Columns

Quarantine is the forced confinement of a person who has contracted or been exposed to an infectious disease. Although it is a long-standing police power of governments, it is seldom used because seldom needed – sick people generally stay home on their own. When it must be used, it is subject to due process: the right to contest the order in court, to present evidence that the order is invalid, and to have it vacated. What is happening today is radically different and profoundly un-American: the indefinite and indiscriminate home detention without due process of perfectly healthy people on the pretext that they might catch a contagious disease...

The anguish in people’s voices as they call our office every day is heart-breaking. Many are wondering how they can pay their bills, whether their job will still exist in a week, whether their retirement savings have been decimated or whether they’ll lose the shop they’ve spent their lifetimes and life savings to build.

Lower premiums, increased choices and improved care: these were the promises made to America by those who imposed Obamacare. Exactly the opposite has happened. Last year, premiums increased an average of 25 percent and this year we’re warned they’ll increase 40 percent. Last year, only one provider remained in a third of American counties. This year, entire regions have no providers at all. In 2015, American life expectancies actually declined.

The great irony of the Republican decision to bust the budget sequester is that barely two months ago, congressional roles were reversed.