Allright, guys. I gave myself ten minutes to sit with my head on my desk in a lethargic state of despair and stupefaction — and now I’m officially over it. The individual mandate is here: There’s nothing for it but to keep fighting to ensure it dies a quick death. And you know, now that I’m really thinking about it, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that the individual mandate can basically work within the confines of the Constitution, I can’t help feeling that President Obama is still going to rue the day he ever signed his name on this egregiously intrusive monstrosity of a law. Yes, it’s technically a victory of sorts for Obama & Friends, but the fact remains that, by and large, Americans hate this thing. It grates against the very core of our personal-responsibility-lovin’ souls. Is this ruling going to inspire the type of 2010-reminiscent anti-government rage we need to put us over the edge in the November elections? I refuse to give up hope.

And now on to the reactions of some of our Congressional leaders. Speaker of the House John Boehner issued his statement of resolve quickly following the ruling:

“The president’s health care law is hurting our economy by driving up health costs and making it harder for small businesses to hire.  Today’s ruling underscores the urgency of repealing this harmful law in its entirety.  What Americans want is a common-sense, step-by-step approach to health care reform that will protect Americans’ access to the care they need, from the doctor they choose, at a lower cost.  Republicans stand ready to work with a president who will listen to the people and will not repeat the mistakes that gave our country ObamaCare.”

In other words, this legislation drastically changes the outlook for small businesses, and our economy will not recover while we’re under its death grip — but all is not lost if we can get Mitt Romney, who has promised to file repeal legislation on the theoretical first day he takes office, to oust President Obama. Looks like the Speaker is going to hold a House vote on fully repealing the PPACA before the big recess, although it will be more of a solidarity-move than anything else:

House Republicans scheduled a vote to repeal the law for July 11. They have made similar attempts in the past, but their legislation has failed in the Senate, where a supermajority of 60 votes are needed to advance legislation.

While of course a full repeal holds no hope in the Senate at the moment, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had some fightin’ words:

Truth. Here’s Rep. Allen West‘s (R-Florida) powerful statement lamenting the ramifications of the ruling:

“The United States Supreme Court has ruled to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by extending the power of the United States Congress to tax Americans’ behavior.  This is a sad day for Americans, as they will be taxed to pay for benefits they may not need or want as part of the insurance they are forced to buy. With this decision, Congress has been granted infinite taxation power, and there are no longer any limits on what the federal government can tax its citizens to do.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will hit the middle class especially hard, as hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost as businesses try to avoid the penalties and costs created by the healthcare law. The healthcare law will cost trillions of dollars, raise costs for employers and create huge incentives for them to drop health insurance.

Benjamin Franklin did indeed state, ‘In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.’ However, Dr. Franklin never envisioned the federal government would use its power of taxation to punish people for not purchasing health care.  Today, individual sovereignty in America has been defeated.”

And here are Florida Republican and possible Veep-contender Sen. Marco Rubio‘s thoughts:

“What’s important to remember is that what the Court rules on is whether something is constitutional or not, not whether it’s a good idea. And while the Court has said that the law is constitutional, it remains a bad idea for our economy, and I hope that in the fall we will have a majority here that will not just repeal this law, but replace it with real solutions that will insure more people and cost a lot less money.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, on the other hand, was somewhat more gleeful about the Supreme Court’s ruling:

Huh. I don’t happen to see it that way.

Chins up, friends — we can still do this.