According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, “Stalinism is associated with a regime of terror and totalitarian rule.” Forcing people to buy a commodity like healthcare is the very definition of totalitarianism.

The 2,700-page “Affordable Care Act” (Obamacare) can be nothing but totalitarian. There are so many unknowns in the law that lawyers and bureaucrats are going to have a field day with it. We know that Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress have not read the Act. This is mindboggling. Of course, they haven’t read the Constitution either, and if they have they don’t pay any attention to it. The Constitution and the laws that Congress makes are props in the hands of totalitarians.

President Obama accused the conservative members of the Supreme Court of being involved in “judicial activism” if they vote to overturn the law. Give me a break. And putting pro-Obamacare Elena Kagan on the Court was not judicial activism?

President Obama went to law school, was editor of the law review, and  taught law at the University of Chicago. Even so, he questions the constitutional legitimacy of the court because its members are not elected.

He went on to say that he was “confident that the Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress.” Surely President Obama is aware of “judicial review,” the constitution’s separation of powers principle. The president took an oath to uphold the Constitution. So what other constitutional provisions doesn’t President Obama want to follow?

The Obamacare vote was not a “strong majority,” as he president suggests. The roll-call vote was 219–212 in the House in favor of passage with 219 Democrats voting yes and 0 Republicans. Voting no were 34 Democrats and 178 Republicans. In the Senate, the Bill passed by one vote.

The long-term goal of bills like “Affordable Care Act” is for making the law so complicated and comprehensive that it becomes easier to control us in the name of some law buried deep in a statute.

Some time ago I was listening to Alice in Wonderland (a Walt Disney Read‑Along Book and Tape) with my oldest son, who was three at the time, and came across a rather insightful commentary on the nature of political power.

Alice is confronted by the Queen of Hearts and asked if she plays croquet. Alice answers “Yes,” but insists she cannot stay to play because she’s trying to find her way.

“Your way?” bellowed the Queen, “All ways here are my ways. Off with her head.” Individuals must sacrifice their ways for the good of the State.

How do tyrannical governments get into power? It’s a slow but deliberate process. The goal is to change the way people think. One way to do this is to change the rules of the game, even down to the definitions of terms. Again, Lewis Carroll has some pertinent insights:

“I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’” Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t — till I tell you . . . . When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s all.”

For the despot, power is all that matters. Words and what they mean — what they can be made to mean — are the goals of a tyrant.