Back to the 16th Century

During the reign of Henry VIII and continuing into the early 17th century, England began changing from general agriculture to wool production. This sounds benign but it was not. Nobles would take common land which had been used for farming and cattle grazing for centuries and converted it into private land for sheep. This was known as "enclosure" since the noble would enclose the commons with a fence. The advantage to the noble was the decreased overhead. Instead of a village devoted to farming, he now only had a few boys acting as shepherds. This threw tens of thousands out of work and led to masses of homeless wandering the country.

The kings and queens along with Parliament failed to protect the commoners. Instead they sided with the nobles. Laws were passed to increase the demand for wool. Outer garments had to be made of wool. So did burial shrouds. In order to create a market for both the wool merchants and the Knitter Guild, London passed a series of acts requiring everyone in the city to own a flat wool cap. This became known as a Statute Cap. The justification for this, if anyone bothered justifying it, was that it made England a more prosperous nation in general. They could do this because the ruling classes did not have to answer to the general population.

Jump forward 450 years. The insurance companies wanted something to offset the cost of accepting people with pre-existing conditions so Congress mandated that everyone has to buy a minimum level of insurance. In doing this, Congress and the President ignored every poll that has come out in the last several months.

Now that the president has been made, what is to stop Congress from requiring other purchases? I'm sure that there are several industries that are vital to the country that would love to force everyone to buy their product. Just think of how it would help the economy if everyone was required to purchase a new car every few years.

George W. Bush was often derided as an "imperial president" but he never did anything as far-reaching or as imperial as this.