The Decision

We're publishing today's edition early, just ahead of the Supreme Court's announcement of its monumental decision on the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare.

Like the individual decisions of the Justices themselves, some of our comments on this decision were written well in advance of today's publication. Like the other serious and weighty decisions the Court has made this week, today's announcement will not solve the health care insurance issue in this country. The Court's earlier decisions on labor union participation, or immigration or campaign finance issues did not solve those problems either.

Making effective, solid law has never been the proper role of the Supreme Court.

The job of making solid, well-thought, well-researched, effective, efficient law is the job of our legislative bodies - from village boards and city councils, all the way up to Congress. If we allow the wealthiest people and corporations to blanket our TVs, radios, newspapers and computers with sensationalism and half truths to convince us that sending our village idiots to DC to represent them (not us!) is a good idea, we have only ourselves to blame.

Making good law that works for all of us - not just the wealthiest or most extreme among us - is our collective responsibility.

Similarly, guiding our country is also not the role of the Court. It is the role of the President, who - among many, many responsibilities - carries the role of political leader. The role of the Executive Branch is also enforcement, as well as implementation.

It's easy for the millions of armchair dictators and media blowhards to scream and holler that the President should simply do whatever they say, as though the President were a king or a queen - or a dictator, as President Bush once lamented publicly.

Our President is not a dictator. He or she cannot simply send thousands of border agents to Mexico and Canada, and - POOF! All our immigration problems will be gone. The President can't simply send the Fifth Infantry to Wall Street, to forcibly penalize all those responsible for the economic disaster - or force insurance companies to put patient outcomes and efficient health care before the interests of their stockholders and profit motives.

The President may be the head of the Executive Branch - but fixing these iconic issues is not the sole responsibility of the current occupant of the White House.

No, the biggest decision and the most responsibility will still fall in the same place it has for over a century - squarely on the shoulders of the American people.

We're like a relay team at the Olympics that's still arguing about minor issues like who bought the shoelaces for today's race. Problem is, we're still in the starting blocks, where we've been for over a century, while every other first world nation has figured out how to provide basic, high-quality health care, as good or better than comparable care here in the U.S. And, for the most part, it's available to ALL of THEIR  citizens.

We still haven't even gotten out of the starting gates.

The most important decision that will face Americans this day - or this year - on how Americans will pay for decent basic health care, won't be coming from the Supreme Court.

We're not saying the decision the Supreme Court makes today is insignificant. Admittedly, it will definitely take far more than just a day or two to fully "unpack" the effects of their ruling, whatever it is. No matter what they decide, their ruling will not solve our health care insurance problems - even if their opinion is simply to allow the Affordable Care Act to stand as it is.

To make laws and implement solutions that will solve massive systemic problems like the cost of health care is our collective national responsibility. Our decision - the only decision that matters on health care insurance - is to act on the ruling the Court gives us today, so that we can fix this problem together.

It is long past time we, as a nation, decide to finish the task of taking care of the basic health needs of all Americans. That is the only decision that matters on this issue.

To make laws and implement solutions that will solve massive systemic problems like the cost of health care is our collective national responsibility. Our decision - the only decision that matters on health care insurance - is to act on the ruling the Court gives us today, so that we can fix this problem together.

It is long past time we, as a nation, decide to finish the task of taking care of the basic health needs of all Americans. That is the only decision that matters on this issue.