Several local Republican groups in Claremont have been outspoken in their contempt of the Supreme Court's decision regarding the Affordable Care Act today.
Mike Alexander, the president of TeaPAC, a Tea Party group based in Pasadena that has chapters in Claremont, said that while he did not agree with the 5-4 Supreme Court decision that upheld the law, he said conservatives who were opposed to it should not blame the justices.
"It's vital that the average citizen take responsibility for this outcome rather than just pointing their fingers at the Supreme Court," he said.
"Suffice it to say the individual mandate is odious...Despite [President Barack] Obama's lies, the fact is that it is the biggest tax increase in american history. It is so large, so destructive and so pervasive, that it is going to continue to shut our economy down and ensure that we never make a recovery."
Other Tea Party members, like Donna Lowe, a Claremont business woman who is running for the 41st state assembly district, said the decision should be used by Republicans as a rallying cry.
"Let this be a resounding reason to get out and vote this November," she said in a press release.
"Instead of tackling the issue of the uninsured the Democrats are putting yet another tax and spend measure on the backs of the middle class people in America. Instead of looking at ways to meaningfully reform insurance and healthcare they chose their favorite remediation: a band-aid."
Brendan Gormley, president of the Mountain View Republicans Club in Claremont, was also disatisfied with the ruling.
"Prior to its passage, the Obama Administration publicly denied that the individual mandate provision of the health care law amounted to a tax, then persuaded the Supreme Court to uphold it after its passage precisely on the grounds that it is a tax," he said.
"This and many other things demonstrate that the wellbeing of Americans is not the objective of the health care law, and that as we await its repeal, we are not morally subject to it. One silver lining is that it has now become evident that President Obama has indeed raised taxes on the American people during his term."
