New Deal Numerology: Broccoli Roberts

By  *Tim Price

This week’s numbers: 80; 23%; 67%; 6%; 17 million

80 …  is an activist number. That’s how many years it’s been since the Supreme Court voted as conservatively as it does now, according to a recent study. But upholding Obamacare makes them liberals if you believe anything invented after electricity is unconstitutional.

23% …  is a divided number. That’s how many of the Roberts Court’s rulings have split 5 — 4. It really helps make your decisions seem unbiased and binding when nearly a quarter of them could be changed by one guy flipping a coin.

67% …  is an individualist number. That’s how many Americans support repealing the individual mandate. Large majorities favor the rest of the bill, but Americans are still uncomfortable with mandates despite growing support for gay marriage.

6% …  is a mandatory number. That’s how many people will actually be affected by the individual mandate. And if they really don’t want health care, the IRS promises not to send agents to coat their medicine in peanut butter and feed it to them.

17 million …  is an expansive number. That’s how many Americans the law’s Medicaid expansion will cover. But yesterday’s ruling makes it easier for Republican governors to reject those funds if they feel politics is literally more important than life itself.

*With the permission Tim Price, Deputy Editor of the Next New Deal,  Blog of the Roosevelt Institute