Members of the baby boomer generation turned out in force on the steps of the Supreme Court building to protest the health care law Tuesday.
Despite cool temperatures on Capitol Hill, a loud and determined group made their feelings about the Affordable Care Act known. The protest was peaceful, but Obamacare supporters and critics got into heated confrontations with each other.
On the second day of oral arguments at the nation’s highest court, the stakes were high. Depending upon the court’s findings, Obamacare could be upheld in its current form, or it could be ruled unconstitutional and struck down entirely. The decision — some would argue President Obama’s political hopes of re-election — rest in the hands of the nine justices after a long battle through federal appeals courts.
The Daily Caller spoke with several of the protesters outside the Supreme Court. One man claimed that Obamacare opponents were “dressed up in red white and blue, and hiding behind the flag, because they really don’t care about other people.”
On the other side, people like Vincent Farrow from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., traveled by bus to protest the bill’s individual mandate, the rule that would force people to have out health insurance, or else pay a government penalty. Farrow called the mandate “a power grab that is unknown to our constitutional landscape.”
“What else is going to be mandated, what’s next if this goes through?” asked a lady named Tricia, a senior from East Islip, N.Y. “I mean, the young people should be marching in the streets, but they don’t understand America, the freedoms that we knew.”
Karen, a senior from Long Island, N.Y., wore a scarlet T-shirt reading “Hands Off My Healthcare” and nodded while her compatriot Tricia spoke.
“They’re giving it up,” Karen said. “They are letting it be taken away from them and its going to be very difficult to get freedom back.”
Videography by Tyler Whetstone and editing by Grae Stafford
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