A Tale of Two Mandates

An applicable individual shall for each month beginning after 2013 ensure that the individual, and any dependent of the individual who is an applicable individual, is covered under minimum essential coverage for such month.

At least 24 hours before the performance of an abortion, a qualified medical professional trained in sonography and working under the supervision of a physician licensed in the Commonwealth shall perform fetal transabdominal ultrasound imaging on the patient undergoing the abortion for the purpose of determining gestational age.

Two mandates; one from a piece of legislation championed by Democrats, one from legislation championed from Republicans. The first is the individual healthcare mandate from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the second is the ultrasound mandate from HB 462, recently signed into law by Gov. McDonnell.

Both are examples of an overreach in the government’s authority to compel behavior.

Black History and the Republican Party : Oscar Stanton de Priest

Oscar Stanton De Priest (March 9, 1871 – May 12, 1951) was an American lawmaker and civil rightsadvocate who served as a U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1929 to 1935. He was the first African American to be elected to Congress in the 20th century.

De Priest was born in Florence, Alabama to former slaves. His mother worked part-time as a laundress, and his father, Alexander, was a teamster associated with the “Exodus” movement, which arose after the American Civil War to help blacks escape continued oppression in the South by moving to other states that offered greater freedom. In 1878, the De Priests left for Dayton, Ohio, after the elder De Priest had to save a friend who was a former Congressman from a lynch mob and another black man was killed on their doorstep. He had a brother named Robert De Priest.