The individual mandate included in the health care reform bill is perhaps the most offensive aspect of the new law. Missouri's much-talked about ballot rejecting the mandate by a 71 to 29% margin strongly suggests independents and a considerable portion of Democrat voters dislike the idea of the federal government forcing individuals into a economic transaction.
Candy Crowley remarks the vote "carries little practical meaning." In the sense of stopping the mandate, this is true. The larger practical meaning of the ballot, however, is in demonstrating a majority of Americans, in this case in Missouri, reject such a vast government assault on individual freedom.
This is a very good sign, that Americans are not apathetic to government overreach and that we are not clamoring for a cradle-to-grave nanny state on par with western Europe. Quite the opposite.
