Walter Patterson Herald ColumnistRonald Reagan never referred to Americans as “the masses” or as “the working class.”  He never referred to Americans as “subjects.”  
Reagan felt that Americans had guaranteed freedoms that made them citizens.  Citizens are different from “workers or subjects.”  Citizens have choices.  They have individual freedoms.  Citizens of the United States have a written constitution that guarantees each and every one freedom from an all-powerful, all-intrusive central government.
Reagan fought for these principles and ideals.  He understood more than any other president in the modern era how important it was to have a limited central government.  Otherwise, the people of this country would live under a “soft tyranny” where everything is controlled by the central government and the individual has little or no freedom.
On Thursday, June 28, 2012, Americans became ‘subjects.”  No longer do we have the freedom to spend our money the way we want to spend it.  The United States Supreme Court ruled that Americans have to buy health insurance whether or not they want it or need it.  This absurd ruling was not based on the commerce clause of the constitution, but on the ability of congress to tax its subjects.  Obamacare was declared “constitutional” based on the assumption that congress can tax anything it wants to tax –even behavior. We are now being governed by escapees from the insane asylum,
The Supreme Court ruled that American subjects will now pay the highest tax increase in the history of the world.  This has never before happened. Obamacare was sold as healthcare, but in reality, it was simply a tax increase.   
Everyone will buy  health insurance or pay a fine. To make sure that you pay the fine or buy the insurance, the Internal Revenue Service is at this very moment hiring 16,000 new agents.  Healthcare is now going to be enforced by the IRS, a tax collecting agency.  
All of us know or have read about some of the things that are contained within this 2700 page Obamacare law.  Yes, there will be death panels.  Sarah Palin pointed this out soon after Obamacare was passed by the Democrats on Christmas Eve, 2009.  If you are a subject who has reached the ripe old age of seventy-five, any treatment for a serious health problem will have to be approved by a “health panel.”
If it is determined that the cost is nominal, then you will receive treatment, perhaps not great treatment, but some treatment.  If the cost of treating you is expensive, cancer treatment, for example, the panel will determine if it is “cost effective” to treat you based on your predicted life expectancy.  As Obama once told a lady, “It may make more sense to give your mother a pain pill.”
Medical treatment will be rationed, of course.  You cannot insure 30 million more people and expect the available doctors, nurses, and hospitals to take care of them.  By the way, Obama has just extended amnesty to 1.4 million illegal aliens.  Guess who will foot the bill for these people’s healthcare. The producers in this country will have to support those who choose not to work.
Your insurance premiums (taxes) will see a steep rise.  Think about this!  During a time when the economy is in the tank, you will be required to pay more taxes.  More money will be taken out of the private sector.  If you cannot purchase an insurance policy, Nancy Pelosi thinks that putting you in jail is a strong incentive to get you to pay up.  When is enough enough?
You and I are now subjects, not citizens.  We are going to be told what to do and when to do it.  If the central government can tax whatever it chooses, then there will be a tax placed on our behaviors.  Federal taxes will be placed on soft drinks because they make us fat.  We need to eat less beef because it causes heart trouble.  A “beef tax” will be implemented. You will be fined for smoking a cigarette or cigar.  The list is limitless.  Behavior will be taxed, and this was not on the minds of the founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has just unleashed a demon, a demon which we don’t fully understand, but one we already know we cannot afford.  The Congressional Budget Office has already predicted that this Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) will cost the treasury a minimum of $1.4 trillion.   We are already $16.7 trillion in debt, so you do the math.  We are headed for a financial disaster, and no one in Washington has a clue including Chief Justice John Roberts.  Roberts masqueraded as a conservative, but now we know he is a liberal as the most liberal on the bench.
With this ruling, we can now officially begin calling ourselves subjects of the American government.  We can also refer to our peers as “the masses” or “working class.” Comrade Karl Marx would be proud.