In April, 1917 the United States declared war on Germany. The German U-Boats had sunk a bunch of American ships and the war declaration was justified, even though Woodrow Wilson was basically, a total asshole.
Anti-German frenzy hit the American shores. Sauerkraut was renamed "freedom cabbage" and dachshunds were stoned to death. That was shameful conduct against loyal Germans who became loyal Americans. (Think "freedom fries." Same insanity. Different time in history.)
But what is even more shameful is the fact that the prohibition morons used that situation to vilify the German brewers, particularly Pabst, Schlitz and Miller. They blamed those American Germans (who were just really Americans who just happened to have German ancestry) for all sorts of problems in the USA.
Their reasoning must have looked like this: Kaiser Wilhem sunk some of our boats and ships. Kaiser Wilhem is a German. The guys who own Pabst, Schlitz and Miller in the USA are Germans. Ergo, they must be evil, too, and the beer they sell must be REALLY evil.
This is idiotic, but this led up to the Prohibition Amendment, which was the greatest experiment in behavioral engineering in the history of our Republic, and created so much crime and unintended consequences that it would fill several books to even touch the surface of it. It was a politician's moronic attempt to control people and a dismal failure and caused more problems than it solved.
Nationally Mandated (pay or else) Health Care is exactly the same thing, with just a new idiot at the helm promoting his social tinkering and who is clueless about the unintended consequences of it. And like during Prohibition where the leaders who lived off of the money they stole from the people always had their supply of liquor, our current leaders will always have their supply of Health Care which is also paid for by the money they stole from the people, while we suffer trying to pay for it to keep from getting fined (more stolen money) if we don't.
Side note: the Federal Income Tax was ratified in 1913 and was justified to support our effort in WWI. WWI ended nearly 100 years ago, but the Federal Income tax endures and costs billions of dollars in time and lost wages and accountants and tax-preparers, who must exist just to to be bookkeepers for the Federal (and State) governments create those costs, let alone the hit it takes on one's earnings. The Federal Withholding Tax(tm) was passed during WWII because Franklin Dickhead Roosevelt needed the money NOW to help support the funding for that huge war. Fine. I have no problem with that logic. I agree with and understand why he did it. Our survival as a Republic depended upon having the money to wage a winning war. But that was supposed to be a temporary law. But that war ended 66 years ago, and yet that law is still on the books. Once these repressive and intrusive laws are passed, and no matter what the lying politicians said, they almost NEVER go away. "Temporary Law" means "it will always be on the books, suckers!"
Farkel