Supreme Court did its job, now it's up to the people

Here's a preview of my next column, which will appear in Monday's edition of The Morning Sun newspaper:

The ruling Thursday by the federal Supreme Court that the law commonly known as Obamacare is constitutional and thus valid is what it is.

In the wake of the high court’s ruling, commentary from across the spectrum could be seen on television, heard on the radio and read on the pages of newspapers and the updates of friends — real or virtual — on social-networking web sites. Politicians, special interests and their ilk responded too.

The left applauded the ruling as an affirmation of President Barack Obama’s landmark domestic policy program. The right chided the decision. Some extremists called for the impeachment of the chief justice, whose fifth vote decided the fate of Obamacare. A couple  could be heard on one Michigan radio station calling for a new “continental congress to form a more perfect union.”

But many of these voices are missing a simple and yet fundamental point: the Supreme Court didn’t rule, in the words of Chief Justice John Roberts, on the “wisdom” of the president and Congress in passing Obamacare. Rather, it ruled on the legality — and in this case it decided that Obamacare was a massive tax increase imposed on the cash-strapped pockets of working families and main street businessmen.

The outcome certainly wasn’t one that many wanted, but the court faithfully exercised its constitutional duties and came to a ruling.

Most importantly, what happened with the high court’s ruling was quintessentially American.

 The full column will be posted once the newspaper publishes.

— Dennis Lennox