Article III

The Affordable Care Act, a/k/a ObamaCare, had its hearing before the United States Supreme Court this week, the case against it having been brought by twenty six states of the union.

No sooner had the oral arguments closed before the court then the political and media hacks began their sadly tired, predictable presentation on the biases and political slant of the high court.

Before addressing the core of the actual issue that was presented to the court, and the subsequent ignorance demonstrated by mass media, an understanding of exactly what the Supreme Court is and its responsibility within the triumvirate of government that is American democracy and self rule is in order.

To wit:

The relevant excerpts from the United States Constitution are as follows:

Article. III.

Section. 1.

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.

Section. 2.

Clause 1: The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority;--…;--to Controversies to which the United States shall be a Party;--to Controversies between two or more States;--between a State and Citizens of another State;…--between Citizens of different States, --between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects.

The framers and founders left little to the interpretive sciences when delineating the role and nature of the Supreme Court.

What is troubling is that the Supreme Court must have the full support of the body politic and the electorate at large if it is to have any manner of credibility; such support seems to be lacking and in its place what remains is taken as sport. The nonsensical diatribes about the courts' political leanings may seem acceptable political theater to the proponents of the argument, but they are either ignorant or outright stupid to the damage such hyperbolic claims can do to the necessary integrity of any court, especially the American Supreme Court.

The reality is that if there were no disputes, no disagreements to fact, there would be no need for courts; the explicit and implicit social contract to their impartiality is a fundamental truth of democracy.

The American people should vigorously pursue their causes and beliefs, but once the court hasmade its final decision, it must be accepted. This is not a mere matter of good sportsmanship, but rather a point of how a free people settle their arguments in a nation of laws; to do otherwise denigrates the citizen, the nation, and the legacy we hold and entrust to our posterity.

To the actual issue that was the cause of action brought by the twenty six states, the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act and its mandate that each and every citizen purchase health insurance, in the opinion of the Madison Conservative, while in no manner a legal or constitutional expert, it seemed as though the basic case for the unconstitutionality of the mandate was not addressed.

To wit:

The mandate does, in essence and in actual practice, require every citizen to enter into a contract for services it may not request, require, or want. Basic contract law expressly forbids a contract to be made under any form of duress. If an American does not wish to purchase a health insurance policy but is forced to under threat of penalty, the contract is by definition unenforceable.

The attempted corollaries to such things as being required to purchase some level of automobile insurance is specious, at best. Driving is a privilege, and one can decide to opt into providing auto insurance as a prerequisite requirement to driving; the health care mandate requires no other required act save for being alive.

The Act is unconstitutional; if the Supreme Court decides otherwise, in a free and open democracy such as America, then it is the law of the land.

The equation is that simple, and must not be allowed to be obfuscated in any other way. To do so would be to challenge the fundamental basis upon which America was founded and constructed.