Presidential Waivers and other Royal decrees

Something I don't see being taken much notice of, regarding the Obama Administration's granting of waivers to 200... 700 businesses, and now 4 states... is the blatant wielding of unrestrained power which it represents.

"The Obama administration said Wednesday that it had granted broad waivers to four states allowing health insurance companies to continue offering less generous benefits than they would otherwise be required to provide this year under the new federal health care law."

I'm sorry to tell my conservative friends that granting these waivers is not a sign of weakness on the part of the administration, far from it. I'm also sorry to tell my leftie friends that It is not a sign of benevolence on the part of the administration, who is after all, 'just trying to look out for their health'. This is a demonstration that those who the Obama administration favors will be given extra-legal preferences, and that those who it doesn't favor - will have to deal with 'the law' as it's written. More than anything else, this is a 'step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly' moment for those who may have half heartedly supported the administration, and even more so to those who have been granted the waivers.

"...Mr. Larsen, who is director of the federal Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight(http://www.hhs.gov/cciio/). It was to protect such coverage that the administration granted the waivers, he said.

To qualify for a waiver, a state, an employer or an insurer must show that compliance with the federal requirement would cause “a significant increase in premiums or a decrease in access to benefits.”

The issue which these folks who are benefiting from Obama's waivers should be most focused upon, and if they aren't yet I'm sure the administration will soon be raising their consciousnesses to it, is that now that they are under the administrations protection, if they don't toe the line, they can lose it.

This is a textbook example (well... it would be if textbooks were actually concerned with accuracy and truth) of a nation whose laws are based upon the whims of powerful men, and an absolute repudiation of "A nation of laws" which motivated the founding of our Republic. What John Adams wrote in his "Thoughts on Government" about how Americans felt when talking to Englishmen way back then, applies to how most of us feel when talking with leftists here today,

"A man must be indifferent to the sneers of modern Englishmen, to mention in their company the names of Sidney, Harrington, Locke, Milton, Nedham, Neville, Burnet, and Hoadly. No small fortitude is necessary to confess that one has read them. The wretched condition of this country, however, for ten or fifteen years past, has frequently reminded me of their principles and reasonings. They will convince any candid mind, that there is no good government but what is republican. That the only valuable part of the British constitution is so; because the very definition of a republic is “an empire of laws, and not of men.” That, as a republic is the best of governments, so that particular arrangement of the powers of society, or, in other words, that form of government which is best contrived to secure an impartial and exact execution of the laws, is the best of republics."

This situation is not isolated to 'trying to make health care work', it is the basic motivating policy of regulatory law (BTW, if you haven't read any of those names he mentioned, you might want to, your nation was founded, in part, upon their ideas). Play ball, get favored status, continue playing ball to keep your favored status. Don't play ball, and you will be crushed. The EPA, an old hand at this sort of thing, is well on into the practice with it's greenhouse regulations.

As National Review points out, back in 2009, Obama awarded GE $24.9 million in stimulus funds, and “roughly $20 billion more slated for health care record modernization of the kind that GE specializes in — ‘with a direct request to do so from GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt.’” Then last month, the President appointed Jeffrey Immelt, the CEO of General Electric, to his Head Council of Competitiveness and Jobs.
This all holds incredibly consistent with Immelt’s notion that for businesses to be successful it must work “in concert” with the government. However, it’s also known as “rent seeking” and is a glaring example of Big Government interfering with Big Business. Which is a problem.

These aren't 'failings' or 'slip-ups', these are examples of the entire purpose and point of regulatory law.

Get used to it. Practice bowing and grovelling.

Or work to repeal, reduce and restore the Constitution and the Rule of Law.
(Cross posted at 24th State)