One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

Republicans have been irresponsibly characterizing the Affordable Care Act as evil and un-American and despotic for so long now that a group of Wyoming Republican state legislators have come full circle into the abyss and taken the evil, un-American, and despotic act of trying to criminalize implementation of the law as a felony worth up to 5 years in jail.  Ezra Klein:

In the Wyoming state legislature, 10 congressmen and three senators have co-sponsored "The Health Care Choice and Protection Act." The intent? To make it a felony to implement the health-care reform law -- which is, you'll remember, the official law of the land. Here's the relevant bit:

Enforcement of federal laws prohibited; offenses and penalties.
Any official, agent, employee or public servant of the state of Wyoming as defined in W.S. 6-5-101, who enforces or attempts to enforce an act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the government of the United States in violation of this article shall be guilty of a felony punishable by a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), imprisonment in the county jail for not more than two (2) years, or both.

Any official, agent or employee of the United States government or any employee of a corporation providing services to the United States government that enforces or attempts to enforce an act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the government of the United States in violation of this article shall be guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than five (5) years, a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000.00), or both.

Ezra goes on to point out the legislation wouldn't last any longer than a popsicle in a blast furnace in front of a judge of any stripe.  The larger point, and I agree with him, is that Republican rhetoric on what the Democrats have done over the last two years -- basically classifying everything they don't agree with as something that Americans should rise up against, and that a country governed by Democrats is unconstitutional bordering on tyranny -- has now resulted in the attempted criminalization of representative democracy itself.

This legislation here?  This really is the government trying to throw people in jail for the "crime" of disagreeing with somebody in a democratic state.

That's the difference between the rhetoric and the action.  And Republicans own this idiocy, lock, stock, and barrel.