Back to the discussion at hand . . The Liberals are kind of standing, Jack-Jawed, and wondering "Wotthehellhappened?" . . And most of them are thinking that a "conservative" judge just gave them an election day present. On the other side, the conservatives are all ready to lynch Chief Justice Roberts because he became a "Flip-Flopper" and ruled against the conservative argument, that the "mandate" was unconstitutional.
What everyone seems to miss is the subtle gift of choice given back to both the States and their individual voters (Re:Ken) . . Congress is the body with the legislative ability to levy taxes. The President can only ask them to. On the other hand, if a President and Congress elect to tax their constituents, the Constituents (Voters) can vote them out and elect new representatives to the legislature . . Which is what Roberts said at the end of his decision. Basically, he told the Republicans (and the independents) that if they don't like the "punative Tax" it's up to them to remove those who put it in place and change or eliminate the law by legislation. Roberts declined to "Legislate from the Bench" and returned the choices to the Congress and the voters. (I'm being redundant here, but so are most of the Politicians on both sides of the aisle, because none of their arguments or statements bear any of this out).
Last weekend's political News Programs shed little light on the decision. Jack Lew, Obama's "Axelrod replacement" did double time, trying to tell every questioner that the "Mandate" is not a "TAX" as the court said it was (and as Obama's Lawyer argued in front of the court) but a legal punative fine if you didn't do as Father Government declared. On the other hand, both Mitch McConnel (Senate Minority Leader) and Mitt Romney were literally tongue tied because Romney's "RomneyCare" in Massachusets WAS a tax and in McConnel's case, he didn't know what to say or do about the turn of events. Personally, I think McConnel os dumber than dirt and needs to be thrown out unceremoniously . . But that's just me . .
Roberts also took much of Congress' power of use of the Commerce Clause as a "Catch All" means to override the states rights on anything the congress deemed to be "Their Turf" or . . decided to claim it as such, stretching the reach of Congress beyond that of the original intent by the Framers . .
All in all, It was a good day (and decision) for the states and the voters . . It's up to them to decide whether they want the Government intruding upon them and their private lives, making choices so they won't have to do it themselves, or deciding that they can do without the government writing checks it can't cash . . As Franklin said; " . . We have given you a Republic, let's see if you can keep it" . . Roberts, in a round about way, said pretty much the same thing . . .