending new Federal taxes attached. Just what we need. Now you might argue that tracking is going on now anyway by virtue of credit card purchases. And you would be right. But, that tracking is not now used to sic the Federal government on you to collect yet another Federal tax.

Over to the right on my side bar is a link to a lengthy article on the Fair Tax Fraud. It's worth reading through if you are interested in the weeds of the matter. So, no matter how nice of a guy Herman Cain is, and no matter how much you are wishing for a tax reform plan, I believe this is a disaster in the making for the "American economic engine," as Cain puts it. The Socialists in Europe already have both, the VAT (government sales tax) and Socialized health care, and I don't notice that Europe is doing all that well these days.

I guess the bottom line here is this. I'm sick of the neo-cons in the RNC and the main stream media driving the nomination of the Republican candidate. I'm not in this so these powerful aliens to my everyday life can pick my candidate. Plus, the primary season is being moved up and the time we have to choose is growing closer. This means, those of us who have a different choice than these two current front runners better step up and get in there working to elect the one you want.

Who does this leave?? I have liked Bachmann, but she is not without flaws. Having said that, she is light years ahead of Cain and Romney in my book. I would choose her as second place. Having gone through all of my criteria and process of elimination, I am landing on Newt Gingrich as the best option. I can give you all of my reasons why in a later post. But my point is that if you are not in the tank for Romney or Cain (or Perry, who was another neo-con choice, as was Christie), then it is time to step up to the plate and start going to bat for the one you do want. We are running out of time to have our voices heard.