The Individual Mandate Bullies Americans

President Obama says he doesn’t like bullies. The White House has even launched a website to help kids and parents recognize the signs of bullying and advise them on how to get help.

Maybe the White House should take its own advice, as the individual mandate portion of Obamacare is nothing short of bullying American citizens into purchasing something they may or may not want or need.

Take a look at this short video from Momthink.org:

The video depicts a group of kids playing on a playground, and a big, mean bully coming in and forcing them all to buy lemonade – whether they want it or not. The idea is that the kids playing are Americans, and the lemonade stand bully is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. The bully demands that the children purchase his lemonade, and when they can’t afford it, he takes their toys as payment.

The White House articulates three points that bullying involves: 1) An imbalance of power, 2) Intent to cause harm, and 3) Repetition. Let’s take a look at how these concepts apply to the individual mandate laid out in section 1501 of the health care law.

An imbalance of power occurs when “people who bully use their power to control or harm and the people being bullied may have a hard time defending themselves.” Since the Democratic majority passed Obamacare with the Slaughter Rule and reconciliation in the 111^th Congress, against the majority of the public’s will, this aspect of bullying is indeed present.

The 59% of Americans that opposed Obamacare at its passage in 2010 were unable to defend themselves from being bullied into purchasing health care. We lit up the switchboards, begging bureaucrats not to limit our freedom of purchasing choice, but we were ignored.

And they wonder why they lost in the next election. Sheesh.

The intent to cause harm refers to the purpose of a bully’s actions – they are not accidental, but intended to cause harm. It’s difficult to contemplate politicians intentionally hurting Americans, but with Obamacare defunding Medicare of half a trillion dollars over the next ten years, it’s easy to wonder what they really think of our senior citizens.

Lastly, bullies are prone to repetition, i.e. bullying the same person or group over and over. We saw this (and are still seeing it!) with Obamacare, as the White House continues to defend it, even as they offer waivers to all the President’s friends. After the November 2010 election, the new majority of Republicans in the House tried to repeal Obamacare, but the still Democrat-controlled Senate shot them down.

The individual mandate in the new health care law bullies Americans, by the Obama’s Administrations own guidelines. The president himself has said that he was not immune to bullying as a child:

“As adults, we all remember what it was like to see kids picked on in the hallways or in the schoolyard. And I have to say, with big ears and the name that I have, I wasn’t immune,” he said. “I didn’t emerge unscathed. But because it’s something that happens a lot, and it’s something that’s always been around, sometimes we’ve turned a blind eye to the problem. We’ve said, ‘Kids will be kids.’ And so sometimes we overlook the real damage that bullying can do, especially when young people face harassment day after day, week after week.”

Real damage does come from bullying. Obamacare is damaging our fragile economy. The only way to heal is to repeal.