As our Supreme Overlords debate the constitutionality of the individual mandate, it's nice to have a reminder that there are still some Republicans out there who practice what they preach.
March 26 – Republicans For Mandating Coverage (RMC) — a 51-member coalition representing Republicans who supported a federal health care mandate before President Barack Obama endorsed it — urged the Supreme Court on Monday to uphold the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate.
As Republicans who have co-sponsored or supported legislation requiring all Americans to purchase individual health insurance in 1993, 1994, 2007, and as recently as 2009, RMC believes that the mandate is based on the fundamental American principle of personal responsibility, rooted in conservative jurisprudence surrounding the Constitution’s Commerce and Necessary and Proper clauses.
There was a time when personal responsibility was one of the primary platforms of the Republican Party.
I'm not sure when exactly the party decided to abandon personal responsibility, but I believe it was around the time they decided that deficits don't matter if they come from tax-cuts.