Why They Won't Put Their Rhetoric Where Their Mouth Is

Medicaid is a voluntary program.  Not just for the people who enroll in it, but also for the states that elect to participate in it to cover the enrollees.  That means that all of those "red" states that hate Federal spending and entitlements are more than welcome to opt out of it and "innovate," the way conservative Federalist dogma says they should.  And the way Republicans in these states, and in Washington, say they should.

But, as is always the case with conservatives, actions speaks louder than words (and considering how rancid those words are, perhaps it's just as well).  That's why 26 Republican governors and attorneys general are attempting to overturn the Affordable Care Act on the Vito Corleone grounds that it's an offer too good to refuse.

In the process of doing so, however, the argument they make attempts to find limits in the power of Congress to spend "for the General Welfare."  Considering how many of those states depend on Federal dollars not only for Medicaid, but for other needs (e.g., education, child welfare, etc.), one wonders if they understand how the success of that attempt could backfire on everyone.

Probably not.  We are, after all, talking about conservatives.

Let's hope that the Supreme Court is allowing the petitioners in this case to brief and argue this issue solely to make sure that it gets disposed on the most solid of Constitutional grounds.