Tea Party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann (R, Minn.) has urged opponents of ObamaCare to stop paying taxes if the House passes the health care reform bill using "deem and pass," a controversial procedural shortcut. "They want us to pay for this? We don't have to," she said over the weekend. "We don't have to follow a bill that isn't law." Is Bachmann's advice crazy?
SOMEWHAT CRAZY
Bachmann's a repeat criminal offender: This isn't the first time "Mama Che" Bachmann's tried to "incite Americans to revolution," armed or otherwise, says Rick Ungar in True/Slant. If she wants to flout the soon-to-be-passed health care law, and her oath to uphold it, fine. But taxpayers shouldn't foot her salary, and generous health benefits, while she becomes "an enemy of the U.S. government."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
What else fits her "civil disobedience" criteria? It is "dangerous" for Bachmann to call on Americans to "break the law," just because she doesn't like how a bill was passed, says Tom L. Williams in Liberaland. It opens the door for us to similarly protest other "illegitimate" bills rammed through Congress this way — like Bush's tax cuts.
I want Bachmann to follow through: Bachmann's "freakout" is great news for liberals, says Jonathan Chait at The New Republic. It means she and her team realize they didn't, in fact, kill the bill. In fact, "it's going to be fun" watching her "civil disobedience campaign" take shape.
NOT AT ALL CRAZY
Bachmann's just stating the obvious: The "left wing" wants this to be about Bachmann breaking the law, says the pseudonymous blogger Left Coast Rebel, but she's "just acknowledging the elephant in the room": If the Dems use this legislative trick to pass ObamaCare, Americans are "obligated to civilly disobey [the resulting] coercive, tyrannical, and unconstitutional health care law."
She's not crazy, she's a new hero: Bachmann acknowledges we'd have to follow the law if it were passed "legitimately," says Eric Dondero at Libertarian Republican. So her no-taxes call isn't civil disobedience, it's part of her duty to uphold the Constitution — and it's stands like that quickly making her into "a hero to the libertarian movement."
Obama's the crazy one: Bachmann isn't bluffing about ignoring this "non-law," says Dan Riehl at Riehl World View, and "a great number of American citizens aren't bluffing, either." If Democrats follow through and use "deem and pass," they will "provoke a Constitutional crisis that could make Watergate look...like a misdemeanor."
.....................................
SEE MORE OPINION BRIEFS ON THIS TOPIC:
• The Tea Party convention disaster
