Disobedience

“It is the absolute responsibility of everybody in uniform to disobey an order that is either illegal or immoral.” —General Peter Pace, chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Press Club, Feb. 17, 2006.

His “uniform” may be a blue suit nowadays, but it appears that Jon Corzine remembers this responsibility from his days in the Marine Corps Reserves.

Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine informed President Bush this week that New Jersey will not obey federal rules that would make it harder to enroll middle-income kids for a popular government-subsidized health insurance program.

His move escalated the growing confrontation between a number of states and the administration over the new rules imposed on the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). They have been criticized as unfair and overreaching by children's advocates and politicians of both parties, but Corzine’s declaration marks the first time a governor has openly vowed to defy them.

[...]

In a letter to Bush on Wednesday, Corzine called the new rules “onerous,” said they go beyond federal law and predicted that they would deny coverage to as many as 10,000 New Jersey children.

“I am deeply concerned about the devastating impact that this misguided policy will have on our efforts to address the growing problem of the uninsured,” he wrote.

The difference between Corzine and Bush is that Bush doesn’t consider uninsured children a problem (after all, his children are covered). Bush is more concerned that expanding SCHIP would be bad for business at private health insurance companies. And if tens of thousands of children have to go without health insurance in order to protect profit margins at Aetna, that’s OK by him.

Remember when the reason states refused to obey the federal government was over things like desegregation? Remember when it was the federal government trying to do the right thing and it was a few ignorant, misguided local officials trying to perpetuate a ruinous, withering status quo?

Let’s see if Bush deploys the National Guard to New Jersey to prevent doctors from treating sick children.

Oh, I forgot. The National Guard is in Iraq.