Feb. 05, 2014 @ 10:06 PM
The Herald-Dispatch / 2014
I’ve always honored the word “republic.”
A hallowed term that echoes through the halls of Congress, it embodies the spirit of every man and woman who has given their life to secure our nation’s form of government.
A republic is a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives as compared with a monarchy or a form of government where power rests in a single individual.
But, then there’s the presidential executive order.
An executive order is a remarkable power given to the president of the United States to enact law without the input of our elected representatives. Executive orders can only be given to federal or state agencies, not to citizens.
While it’s true that from the founding of our nation, American presidents have issued various types of executive orders, the practice isn’t without controversy.
The Constitution applies a “broad” brush stroke in defining the president’s power of executive order and there are some legitimate applications. But a chief executive to whom such sweeping power is afforded must be held to the highest possible standard.
If a president is proven to enact law irrespective of the wishes of the American people and their elected officials, it’s my belief such actions threaten our republic and fall under the periphery of Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, which calls for impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Last week, during Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, the president unabashedly previewed his intent to circumvent Congressional representatives if they are unwilling to pass legislation aligning with his ideology.
“I’m eager to work with all of you,” Obama told lawmakers. “But America does not stand still, and neither will I. So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Why does this president perpetually patronize Americans with his insistence that he knows best? In bypassing Congress, he literally eradicates elected representation for individuals or families unable to represent themselves and fundamentally threatens the liberty of every American.
Legislators like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) believe Obama is clearly “outside the bounds” of his constitutional limitations.
“This threat that the president’s going to run the government with an ink pen and executive orders, we’ve never had a president with that level of audacity and that level of contempt for his own oath of office,” King told CNN last week.
And for Democrat legislators to “cheer” the president as he promised to bypass them in the legislative process in his State of the Union address is symbolic of anemic liberal leadership, and frankly mind-numbing.
The very precept of our republic is being ostentatiously challenged in a manner which threatens our liberty and representative form of government.
Our country did not become the greatest nation in the world on the back of any single individual. For Barack Obama to espouse wisdom transcending the combined counsel of our elected representatives is a quintessential display of tyrannical rule.
And Americans will not succumb to tyranny.
Jan. 30, 2014 @ 12:00 AM
Do Americans have a fundamental right to privacy from government intrusion into their lives?
The right to privacy, in many ways, has been taken for granted to some degree by the American people. Each of us has grown accustomed to having the liberty to establish varying boundaries in our lives that we simply expect others to respect.
But the right to keep those boundaries might be in peril.
While the Constitution contains no “express” right to privacy, courts have ruled the Bill of Rights creates “zones of privacy” which protect us from government intrusion in many areas of our lives. Our Founding Fathers believed that smaller, less intrusive government was necessary in enabling Americans to be free.
I’ve been tentative about weighing in on National Security Agency (NSA) systems analyst Edward Snowden and his “whistle blowing” of our government’s security techniques to the world. But it’s time Americans begin processing how this information may impact our future personal freedoms.
Snowden revealed a top-secret program code-named “PRISM” operating under the provisions of the 2008 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which the government uses to collect personal data from American citizens indiscriminately and regardless of suspicion of wrongdoing.
Investigations have confirmed that data such as video chats, photographs and emails are collected from the servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook and other online companies.
My position has been this is an infringement upon the privacy rights of Americans. While Snowden “appeared” courageous in his whistle blowing, he should have presented his case through the proper venues — an error which will likely keep him from ever returning home.
But then last week, two leading members of the House Intelligence Committee revealed a classified Pentagon report that found Edward Snowden’s leaks have compromised U.S. military tactics and put troops in danger.
Republican committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers and ranking Democrat Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger said that Snowden stole approximately 1.7 million intelligence files that “concern vital operations of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.” Since this information has already aided the enemy, Snowden is now pegged a traitor.
“The vast majority of the material was related to the Defense Department, and our military services,” Rogers said in an Associated Press interview last week. “Clearly, given the scope and the types of information, I have concerns about operations that would be ongoing in Afghanistan.”
It’s important for Americans to maintain perspective here and not be swayed by political affiliation.
Our government has been exposed (albeit by a traitor) “experimenting” with the boundaries of privacy afforded by the U.S. Constitution.
In 2013, President Barack Obama, himself a constitutional lawyer, told Americans they were “going to have to make some choices” balancing privacy and security and defended the NSA surveillance program vigorously.
Consider this: If our privacy isn’t protected by the Constitution, what then, defines the government’s limitations?
Americans should never be asked to give up fundamental rights to gain the government’s protection.
That’s a dangerous step backward.
Jan. 23, 2014 @ 12:00 AM
Over the past several months, the Obama administration has primarily employed a “soft approach” in convincing individuals to enroll on their health insurance marketplace website.
But their approach will most certainly “broaden” in scope very soon.
March 31 is the open-enrollment deadline for Americans to purchase healthcare coverage as required by the Obamacare individual mandate.
Beginning next year, absent a qualifying exemption, the IRS will begin financially penalizing Americans who refuse to follow the Democrats’ marching orders.
Following this weighty deadline, the IRS will begin “casting its net” to capture what the administration calls a “shared responsibility payment” from individuals who chose “not” to purchase health insurance.
Now, the infinite details would be impossible to capture in a few words, but I’ll highlight the “big rocks.”
While the penalty begins small, it increases in subsequent years and could conceivably reach thousands of dollars per family per year once fully implemented.
The IRS website provides a sequential look at the increases over the next few years:
2014: $95 per person per year or 1 percent of your income.
2015: $325 per person per year or 2 percent of your income.
2016: $695 per person per year or 2.5 percent of your income.
2017: Tax penalty will increase by the rate of inflation going forward, or 2.5 percent of your income.
It’s noteworthy that these percentages are based on your modified adjusted gross income, which adds back certain deductions such as IRA contributions and student loan or higher education deductions. It’s also pro-rated for the number of months you are without coverage beginning after three months.
Currently, the only means the IRS has to collect the penalty is to withhold any money you would get back after filing your income tax returns.
“The amount of the shared responsibility payment will be included on the annual Form 1040 starting with the 2014 return taxpayers file,” Eric Smith, an IRS spokesperson told U.S. News. “It will offset any refund that would otherwise be due or will add to any balance due.”
Now there’s a laundry list of qualifying exemptions, many which benefit low-income Americans. For example, if the lowest-priced coverage available to you would cost more than 8 percent of your household income or if your income is less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level, you’ll be relieved of any penalty.
Additional information can be obtained by visiting http://www.irs.gov.
The road ahead is marred with potholes of uncertainty. Higher medical costs, shortage of doctors and longer wait times are all possibilities. If insurance providers collapse under the changes, the government will most likely step in and “rescue” Americans with a single-payer, government-run, healthcare system.
This administration’s belief that Americans have “shared” responsibility in paying for other people’s health insurance aligns perfectly with Barack Obama’s “spread the wealth” ideology.
Each of us must take personal responsibility and seek our best possible options while they’re still available.
But ignoring Obamacare’s individual mandate won’t be a choice.
Doing so could be costly.
Those who have insurance through work or currently do not have insurance obviously have nothing to worry about when it comes to the tax penalty. Those on Medicare or Medicaid will also be exempt. Aside from this Americans below the %133 FPL threshold will be exempt as well. Overall around 26 million Americans will be exempt from the tax penalty.
If you belong to any of the groups listed below you are exempt from ObamaCare’s mandate to “obtain minimum essential coverage” (i.e. buy insurance):
• Unaffordable coverage options Exemption. People who would have to pay more than 8 percent of their household income for health insurance
• No filing requirement. People with incomes below the threshold required for filing taxes (in 2012, $9,750 for a single person and $27,100 for a married couple with two children)
• Hardship. The Health Insurance Marketplace, also known as the Affordable Insurance Exchange, has certified that you have suffered a hardship that makes you unable to obtain coverage.
• Short Coverage Gap Exemption. If go without coverage for less than three consecutive months during the year you will not be responsible for the fee for those months. Make sure to sign up for a plan that starts by April 1st, 2014 to avoid the per month fee in 2014. Open enrollment ends March 31st, but if you sign up after March 15th your coverage won’t start until May 1st, 2014 and you may be responsible for the fee for going without health coverage in April.
• Religious conscience. People who qualify for religious exemptions. The Social Security Administration administers the process for recognizing these sects according to the criteria in the law.
• Health care sharing ministry. You are a member of a recognized health care sharing ministry
• Not lawfully present. Undocumented immigrants; You are not a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national or an alien lawfully present in the U.S.
• Incarceration. People who are incarcerated.
• Indian tribes. Members of a federally recognized Indian tribe.
For those who can afford it and choose not to purchase health insurance the tax will be unavoidable. The money collected from these taxes goes towards funding ObamaCare and subsidizing hospitals who will have to cover unpaid emergency room visits. The money is also a down payment on your almost inevitable use of the health care system.
Check out the official IRS website on exemptions and the Individual mandate for additional details.
Hardship Exemption Update December 20th, 2013: If you had your plan canceled in 2014 due to the Affordable Care Act you now qualify for a hardship exemption in 2014. That means you won’t have to pay the fee if you decide to go without insurance and will qualify for a low premium, high out-of-pocket catastrophic plan on your State’s health insurance marketplace. This change does not affect your ability to get subsidies or purchase other marketplace plans.
ObamaCare Exemption: How to Apply for an Exemption
ObamaCare exemptions (i.e. getting an exemption from the Affordable Care Acts individual shared responsibility fee) for unaffordable coverage, short coverage gaps, certain hardships and individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States can be claimed only as part of filing a federal income tax return. The exemption for those under the federal income tax return filing threshold is available automatically. No special action is needed. For other exemptions you’ll need to claim exemption on your income taxes and/or apply for a exemption certificate through the marketplace.
What Happens If I Don’t Pay the Individual Mandate Fee?
The only way for the IRS to collect the fee for not having health insurance, if you choose not to pay it, is for them to withhold the money you would get back from the IRS after filing your income tax returns. The IRS cannot enforce the Individual Shared Responsibility provision with jail time, liens, or any other of typical methods of collection.
What is Minimum Essential Coverage?
In order to avoid the mandate you’ll have to obtain “minimum essential coverage”. Basically this includes all Government and job based insurance and most private insurance. As a rule of thumb if you have insurance already you don’t have to worry about the mandate.
Minimum essential coverage includes the following:
•Employer-sponsored coverage (including COBRA coverage and retiree coverage)
•Coverage purchased in the individual market, including a qualified health plan offered by the Health Insurance Marketplace (also known as an Affordable Insurance Exchange)
•Medicare Part A coverage and Medicare Advantage plans
•Most Medicaid coverage
•Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage
•Certain types of veterans health coverage administered by the Veterans Administration
•TRICARE
•Coverage provided to Peace Corps volunteers
•Coverage under the Non-appropriated Fund Health Benefit Program
•Refugee Medical Assistance supported by the Administration for Children and Families
•Self-funded health coverage offered to students by universities for plan or policy years that begin on or before Dec. 31, 2014 (for later plan or policy years, sponsors of these programs may apply to HHS to be recognized as minimum essential coverage)
•State high risk pools for plan or policy years that begin on or before Dec. 31, 2014 (for later plan or policy years, sponsors of these program may apply to HHS to be recognized as minimum essential coverage)
Minimum essential coverage does not include coverage providing only limited benefits, such as coverage only for vision care or dental care, and Medicaid covering only certain benefits such as family planning, workers’ compensation, or disability policies.
Can I Buy Insurance for my Kids and Pay the Tax for Myself?
You can get coverage for any of all of your dependents but you will still be responsible for the tax penalty for yourself
Two Obamacare “meltdown” events have yet to happen – and some folks will be blind-sided…
The following is a list of “tips” the White House is providing on their website for insuring you’re properly covered.
Now this is their “disclaimer” so that when something unexpectedly happens, they can say, “Well, we had the directions on our website…”
Here are the two meltdown events coming:
1) When the employer mandate kicks in, millions more Americans will lose their health coverage at their job and be “forced” to shop the insurance exchanges.
2) Those uninformed people, many whom voted for Obama, who did not purchase the coverage mandated will be hit with fines deducted from their tax returns. If they won’t receive a tax return, the IRS will, no doubt, garnish their wages or put a tax lien on their property.
The only hope is for Republicans to win the Senate in November and the presidency in 2016. We can then use the “nuclear option” the Democrats just created to dump this piece of garbage and make some much needed changes to health care in our country.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/12/31/new-day-health-care-coverage
A New Day in Health Care Coverage | The White House
Mark Caserta: Amendment protects religious freedom
Jan. 09, 2014 @ 12:00 AM
It amazes me when otherwise intelligent people invoke the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and effectuate exactly what it was intended to prevent — the suppression of religious freedom.
Nevertheless, the words, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” are recurrently maligned in pursuit of a progressive agenda rather than to protect the religious rights of Americans.
While it’s true the word “God” is nowhere to be found in the text of the Constitution, it’s equally true the words “separation of church and state” do not appear.
In order to understand the framers’ intent in constructing this founding document, one must first understand their mindset and spiritual ideology.
The absence of the word “God” doesn’t mean the Framers were not spiritual people. It’s simply expositive of their belief that the “new” government should not involve itself in matters of religion and more precisely in the rights of the people to express their faith openly.
The phrase “separation of church and state” evolved from a Thomas Jefferson writing which described the First Amendment as a “wall of separation” between the church and the state. James Madison once said it “drew a line,” but it’s Jefferson’s term that is misused today.
Based on numerous writings, documents and speeches, nearly all of the framers of the Constitution were Christian, or at the very least, deists. Generally deists believe in a single God who set the universe on its course and allowed it to evolve. Some deists believe their “deity” is the same God of Judeo-Christian tradition, some do not.
Among the framers, more than a half-dozen sects of the Protestant side of Christianity were represented and no doubt there were disagreements about styles and methods of worship. It was the framers intent to ensure no one “sect” could ever seize control of a government or begin a theocracy.
So, let’s break it down. “Congress shall…”
“Make no law respecting an establishment of religion” is crystal clear. Government may never mandate a particular religion or favor one in legislation.
“Or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” denotes government is powerless in suppressing our religious expression — period. Sadly, this issue has been inflamed by Supreme Court justices appointed for their “predictable” interpretive ideologies.
But it is the height of hypocrisy for liberals to call for punitive action against Christian symbols and actions or refuse to honor their religious beliefs when these actions clearly violate the very amendment they inappropriately invoke!
Following Congress’ work on the First Amendment, President George Washington issued a Proclamation of “thanksgiving and prayer” to thank God for the freedoms we enjoy. The opening paragraph of his proclamation said:
“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor…”
To this day, every session of Congress begins with prayer.
Conservatives support the Constitutional interpretation of the law.
The First Amendment does not prohibit our religious freedom; it protects it.
Mark Caserta is a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.
Mark Caserta: Christians must get involved in coming year
Jan. 02, 2014 @ 12:00 AM
I believe 2014 will be a defining year for our nation — one in which the progressive movement will attempt to accost the fundamental values and principles of our country in ways we’ve never even imagined.
And God is calling His people to get engaged in the fight.
Understand God has never required perfection in His people before calling them to a purpose. As with any loving father, He simply asks for our very best — our first fruits if you will — in serving Him.
I often ponder the life of Jesus and how He performed his everyday duties for his earthly father during his first 30 years before beginning his ministry.
A carpenter by trade, it’s almost certain Jesus learned his craftsman skills from his father Joseph. The custom in those days among the working class was that a trade be passed down from father to son and was often done through several generations.
I have little doubt Jesus was a master craftsman. I’d wager the work he and his father produced in their shop was widely known for its excellence in quality. Whether a table, a chair or part of an elaborate building project, I can envision him measuring and re-measuring to ensure accuracy while painstakingly cutting, fitting and molding each project to perfection!
No doubt, Jesus must have been encumbered by the same discomforts and emotions we face every day. There must have been days he certainly didn’t feel like working and felt the same “urges” to gripe and complain as the rest of us often do.
But Jesus was learning the importance of role-modeling excellence in all he set out to accomplish. He was learning that appearance profited little without an enduring structure and load-bearing foundation. His artisan training taught him the integrity of an entire structure depended upon the trueness of the first cornerstone laid.
And Jesus Christ himself would eventually become the Chief Cornerstone of the Church.
Now, some 2,000 years later, and eerily similar to those who nailed our Savior to that tree on Calvary, there are those who see Jesus and His followers as a threat to humanity and desire to “re-crucify” him by removing any reference to Christianity from public view and from any governing ideology.
At what point did God say it was acceptable for His people to idly stand by and allow the enemy to destroy the world He sent His Son to save? Does God’s Word not say, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”
Just as Jesus’ finished work as a carpenter represented the teachings of his earthly father, our work on earth represents our Heavenly Father. Jesus took 12 men and shook the world. What can Christians do today in comparison?
Make the most meaningful New Year’s resolution you could possibly make. Get the fire, get the facts and get involved in 2014.
It’s up to Christians to return Godly values and biblical principles to our nation’s government.
Ye are the light of the world.
Mark Caserta is a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.
Mark Caserta: Obamacare more about power than healthcare
Dec. 26, 2013 @ 12:00 AM
Americans have been given a false choice regarding healthcare reform.
There were many viable alternatives for making healthcare more available and affordable in America that didn’t require tearing down the entire system and replacing it with a mandate that all Americans “bow” at the altar of the Department of Health and Human Services or the Internal Revenue Service.
Yet Democrat leadership failed to pursue reasonable solutions which studies have shown would significantly improve healthcare in the U.S. while maintaining an individual’s right to choose the coverage which best suits their needs.
Americans struggling to make ends meet should receive tax breaks commensurate with their income enabling them to afford quality healthcare for themselves and their family. I would personally like to see the money our government sends to other nations outside of humanitarian needs redirected to subsidize healthcare coverage for Americans at or below our nation’s poverty level. America must stay strong to help others!
People with pre-existing conditions shouldn’t be left out in the cold. But we can’t expect insurance companies to simply “absorb” these additional costs. Again, our government should re-allocate foreign aid funding, as well as eliminate their own irresponsible spending, to cover these additional costs in the form of a tax subsidy.
We must allow insurance companies to sell their policies across state lines. We have every reason to believe that healthy competition will reduce costs and provide more options for Americans just as every other U.S. industry.
Tort reform on medical malpractice is needed. Our current system increases costs both directly, in the form of higher malpractice insurance premiums, and indirectly, in the form of defensive medicine when medical services are prescribed simply to circumvent liability rather than benefit the patient.
Employers should be encouraged to offer Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) to their employees. HSAs allow individuals to set aside money from each paycheck, before taxes, for future medical care. The American people are much more frugal and conscientious with their money than the government! An HSA may also be an excellent fit with a high-deductible insurance plan.
Pre-Obamacare, according to the Congressional Budget Office, (CBO) there were around 15 million uninsured Americans in the U.S. But based on CBO projections, once Obamacare is fully implemented, and working smoothly, that number climbs to 30 million in 2023!
I submit the Obamacare journey, which has cost our nation billions of dollars, has never really been about providing health coverage for all Americans, but something entirely different.
President Obama and Democrats sold Obamacare on a series of lies knowing it would result in a base of voters not only dependent upon government, but subject to extortion of their tax dollars if they defied the mandate.
A defining characteristic of this administration is to arrogantly operate within the narrowest definition of executive power and outside of the people’s consent.
The fact that Obamacare shifts power away from the people and to government challenges the fundamental belief that government must derive its “just powers from the consent of the governed”.
Obamacare isn’t about healthcare. It’s about power.
Man’s wisdom is fallible, not God’s word
Oct. 17, 2013 @ 09:27 AM
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God?”
Those words from Thomas Jefferson, our third president and drafter of the Declaration of Independence, are paramount for the time in which we live. For if we are to continue as the prosperous society which God intended, we must have full faith and confidence that God’s Word is unlike the “grass which withers” and the “flower which fades,” but is eternal and “stands forever.”
It’s true that some of our country’s founding fathers were not Bible-believing Christians. But the very fabric of our nation was divinely inspired of God! The reference to God and his omnipotent power is reflected throughout all of our nation’s founding documents, so I do not propose to “re-try” this argument before the court of our readers.
But we’ve all been subjected to the “guise” and “stratagem” of the progressive movement. For over a century, its goal has clearly been to methodically remove God and His influence from our society, rendering it “as a wave of the sea, tossed and driven by the wind.”
God prepared us for this time by providing the “full armor” and power of His Word so we could stand firm against the schemes of all who would attempt to challenge and bring uncertainty to the biblical statutes that have governed our lives for centuries.
Liberals see God’s Word not as truth, but as the primary obstacle for fundamentally changing America. They understand the efficacy of the Bible cannot be diminished all at once, but through gradually questioning its accuracy, interpretation and intent over time.
Now, while no one knows the heart of man, it’s indefensible that anyone would attempt to decry the legitimacy or inerrancy of God’s Word in a day and age when our country needs it so desperately.
The truth is the liberal contestation of God’s Word is inconsequential in deciding the outcome of this “battle.” God has already prevailed through his son, Jesus. His only desire in prolonging our life on earth is to allow as many believers to enter into His Kingdom as possible.
Defiance arises within the spirit of a believer when God’s Word is questioned! Why would anyone claiming to be a believer spend more time questioning God’s Word than sharing the good news of Jesus?
Even “earthly” wisdom suggests that the “unbeliever” who wrongly chooses a path to eternal destruction has more to lose than a Christian who enjoys life according to God’s commandments.
Questioning the inerrancy of God’s Word seeks to transcend the wisdom of The Almighty and typifies man’s arrogant and pernicious nature.
I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers, but I know a God who does. And I’m confident that the truth may be unequivocally found in His Word — the Holy Bible.
Rest assured, fallibility lies in man’s wisdom — not God’s.
Mark Caserta is a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.
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