It would have been nice if the U.S. Supreme Court had declared Obamacare unconstitutional, but it's probably better, in the long run, that it didn't.
For one thing, the Court's affirmation of this socialistic mandate should inspire a record turnout of voters in the fall, perhaps leading to a defeat of the presumptuous incumbent making good on his promise to fundamentally change America.
For another thing, the Court's surprising decision already has prompted the U.S. House of Representatives to vote for repeal of the misguided measure and may lead to a repeal vote in the Senate if Republicans gain the majority in November.
Most important of all is the attention that this slim-majority ruling has focused on the issue of state sovereignty.
In our opinion the U.S. Congress passed an unconstitutional law, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that unconstitutional law. Are the 50 states of the union obliged to implement this law? A growing number of states say they are not.
As the Tenth Amendment affirms, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
All that's needed to prevent the implementation of Obamacare are state governors, state legislators and state citizens with the courage to say no.
Earlier this year, we commended State Attorney General Greg Abbott for joining with 25 other state attorneys general to challenge the constitutionality of Obamacare. Now that the Court has rejected that challenge, it is up to Gov. Rick Perry and our state legislators to assert and defend the sovereignty of Texas.
We hope they're up to the effort. Gov. Perry certainly is.
In a letter delivered to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius following the Court's decision, Perry proclaimed: "I will not be party to socializing healthcare or bankrupting my state in direct contradiction to our Constitution and our founding principles of limited government."
Hear, hear and right on.