Here's an idea whose time has NOT come: Virginia state legislators are setting an "example" for the nation, busying themselves passing bills (three different ones) that would "make it illegal to require individuals to purchase health insurance." A number of Democrats in iffy districts were evidently stampeded across the aisle by the "tea-party" movement to vote with Republicans and pass these idiotic and shameful bills.
Idiotic? Yes, since of course if such a requirement were a part of federal legislation, these bills would themselves be illegal. And if the politicized Supreme Court were to decide the federal requirement was unconstitutional, these self-indulgent little lawlets would have no standing either. (My guess is that the Roberts Court would not strike down the mandate, which benefits big health care and insurance companies.)
Of course, the bills are designed not as law, but to have a political chilling effect and to express a view. It's the view of a noisy minority whose actions if successful would unwittingly serve, not to declare liberation from an oppressive regime, but effectively to paralyze government and turn the whole country into California. Some may say that's what they want; but they would not care to live with the result.
Shameful? Yes, Virginians ought to be ashamed of these posturing politicos. The tea-party movement, despite its name, doesn't fit in the historical or philosophical framework of the U.S. war of independence. It's a much better match for some of the most heinous moments in history. The raucous disruption of political gatherings, for example, belongs squarely in the playbook of the Nazis in the early 1930's as Hitler schemed to seize power.
Virginia politicans in particular ought to recall another shameful moment in history. This is the Virginia that can't think of any better tourist attraction to advertise in its Richmond motel rooms than being the former capital of the Confederacy; the Virginia where every other highway, park, statue, and public building is still named either "Lee" or "Jeff Davis"; and the Virginia that had as its official state song until just a decade ago, "Carry Me Back to Ol' Virginny," with its talk of "darkies" and such (and no new state song has been chosen). The efforts to preempt federal legislation with defiant rants in the halls of state capitals is from the Civil War playbook, one with which responsible state assemblymen ought to refuse to be associated - even as they're running like frightened rabbits from the fox (or the mad hatter).
The linked article above helpfully shows who voted in favor of these bills, and I reproduce it here - 18 Republicans,5 Democrats. If one of them is your state delegate, you might think about sending him/her a note.
Yeas: 23 Charles J. Colgan (D-Prince William), Blevins (R-Chesapeake), Emmett W. Hanger Jr. (R-Augusta), R. Edward Houck (D-Spotsylvania), Robert Hurt (R-Pittsylvania), Stephen H. Martin (R-Chesterfield), Ryan T. McDougle (R-Hanover), Jeff McWaters (R-Virginia Beach), John C. Miller (D-Newport News), Stephen D. Newman (R-Lynchburg), Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City), Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), Phillip P. Puckett (D-Russell), Frederick M. Quayle (R-Chesapeake), William Roscoe Reynolds (D-Franklin), Frank M. Ruff Jr. (R-Mecklenburg), Ralph K. Smith (R-Roanoke), Walter A. Stosch (R-Henrico), Richard H. Stuart (R-Westmoreland), Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Winchester), Frank W. Wagner (R-Virginia Beach), William C. Wampler Jr. (R-Bristol), John C. Watkins (R-Chesterfield)
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