I’ll be the first to admit that a gut-wrenching feeling of defeat ran over me when I read that Obamacare was upheld by the Supreme Court.
Yes, Thursday, June 28th was a difficult day for conservatives and all liberty-loving Americans. While Obama may have won a decisive battle in his quest for socialized medicine, we must remember that the war is far from over.
In fact, the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Obamacare may be the glue that binds social and fiscal conservatives, right-leaning moderates, conservative Democrats, independents, and a powerful new ally of Catholic voters marginalized by Obama’s contraception mandate, into the formative force necessary to defeat Obama in November and repeal Obamacare.
As proof, the House voted to repeal Obamacare yesterday in a 244-185 vote. And if you still doubt the cohesive effect that the SCOTUS decision is having on those right of center in America, recall what happened in the first Obamacare fight in 2009-2010.
Feeling the heat from a well-orchestrated effort by TEA party and conservative groups, Republicans, then the minority party in both the House and Senate, valiantly fought tooth and nail to stop the Affordable Healthcare Act in Congress.
In the end, all 178 Republicans in the House and 39 outof 40 Republicans in the Senate had voted against Obamacare, with one Republican not voting.
But the real impact of Obamacare’s passage on the conservative movement happened after the President signed it into law. In 2010, a united and livid conservative base largely propelled by TEA partiers, rallied to hand Democrats a decisive defeat in the 2010 mid-term elections, picking up 60 seats in the House and 6 seats in the Senate in the process.
Of course, the difference between the 2010 midterm elections and now, is that this time around, the right has picked up a powerful new ally in the Catholic Church, which largely sat out the original health care battle due to a promised religious exemption from the Obama administration in the health care legislation.
That promise was shattered when HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced in January that a new Obamacare regulation would be made official. It violated the religious liberties of millions of Catholics in America. According to the new regulation, virtually all health-care plans–even those provided by Catholic institutions–would be required to cover sterilizations and approved contraceptives, including those that can induce abortions.
When Chief Justice Roberts laid out the now infamous decision that Obamacare, particularly the individual mandate, would stand as a tax rather than an extension of the commerce clause, the message to opponents of Obamacare was clear: The last shot at repealing Obamacare is banding together to defeat Obama and his cohorts in Congress in 2012.
Senator Jim DeMint was among the first to channel this message in an address at the Heritage Foundation just two hours after the ruling was handed down.
“I come today disappointed that the court didn’t make it easier, but not at all discouraged. Because it’s our job to fix this thing and it gives America, I think, a much more compelling reason to get engaged.”
Senator DeMint was absolutely correct. A majority of Americans have favored repealing Obamacare for months; the finality of the Supreme Court decision will be the glue that binds millions of Americans together from all backgrounds to get engaged to defeat Obama and his party in 2012 and repeal the Affordable Healthcare Act.
