Selective Prestidigitation

Prestidigitation:  Noun

• Sleight of hand

• French, from prestidigitateur prestidigitator, from preste nimble, quick (from Italian presto) + Latin digitus finger — more at digit 

I suppose I could have entitled this post, "Selective Magic".  However, these two words do not quite capture the sentiment I was going for as this post began to morph within my weary mind.  Not to mention, I very much appreciate the French / Italian / Latin origins of the word which you can also (after drinking an amber-colored beverage) mean a "Nimble, quick finger".  

One nimble, quick finger fully extended and intended for...  You guessed it - You.

  

Get the point (or, more accurately stated, 'finger')?

Here's the Magic which I'm trying to understand...

The Affordable Care Act was passed by a Democratic Majority in both the House and Senate.  It was passed via 'Reconciliation' because Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi didn't have enough votes to pass it 'normally'.  Nancy said we needed to "Pass the Bill to see what's in the Bill" and Harry just said something like, "Pass the Bill - or else" to his Democratic partners in the Democrat-controlled Senate.  No Republicans in either the House or Senate voted for President Obama's "Landmark Legislation", now officially referred to as, "ObamaCare".  

Remember WAY back when we used to joke about it being called "ObamaCare"?  

Since the Affordable Care Act's ill-conceived deployment on October 1st, 2013, no one says 'ObamaCare' out loud with so much as a smirk on their face.  Not only did the President get his Team to pass this abomination, now his name is firmly etched upon it for all eternity.  When CNN begins calling the ACA 'ObamaCare' - yup, it's ALL his now.   

Post ObamaCare 'launch', we speak in hushed tones, waiting for our health insurance cancellation notice to come in the US Mail.  We sit huddled quietly in our homes, hoping our neighbors (preferably ones we don't care for) will be the ones getting the health insurance cancellation notices as the ObamaCare Healthcare Angel of Death passes our home and hopefully alights somewhere else.  

Several people on my street have begun marking the doorway to their homes with Vick's Vap-O-Rub in an effort to ward off the the foul specter prior to it gaining entrance to their home.  As for myself, I've painted the entire exterior of my home with Preparation H.  

Why?  Because the past five+ years have been nothing less than a huge pain in my rump and if I can't prevent the thing from getting in, at least I can hopefully minimize the swelling, and itching associated with its entry into MY home.     

But here's the thing... 

There's more, (much more) to come - sorry, someone get the on the Internet and let the folks know to make LOTS more Preparation H...

President Obama gave the 'Employer Mandate' a 12-month extension, meaning that he pushed the ObamaCare 'Employer requirement' back a year for those companies who employ more than fifty people.

Why?  

1.  Because he could,  

And, 

2. Because no one in Congress wants to ask uncomfortable questions of the first White-African American President regarding his 'Legacy Landmark Legislation'.  

(If anyone has another explanation, please feel free to share it in the Comment section below - yes, I'd PREFER there be another explanation, offer one if you feel that it fits better than mine as stated here.)

How did he modify the Law?  In a word - Magic.  

The Legislative Branch (Democrats) passed ObamaCare and the Bill was signed into Law by the Executive Branch, a.k.a.: President Barack Obama.  

In July, 2013, President Obama took it upon himself to exempt 'some of the' legislation which HE and his minions passed through Reconciliation (a.k.a.:  'Cheating') in Congress - in effect, re-writing law at the Executive Branch, bypassing further Congressional approval.  

Yes, he over-rode his own legislation 'Extra-Constitutionally' just by...  

Making it up as he went along.

At this point you may be asking yourself, 'Hey, Mike, aren't laws normally passed in the Legislative Branch and approved at the Executive?  Well, yes, normally this is the case, but when you have a skilled Magician working magic to an enthralled (and pardon the expression, a 'Cowed' audience in Congress) no one seems (or wants) to stop the show.

As the ObamaCare juggernaut continues, cancellation letters are being printed by the millions, men and women fret about their ability to afford their 'Federally-Mandated' 'affordable' health care, and new insurance deductibles are in most instances higher than the 'unacceptable' policies the ACA, which forced the insurance cancellations of in the first place.

So, if the President is able to grant 'Companies', 'Firms' and 'Employers' a twelve-month waiver (delay) to allow time for the Law to get figured out by the people who are supposed to be implementing it, why won't the President grant a waiver on those people who are being hurt by the law TODAY?

He's shown that he has the power to do whatever he wants when it comes to overriding the Separation of Powers within the US Government already, so WHY won't he do it again, to the benefit of people suffering under his ill-conceived and single-party legislated Act?

ANSWER:  Because he chooses not to.  HIS Magic is done on HIS Terms - not ours.   

I guess maybe, as 'average Americans' begin to feel the pain inflicted upon them by the "Community Organizer In Chief", they'll also begin to feel the warmth and glow of his legislation in their own households.  I wonder, at this point, should Republicans be pushing to have the Individual Mandate pushed back?  

No.

And while we're at it, let's get rid of the Employer Mandate 'extension' as well - just in time for the 2014 elections.  

Between you and me?  There's not enough Preparation H in the WORLD to prepare what we're going to see once the Employer Mandate kicks in.

You think we've got flaming A-Holes in Washington, DC?  Wait until we, the 'Great Unwashed', begin to feel the magic of ObamaCare in our personal wellness, our finances, and in our daily lives by the end of this year..

But, as the President said, sometimes "maybe you're better off not having the surgery, you may be better off just taking the pain killer".

Sure, the pain killers won't CURE you, but you'll die quietly.   And seriously, the President is getting a such a terrible headache from all of your incessant yammering -- please be considerate of his very important thoughts and go back to fretting quietly as you've done in the past.  

If you can't be quiet, he'll dispatch a "Navigator" to your home to help you find your way back to civility...

Sure, what could go wrong?