What does Obamacare have in common with gun control?

If your policy is so good, why does it need to be mandatory? This is the question people have been asking about Obamacare since its inception. The question bears even more relevance today, as new documents uncovered by Judicial Watch reveal that the IRS spent $5 million of taxpayer money trying to pressure people to purchase health insurance through Obamacare exchanges.

This is kind of strange when you think about it. Obamacare was premised on the notion that everybody wants and needs health insurance. It followed this up, rather paradoxically, by legally requiring everyone to buy it (something that should be unnecessary if the premise was true.) Then, when the mandate failed to motivate enough people to sign up, the administration ran ad campaigns to drive signups. Why was this so hard?

The short answer is that people don’t like being told what to do, and that their preferences and priorities don’t necessarily line up with those of the president.