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The principles that rule this blog

Principles that will govern my thoughts as I express them here (from my opening statement):


  • Freedom of the individual should be as total as possible, limited only by the fact that nobody should be free to cause physical injury to another, or to deprive another person of his freedoms.
  • Government is necessary primarily to provide those services that private enterprise won't, or won't at a price that people can afford.
  • No person has a right to have his own beliefs on religious, moral, political, or other controversial issues imposed on others who do not share those beliefs.

I believe that Abraham Lincoln expressed it very well:

“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot
so well do, for themselves — in their separate, individual capacities.”


Comments will be invited, and I will attempt to reply to any comments that are offered in a serious and non-abusive manner. However, I will not tolerate abusive or profane language (my reasoning is that this is my blog, and so I can control it; I wouldn't interfere with your using such language on your own!)

If anyone finds an opinion that I express to be contrary to my principles, they are welcome to point this out. I hope that I can make a rational case for my comments. Because, in fact, one label I'll happily accept is rationalist.

Monday, March 07, 2011

A most unusual turn in the health care law's progress

It isn't often that a judge issues a stay on his own ruling. But Roger Vinson, who ruled the health care law unconstitutional back on Jan. 31, has just done so. It seems that the normal procedure would be that the Federal Government would request a stay, but instead the Obama Administration dithered about for 2½ weeks and finally issued only a "motion to clarify." Judge Vinson treated it as a request for a stay, granted the stay, but gave the administration only one week to file its appeal. While, on its face, the stay is a (temporary) victory for the Administration, in fact most people see this as another nail in the coffin of the so-called "Affordable Care Act." (For example, see this post.)

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