Romney-Care?

Well, as most of you very well know, Mitt's been in the news quite a bit recently regarding the Health Insurance legislation which just passed out of the Mass legislature.

Earlier today I was mentally preparing my stinging rebuke to this legislation. That is, before I saw Redstate folks seemingly happy w/ the legislation. So, I'm going to post my initial reaction, but do so with a giant asterisk. I don't know now how I feel. But here are my original thoughts:

Prima facie, I am thoroughly bothered by the health care regulation the Mass legislature passed on to Romney. We are now mandating citizens buy Health Insurance? What's next - will shipping insurance at USPS no longer be optional? What about ski-rental insurance, or risky-stock-market-decision insurance? I mollify my discomfort with mandatory auto insurance by slowly telling myself that driving is a privilege, not a right. While driving may be a luxury the government can regulate, breathing certainly is not. This is one small step for socialism, and one giant step toward government run healthcare.*

If Mitt Romney is looking to convince the party base he is not just a big-government moderate from liberal Massachusetts, this sure isn't helping.*

Practically though, I own health insurance. And I never plan not too. So a mandate would not change my situation, and that of most others.

*As noted before, this was my intial reaction to a cursory understanding of the situation at hand. Fortunately, from allies on the right, it seems as though there may actually be a lot of good in Romney's/ Mass legislature's plan. I have not had time to review the plan, so I will present some good links for your own parsing of this information.

Mass Bloggers:

Hub Politics [against]
Hub OF Politics [neutral?]
Blue Mass Group [for - not generally a good thing]


Nat'l:

Redstate thread [mostly for]
Brother's Judd [against]
National Review [for | against] (HT: the Corner)


AND this headline doesn't make me feel good: "Clinton Praises Romney Health Care Plan" .... great. Couldn't ask for a better imprimatur.]

Update:
Two analysts weigh in:
Hugh Hewitt
Carol Platt LeBeau