RUSH: I know you want to weigh in on this. So we’re gonna start now with Bob in Oxford, Pennsylvania. Hello, sir. Welcome to the program.
CALLER: Thank you, Rush. It’s a privilege and an honor.
RUSH: Thank you very much, sir.
CALLER: A longtime listener. You made a statement early in your monologue that the Constitution’s under assault. Well, I really don’t think it’s under assault anymore. The Supreme Court just lit the last match to burn it up completely. Our Founding Fathers put forth our Constitution to protect individuals and the states from an all-power federal government. And now we’re no longer protected. This federal government can now do whatever it wants to limit whatever it wants to limit us from doing, and impose a tax on it and say, “Hey, we’re allowed to do it.”
RUSH: For now, that’s true, folks. For now, that’s true.
CALLER: I mean —
RUSH: It’s all right there. It’s in the Preamble. Article I, Section 8: The General Welfare Clause. I remember talking to people about “the general welfare.” I had an argument with people when I was much, much younger saying, “No, general welfare is not welfare programs. General welfare is not government taking care of us.” It’s become that! That’s exactly what it’s become.
CALLER: That’s right.
RUSH: It’s become that the federal government has the power to tax us, to spend the money for any reason, and there are no limits whatsoever.
CALLER: Right, and that last limit has just been removed.
RUSH: Now even when they don’t ask for it as such, in order to save themselves from themselves the Supreme Court calls it a tax.
CALLER: Yeah. I mean, it’s amazing. I mean, in the last 3-1/2 years I feel like I’ve been living in an alternative universe and it’s turning out to be a Looney Tunes cartoon. We’ve got Looney Tunes economics and everything’s Looney Tunes. I don’t know which cartoon character we’re dealing with anymore. You know, I’d rather have Daffy Duck in the White House than the guy we have right now. He could probably do a better job.
RUSH: Yeah. The problem is, it’s not a cartoon.
Leslie in Parker, Colorado. Welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hi, Rush. How’s it going today?
RUSH: Good. Thank you very much.
CALLER: (giggles) There’s something that has not been mentioned in any of the pre-decision analyses that you’ve been reading and I’ve heard you talk about. And that is, what kind of legal precedent does this set? And where is our First Amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances?
RUSH: Like what do you mean?
CALLER: Well, there’s nowhere to go past the Supreme Court. And what kind of legal precedent does this set? You know, nobody’s talked about this. Whether Romney repeals it on day one or anybody else repeals it, the precedent’s set. Precedent.
RUSH: Not if it’s repealed. It can still be repealed.
CALLER: Well, it can be repealed, but what kind of precedent does it set when the Supreme Court says the government can tax us all they want and that’s it? And they can call anything a tax and lie to us and get away with it, and that’s constitutional!
RUSH: Well, if you want to call that a precedent, then the solution to that is never electing Democrats.
CALLER: (giggling) I am with you there!
RUSH: And, by the way, some Republicans. If the precedent has been set that the government can tax us for anything, we have to elect people who don’t want to do that! (interruption) I’m not yelling at her. No, no, no, no, no. I’m being emphatic simply for the sake of the answer to the question.
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RUSH: Let me grab Michael here in Toms River, New Jersey. Thank you for waiting. You’re next on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hey, hello. I see something here. This is Barack Obama’s George Bush Sr. “read my lips” moment as far as the taxes go, because that’s what it was sold as. Now, for the very same people that the Democrats claim to always want to lower taxes and keep taxes for… You know, tax the rich but don’t tax the poor people. These people who voted for Obama are now gonna be the ones who are gonna be taxed. And if the IRS gets on your case, they don’t let go. These people don’t know what they’re getting into.
RUSH: Well, but wait now just a second. I’m not trying to throw cold water on you, but none of that’s gonna happen between now and November. This stuff that you’re talking about doesn’t kick in ’til 2014, by design, after Obama has already run for reelection. This is gonna be up to the Romney campaign to explain this to people.
CALLER: Exactly. That’s the thing. Republicans need to jump on this now. They can get the young vote, the college kids who can’t seem to get a job.
RUSH: That’s exactly right.
CALLER: Do they realize once they’re 26 years old and can’t afford insurance, they got problems?
RUSH: That’s exactly right. They’re running into all the student loan debt. They’re facing the consequences of that. They now know what debt means. Some of them are running into the government as they get their little small businesses going for app development (application development) for computers, smartphones, and so forth. They’re finding out all the regulations they face. It’s a great opportunity; there’s no question. But Obama is gonna say, “Oh, yeah, there are some taxes. The rich, these millionaires, that’s who’s gonna be paying to make sure you get your health insurance!”
That’s what he’s going to say for the next few months.
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RUSH: Mike in New Braunfels, Texas. Welcome, sir, to the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Yeah. Honor, Rush.
RUSH: Hi.
CALLER: Hey. You know, one of the problems in this decision is the same problem we had with the personal income tax. The winning justices stated people of a certain income will have to pay. I read that as: If you want to be lazy and not work and stay home, you don’t have to pay but you’re gonna be covered. This is the problem that we have. You know, Congress may have the right to tax you, but they don’t have the right to discriminate against you. And all this stuff about taking more money from one person and giving it to another is a form of discrimination. It’s a form against your civil rights.
RUSH: Who says?
CALLER: The Constitution.
RUSH: (snorts)
CALLER: The Constitution —
RUSH: When did that start mattering?
CALLER: The Constitution says that they have to tax us equally. Now, I had this argument with a Harvard attorney. He happened to be my attorney. He’s a liberal —
RUSH: They don’t… Wait a minute. They don’t tax us equally now.
CALLER: I know. Well, listen to this. This Harvard attorney said, “Well, don’t you think 30% is equal?”
I said, “No. Thirty percent from somebody that makes a million dollars is not like taking 30% from somebody that makes ten or five [thousand] because they just want to be lazy and stay home and watch TV. But the Constitution says it has to be the same.”
He went, “Hmm.”
I said, “And if the government believed that, why don’t they only pay you back what you put into Social Security, based upon what you put in there?”
And he said —
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. The Constitution doesn’t say anything about equal taxation.
CALLER: Yes. It says the tax has to be equal amongst the states and the people.
RUSH: But not expressed as a percentage.
CALLER: Well, what we should have, Rush, is a fee. I — I —
RUSH: Wait. Whoa, whoa. Hold it. You’re making assertions that aren’t true and then jumping off to what you would like to be the case. What you’re talking about is equal protection under the law, which does not mean equal tax rates for people. That is a political argument. Single payer. But the whole notion the rich ought to pay more, that’s been around since, I don’t know, they were taxing stones for the pyramid.
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RUSH: Here’s Vic in Genoa, Illinois. It’s great to have you on the program. Hi.
CALLER: Rush, it is a great honor to speak with you.
RUSH: I can imagine. Thank you.
CALLER: Ha ha! I just want to thank you for everything you do for America.
RUSH: I wish it was more.
CALLER: By the way —
RUSH: I can’t tell you how much more I wish I could do.
CALLER: By the way, I love the tea.
RUSH: Thank you. Thank you very much.
CALLER: Maybe you can help me out on something here that I’m confused about. If they fully implement Obamacare, isn’t that going to be devastating to insurance companies?
RUSH: Yeah, eventually.
CALLER: Okay. So knowing that, hasn’t it struck you odd that ever since the inception of this whole Obamacare concept, there has been no real outcry from the insurance companies? No —
RUSH: Well, you know why?
CALLER: I mean, they have massive resources to have publicity campaigns opposing Obamacare.
RUSH: I’m glad you asked. This is where a new level of understanding is needed. You would think that. I mean, you’re exactly right. The automatic conclusion is the insurance companies ought to be leading the opposition based on this.
No.
What does Obamacare mandate?
Insurance!
You’ve got to buy it.
It takes a number of years before they are thrown out. But for now, it’s Fat City. The federal government is requiring you to buy an insurance policy! What business wouldn’t want that? What business wouldn’t want the federal government doing that? Can you imagine if Apple got a federal ruling that everybody had to buy an iPhone and a Macintosh and become an iCloud member? Can you imagine how much they would love government?
That’s exactly what’s going on here.