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RUSH: Hey, folks, have you seen the economic news today? Have you heard about the unemployment numbers today? (laughing) Gross domestic product, have you heard about any of that? Because I have it here, and it sucks. It's a disaster. The economy of this country remains a disaster. And we, the American people, have just been deceived in ways that nobody contemplated. And what we now have is the biggest tax increase in the history of the world. What we have been told by the chief justice of the Supreme Court and four liberals on the court: Obamacare is just a massive tax increase. That's all it is. Obama lied to us about that. The Democrats lied. "It wasn't a tax. There was no way it was a tax."
The chief justice was hell-bent to find a way to make this law applicable, so he just decided, you know what, as a tax increase, it works, because there's no limit on the federal government's ability to tax. And it's right there in the preamble of the Constitution, right there, Article 1, Section 8, the general welfare clause, it's been established Congress can tax whatever, whoever, whenever, how much they want. Even when they don't ask for it, the Supreme Court is gonna find a way to make what they want to do legal because John Roberts said it's not our job here to forbid this. It's not our job to protect people from outcomes. It's not our job to determine whether it is right or wrong or any of that. We just get to look at it. We can't forbid this. This is what the elected representatives of the people want.
No, the elected representatives of the people were deceived. Remember yesterday I asked you, if this decision went this way, what was your initial reaction going to be. And how many of you were deflated as you can be because of the way this was reported? The first thing that came down, the mandate, unconstitutional, that was the first thing everybody reported. Mandate unconstitutional, big sigh of relief. And then within moments, wait a minute, wait a minute, we're reading further. Hold it just a second. The mandate's unconstitutional, but the court has decided it's a tax, and therefore it's okay.
So Obamacare is nothing more than the largest tax increase in the history of the world. And the people who were characterizing it as such were right and were telling the truth. We have the biggest tax increase in the history of the world right in the middle of one of this country's worst recessions. In fact, as the vice president said yesterday, a depression for millions of Americans. The chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, John Roberts, said, "It is not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices." Not our job.
Well, what about when we are deceived? The court upheld a law that was not what we were told it would be. What has been upheld here is fraud, and the Internal Revenue Service has just become Barack Obama's domestic army. That is what we face now. We were deceived. Obamacare was a lie. It was a stealth tax on all Americans, and nobody knew it until today. Not officially. Obama told George Stephanopoulos it wasn't a tax. And Stephanopoulos was trouble-making for trying to suggest otherwise.
Let's go to the audio sound bites. September 20th, 2009, on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, interviewing President Obama, discussion about the health care reform bill, Stephanopoulos said, "Under this mandate, the government is forcing people to spend money and fining them if they don't. How is that not a tax increase?"
OBAMA: No, tha-tha-that's not true, George. Eh, for us to say that you've gotta take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase. What it's saying is is that we're not gonna have other people carrying your burdens for you, any more than the fact that right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance. Nobody considers that a tax increase. People say to themselves, "That is a fair way to make sure that if you hit my car, that I'm not covering all the costs."
RUSH: Stephanopoulos then said, "Well, it may be fair, and it may be good public policy, but for you to say that this isn't a tax. This just..."
OBAMA: No, no. B-b-but George y-y-y-you can't just make up that language and decide that that's called a tax increase.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I don't think I'm making it up. Merriam-Webster Dictionary: "Tax: A charge, usually of money, imposed by authority --
OBAMA: (snickering)
STEPHANOPOULOS: -- on persons or property for public purposes."
OBAMA: George, the fact that you looked up Miriam's dictionary (sic), the definition of tax increase indicates to me that you're stretching a little bit right now. Otherwise you wouldn'ta gone to the dictionary to check on the definition! I mean --
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, no.
OBAMA: If -- if what you're saying is --
STEPHANOPOULOS: I wanted to check for myself, but your critics say it is a tax increase.
OBAMA: My critics say everything's a tax increase! My critics say that I'm taking over, uhh, every sector of the economy. You know that! Uh, eh, eh... Look, we can have a legitimate debate about whether or not we're gonna have an individual mandate or not but --
STEPHANOPOULOS: But you reject that it's a tax increase?
OBAMA: I absolutely reject that notion.
RUSH: Well, it didn't matter, did it?
He lies to the American people every day. What does it matter? "It's not a tax increase." We all knew what was coming down the pike if this thing were upheld, whatever it's called. We are being forced to purchase something, whether they want to twist this as coming under the Commerce Clause or the whole thing being a tax. But you just heard: Obama told us it wasn't a tax. Congress told us it wasn't a tax. Pelosi told us it wasn't. And we have to pass Obamacare to find out what was in it. The Supreme Court just told us what's in it. It's a massive regressive tax on all Americans.
I remember Obama saying that couples making less than $250,000 a year would never see a tax increase if he was elected while he served. That's out the window. It was a lie. We were all deceived. You can call it a tax; you can call it a fine. No matter. You can say it's a power of the Commerce Clause or not. No matter. What happened today is all that matters. And what happened today is that we were bludgeoned with a tax that requires us to do as the government mandates. We must do what they say.
But guess who collects the tax?
Not the government. It's the insurance companies, the health insurance companies. For as long as they last, the health insurance companies are the ones that collect the tax. The IRS is going to enforce it; we have to buy health insurance. This is essentially being forced to pay a tax. It's just been called a tax. Insurance premiums have just been called a tax, folks. Premiums to buy health insurance. We must buy it. The government has the ability to levy that tax. We are going to buy health insurance from insurance companies mandated by the government.
The Supreme Court told us today that this is a tax. So our health insurance premiums essentially are a tax. There's no limit here! What if insurance companies want to tax us for not buying a new car? It is a stealth tax, and that's what it was all along. It's a massive behavior-modification program. Either behave as directed or suffer the loss of private property. If you don't buy what the government tells you to buy, you're going to be taxed. You're going to fined. So even without the Commerce Clause, the federal government can virtually dictate what we do with our so-called private property.
The administration and the Congress said, "No, it's not a tax!" Arguing before the court, they said, "No, it's not a tax!" Then a couple of whispers, "Yes, it is a tax." The chief justice says (paraphrased), "I can't forbid this. It's not our job to protect the people from the consequences of their political choices. I gotta find a way. Congress wants this, so I gotta find a way to make it happen. Okay, we'll call it a tax, and that makes it perfectly legal." So today the sovereign nature of the individual wasn't just weakened; it was eviscerated.
Between the Arizona and Obamacare decisions, America is a very different concept than it was just a week ago. In the United States of America, you either purchase what central authorities tell you to purchase or they will punish you with taxes. In America, states are not allowed to fully protect their citizens from the slow-motion invasion across their borders. The Feds opted out of the program in Arizona. States are powerless. And don't forget Obama just granted de facto amnesty to over one million illegal aliens.
So now we look forward to November.
November is the chance to get rid of the people who did this, and then put in place people we hope mean it when they say they're going to repeal it. That's it, folks. That is all that remains. Because, as of today, the American government can and will seize your private property if you don't purchase and/or sell what's been ordered. It's really breathtaking, what happened today. And it is breathtaking to watch ignoramuses who don't really understand what happened celebrate it. We have been betrayed and deceived by Congress. We have been betrayed and deceived by the Supreme Court.
It was never contemplated that Obamacare was a massive tax increase. Can you imagine them selling it on the basis of it being a massive tax increase? You heard Obama. He went out of his way to tell everybody it wasn't a tax increase. That was the death knell for the bill to call it a massive tax increase! He's running around telling everybody that nobody is gonna pay increased taxes. So we've been spent into deficit hell. We've now been taxed into disposable income hell. The Constitution's under assault, and so is every individual living here under assault.
"Do as you're told! Shut up, sit down, or pay a tax."
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