And in terms of their crown jewel legislative achievement: who knew that when asked 'will government impose a new federal mandate requiring middle class Americans to buy health insurance whether they can afford it or not?' The answer would be 'Yes we can!'

The reason Gov. Romney passed Romneycare as governor of Massachusetts in 2006 was because many Republicans viewed health care reform mandates and all as a way to inoculate against Democratic charges that Republicans didn't care about people who lacked health insurance.

Prior to passage of Obamacare Americans spoke out against the individual mandate they didn't want to change the health care they had they didn't want a 3 000-page bill that empowered 15 Washington bureaucrats to decide the future of the doctor-patient relationship.

For the past two years President Obama has promised our children the moon stars rainbows unicorns and universal health care for all. But the White House Santa's cradle-to-grave entitlement mandates are a spectacularly predictable bust.

Each State has its own health insurance mandates and some of them are good but there are about 1 800 of them all across the Nation including provisions for acupuncturists massage therapists and hair replacements.

Obama is capable - as evidenced by his first-term success with health care reform. But mandate-building requires humility a trait not easily associated with him.

Let's stop big government energy mandates like cap-and-trade and instead trust the American innovator to make us energy independent.

Israel was born under the British mandate. We learned from the British what democracy means and how it behaves in a time of danger war and terror. We thank Britain for introducing freedom and respect of human rights both in normal and demanding circumstances.

The mandate I have received and for which I will speak with heart and head to implement over the next seven years had its four pillars - an inclusive citizenship equality and participation and respect in a creative society creating an excellence in everything we Irish do.

In the state of Wisconsin it's mandated that teachers in the social sciences and hard sciences have to start giving environmental education by the first grade through high school.