ObamaCare (Decision) is Coming!

For the Class of 2012, goodbye and good luck! For the Class of 2013, welcome to the No Sheep Zone. Here you better be be able to think for yourself and not follow the crowd. In other words, DON'T BE A SHEEP!

It's summer time, and maybe you think you can relax and not worry about government or politics or work....but you'd be wrong! First, you have to worry about your summer assignment, so don't forget that. But in the world at large, there are some significant events happening this summer that we want to keep an eye on and be ready to discuss. These are Mr. G's MAJOR EVENTS TO WATCH FOR THIS SUMMER:

June
- The Supreme Court's decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as "ObamaCare". This is going to be a huge decision...so huge that in the future it will be one of the cases I'll require for the summer assignment! In case you haven't been paying attention, ObamaCare was passed in 2010 with great controversy. Long story short, the law will guarantee health insurance for almost everyone in the country, no one can be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition (like if you were born with heart condition or a weasel in your kidney or something), allows more low-income families to enter the Medicaid program, and allow college students to stay on their parent's health insurance plans while they're in college. Also, there is a tax on tanning beds, so don't fake bake if you want to save some money.

Sounds great, right? Well, this is where it gets tricky. See, everyone will have guaranteed health insurance, but that's because the government will require you to have it. Either you pay for it, your employer pays for it, or you enter a government-run program (like Medicaid). This would be the first time in history that the national government would require its citizens to buy a product. President Obama is claiming he has this power under Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, granting the federal government the power to "regulate interstate commerce". You're going to get sick sometime, medical supplies cross state lines, therefore, the government can force you to buy health insurance....Yes, I know that sounds kind of flimsy, but the government has used that exact same power (interstate commerce) to do everything from forcing restaurants and hotels to stop discriminating against minorities (YAY!) to regulating the size of pickles on fast food sandwiches (HUH?).

Obama's opponents, of which there are many, are outraged by what seems to be a substantial power grab by the federal government. They fear that by allowing the federal government this kind of power to force its citizens to buy a certain product, then what would be the limit to that power? Could the government force its citizens to buy an American-made car in order to support the American economy? Does this open a Pandora's box of other possibilities? (Pandora from Greek mythology...not the Internet radio station). Whatever the Court decides this month, it is immediately going to become an issue for the November election. So we definitely will be discussing this throughout the summer and fall, so be sure to be paying attention!

Wow, I did not expect to spend so much time talking about that. So let me just give you a teaser for the other major events coming up this summer, and we'll discuss those at another time:

Also in June
- French parliamentary elections will take place June 10th and 17th. Yes, we do care about what the French are doing!
- The Greeks will also be voting for their legislature on June 17th. Pay attention, and then Greek politics will no longer be Greek to you! (Wow, that's lame even for me).

July
- On July 1st, Mexico will be having its presidential election. Grande stuff happening with our southern neighbor that we'll want to be paying attention to.
- July 20th, The Dark Knight Rises comes out. No, it has nothing to do with politics. But come on......BATMAN!

August
- The last week of August will seek the Republicans hold their national convention in Tampa Bay. Obviously, Mitt Romney will be the nominee (barring something unforeseen like his death or a major scandal). The big news for the convention will be 1) Who will be his vice-president nominee? and 2) Will Ron Paul have gained enough delegates to force some major changes to the Republican movement from inside?

September
-The first week of September will be the Democratic convention in Charlotte. Honestly, not much is expected from this one...unless Obama pulls a major switcheroo and drops Biden as his VP candidate...but that's not expected.

Ok, we'll keep an eye out this summer and be discussing these and other events. So be sure to leave your comments, thoughts, feeling, appropriate jokes, haikus, etc! Also, I'll be in Florida from the 11th through the 23rd for.....let's call it research into fairytale monarchical systems.

My Internet connection may be spotty while there, so don't get discouraged if I don't post or respond for a while. Stay groovy AP!

Little Advice to my Hooligans

Wow....this summer has been crazy busy. A little advice to my students out there: When y'all are older, I recommend NOT getting married, buying a house that need some fix-me-ups , and having your truck break down all within a month of each other. Otherwise, you'll find yourself neglecting other things...like maintaining your government class blog. Anywho, I hope y'alls summers are going well. Your responses to the Machiavelli questions were great....for the most part. I look forward to getting your Paine responses here soon, and especially to starting the school year in less than a month. Until then, a few tidbits on some major political happenings over the last couple of weeks:

- Elena Kagan, President Obama's Solicitor General, has been sworn in as the newest justice of the Supreme Court. Democrats have praised her previous work as a prosecutor and for adding another female voice to the Court, while Republicans have criticized her for her lack of judicial experience (she's never been a judge) and for some of her rathery cryptic answers during the confirmation hearings. Overall, this doesn't change the make up of the Court, as we still have four conservatives, four liberals, and one independent who has become the Court's swing vote. (5 bonus points for the first person to identify who that independent voice on the Court is!)

- Yesterday, a small plane crashed in Alaska, killing former Senator Ted Stevens. Stevens, 86 years old, was a long time member of the U.S. Senate, and was the longest serving Republican member until he lost re-election in 2008 (after being convicted of concealing several hundreds of thousands of dollars in inappropriate gifts). Stevens was famous for being a stubborn advocate for his state, and funnelling millions of dollars in pork barrel projects toward Alaska (a Little Debbie cake on the first day of class for the first person to identify what a pork barrel project is!). Stevens was also famous for requesting $250 million for a "Bridge to Nowhere" and for once referring to the Internet as a "series of tubes."

- Finally, we come to the issue of gay marriage in California. In summer 2008, the California Supreme Court ordered that homosexuals be allowed to marry in that state. In November of that year, voters approved Proposition 8, which overturned the Court's decision, outlawing same-sex marriage. Now, just last week, a federal judge in California found that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional. So the issue of same-sex marriage in California is currently in a state of chaos. And in a strange twist, many homosexual advocates in California are criticizing President Obama for his opposition to same-sex marriage. Can Obama, already facing an approval rating of only 45%, afford to lose this key support base? Well, can he? Looking for your comments, reactions, questions, rants!