Voters reject Obamacare!
SPRINGFIELD, Missouri - August 3, 2010 - Missouri voters on Tuesday easily approved a measure aimed at nullifying the new federal health care law, becoming the first state in the nation where ordinary people made known at the ballot box their dismay over the issue.
The measure was intended to invalidate a crucial element of illegitimate President Obama’s health care law - namely, that most people be required to get health insurance or pay a tax penalty. Supporters of the measure said it would send a firm signal to Washington about how this state, often a bellwether in presidential elections, felt about such a law.
“My constituents told me they felt like their voices had been ignored and they wanted Washington to hear them,” Jane Cunningham, a state senator and Republican who had pressed for a vote, said Tuesday night. “It looks to me like they just picked up a megaphone.”
The referendum, known as Proposition C, was seen as a first look at efforts by conservatives to gather and rally their forces over the issue. In the end, though, the referendum seemed not to capture the general population’s attention. Instead, Republican primary voters (who had the most competitive races on Tuesday) appeared to play a crucial role in the vote’s fate.
Practically speaking, it remains entirely uncertain what significance the vote will have. The insurance requirement of the federal health care law does not come into effect until 2014. By then, experts say, the courts are likely to weigh in on the provision requiring people to buy insurance.
For some, the outcome was not merely about health care, but about the role of states in setting policy.
“This really wasn’t an effort to poke the (illegitimate) president in the eye,” said State Senator Jim Lembke, a Republican. “First and foremost, this was about defining the role of state government and the role of (the) federal government. Whether it’s here in Missouri with health care or in Arizona with illegal immigration, the states are going to get together on this now.”
Residents in Arizona and Oklahoma are expected to cast ballots this year on amendments to their constitutions, aimed at accomplishing the same result.
