Yesterday, a U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler issued a 64-page ruling which, among other things, demolishes Ken Cuccinelli’s fallacious argument that “the passive act of not purchasing health insurance does not constitute an activity that can be regulated under the Commerce Clause.” In fact, as Judge Kessler correctly points out:
It is pure semantics to argue that an individual who makes a choice to forgo health insurance is not ‘acting,’ especially given the serious economic and health-related consequences to every individual of that choice. Making a choice is an affirmative action, whether one decides to do something or not do something. They are two sides of the same coin. To pretend otherwise is to ignore reality.
Now, this really dates me, but Judge Kessler’s reasoning here immediately brought to mind the rock group Rush, and specifically its song “Freewill.” In that song, as all of us who listened to Rush as kids know, there’s a verse that goes as follows:
You can choose a ready guide
In some celestial voice
If you choose not to decide
You still have made a choice
Well, it appears that Ken Cuccinelli has chosen Option A — listening to “some celestial voice” (or maybe just the weird voices in his head?) — on health care reform, and also on climate science and other issues for that matter. Apparently, though, Cuccinelli was not impressed with Rush’s argument that “if you choose not to decide you STILL have made a choice.” That, in a wildly oversimplified nutshell, is the rebuttal to Ken Cuccinelli on his challenge to the health care law and specifically the “individual mandate” (which, as Rep. Bobby Scott explains, isn’t even a “mandate”). Time for Ken Cuccinelli to break out the old Rush album (but forgo the weed – lol)?
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