The Constitutionality of Public Health Care

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The debate over health care constantly takes on some new twists, as it is difficult to debate a bill that hasn’t yet reached its final form. But, because there are amendments being proposed daily, each new idea is scrutinized for its constitutionality. Questions arise such as:
• Does Federal Government have the power to make any decisions about health care?
• Is health care a constitutional right?
• Can a “Health Choices Commissioner” have any constitutional powers?
• Can illegal immigrants be denied any service offered to “everyone”?
• Can our government require anyone to purchase anything?

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It seems clearer by the day that the Supreme Court will have to make some tough decisions about whatever plan is finally settled upon, if that day ever comes.

We’ll examine just one, the individual purchase mandate which would require every American to have health insurance, if not through an employer then by individual purchase. This requirement has not come up so much because of a desire to provide for the health and welfare of the young who opt out or the old who have limited income, but out of the need to help pay for the any final program. If it is not deficit neutral, President Obama has promised not to sign it. (And, of course, he always keeps his promises.)

But can Congress require every American to buy health insurance? NO. The Constitution assigns only limited, enumerated powers to Congress and none, including the power to regulate interstate commerce or to impose taxes, would support a federal mandate requiring anyone who is otherwise without health insurance to buy it.

The specific powers of Congress are:
• To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises to pay debt and to provide for the common defense and general Welfare (all taxes to be uniform throughout the United States)
• To borrow money
• To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, among the States, and with Indian Tribes
• To establish uniform rules of Naturalization and Bankruptcies
• To coin and regulate the value of money, and fix the standard of Weights and Measures
• To punish counterfeiting of securities and money
• To establish post offices and post roads
• To protect science and arts with limited copyrights and patents,
• To establish courts inferior to the Supreme Court
• To define and punish piracy and offenses against the Law of Nations
• To declare War, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules about captures on land and water
• To raise and support armies, but no appropriation for that shall be for a term longer than two years
• To provide, train and maintain an army, navy, and militia, and the appointment of officers
• To establish a district to serve as the seat of the federal government (Washington, D.C.)
• To make all laws needed to execute these powers
• To admit new states into the Union if the states agree
• To rule and regulate Territories of the United States
• To tax incomes

Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Progressives of his time tried to establish “human rights” as “constitutional rights,” but they have failed to do so because they are clearly not part of the intentions of the founding fathers. It is not that the founding fathers didn’t believe in health and education, it is that they believed that ALL POWERS NOT LISTED BELONGED TO THE STATES.

Eleanor Roosevelt was successful in getting the UN to adopt a document of “human rights.” But, until the hearts of people are accepting of differences and greed and/or bigotry die, to provide human rights will always be a struggle on a national or international scale. It must start at home with our own charitable actions. We cannot legislate “humanness” or “righteousness.”

I Beg to Differ, Mr. Cosby!

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We have already seen a “knee jerk” reaction that went viral over the US Department of Education’s lesson for our children to “help the president” and Demi Moore’s video telling them to “pledge allegiance to Obama.” No one expected such a fire storm. Now, a beloved celebrity and admired educator has weighed in on "racist" Americans. I surely hope and pray that the comments from Bill Cosby will not stir up a similar overboard reaction on the other side. He is well-respected, loved and admired, but I respectfully disagree with him on several fronts.

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These are his words as printed in his Facebook notes, followed by my reply to Professor Cosby:

I agree with President Carter that racism is playing a role in recent outbursts against President Obama. During President Obama’s speech on the status of health care reform, some members of congress engaged in a public display of disrespect. While one Representative hurled the now infamous “you lie” insult at the President, others made their lack of interest known by exhibiting rude behavior such as deliberately yawning and sending text messages.

Health care reform is the most important domestic issue facing America today. Disease does not discriminate. African American, White, Asian, Latino, Republican, Democrat, no one in America is immune. So it seems obvious that a debate on health care reform should not include views born solely of partisanship or bigotry.

Various polls prior to the election indicated that between five and ten percent of Americans would never vote for an African American president. That number, of course, only includes those who actually admitted to their prejudice. How many others harbored such feelings but did not respond honestly when asked the question? And how many people oppose Obama’s plan because the President is African American?

In "Birth of a Nation," D.W. Griffith used white actors in black face to portray black legislators as having low intelligence and acting like fools. Today, we have a band of real life congressional fools seemingly bent on blocking any meaningful reform of the health care system. But if we allow even one American to die simply because he or she cannot afford treatment, we are creating a shameful scenario that could aptly be called “Death of a Nation.”

I’ve watched legislative bodies in person and on TV for years. There are always people reading, sleeping, and, as we saw recently, playing solitaire on laptops while someone was speaking. They said it was because what they were hearing was the “same old same old,” and Obama has certainly done that! Those yawns may not have been deliberate at all! Bottom line: it’s not racial. It’s poor judgment, poor decorum and what we would call a lack of “home-training.” Some that you saw “sending text messages” may have just been taking notes, or may have been keeping their office or constituents informed. I rely on unbiased tweets to my phone from Mark Knoller, Jake Tapper and Chuck Todd to keep me informed of Presidential statements when I cannot watch or listen to broadcasts. I’m sure there are some Congressmen who provide similar information. It’s not necessarily rude. It’s just indicative of a new day.

If you think that the opposition to health care reform is born solely of partisanship and/or bigotry, try working this word into your thoughts: DEBT! Right now, my part of the national debt is $38,444. (It will probably be higher before I finish my rebuttal to your remarks.) The only way I could pay that would be to sell my house and move into a bus. Yes, we could us health care reform. But the health care system is no so terribly broken that it can’t wait for the most important job that faces Congress, and that is balancing the budget and giving us some kind of fiscal security. Even Obama said that it was not critical in his address to Congress. By far, the majority of Americans consider the economy to be their most important concern. IF someone comes up with a bill that will not add “one dime” to the national debt, we’re all for it! If Obama breaks yet another promise and signs a bill that deepens the debt for our children and grandchildren, you will hear the outcry! THAT would be immoral.

You said that 5% to 10% of Americans would never vote for a black president. In polls, those numbers are considered insignificant. We could all find survey numbers that would prove different sides. We could find much higher numbers somewhere for how many blacks are prejudiced against whites, Jews and Hispanics. You are an intelligent man who knows that data can prove anything. I think before you pontificate, you should find the answers to your own questions about numbers!

And, do you think you could go any further back in history to make your point than you did? There are at least 3 generations of Americans who have never seen or heard of “Birth of a Nation!” (There are 2 who don't know or care about Martin Luther King.) You know as well as I do that the majority of people will always fall into social norms and mores. When it was acceptable to have slaves, it was acceptable to have slaves. Only a very small minority had them, but it was “the way it was.” When Al Jolson sang in black face, it was acceptable, as minstrel shows traveled all over the USA to entertain with the wonderful music of Stephen Foster and patriotic music (the kind that Nancy Pelosi tried to ban from the Congressional “land of hold”). Each generation of free Americans have pushed us closer and closer to the founding fathers’ ideal of “equality.” How? By speaking their minds. By going against norms. By standing firm for their beliefs. By disagreeing with the “powers that be.” THAT, Professor Cosby, is the way our Republic works.

And last, for all the criticism of Sarah Palin’s characterization of end of life counseling as “death panels,” you have the audacity to say that we “allow” Americans to die? There is no hospital in this great country that will not treat ANYONE that comes in for treatment (unless it is the University of Chicago Hospital following the “health initiative” of Michelle Obama). We don’t “allow” people to die! We freely contribute to charities and hospitals that provide short term and long term treatment, or local banks that establish accounts to help a specific victim. We can’t stop cars from hitting people, or pebbles in a mountain path from rolling under a foot, or mechanical problems in trains and planes. We can and do try to prevent drunk driving, build guard rails and require documented maintenance for public transportation. But we are dealing with people who have free choice. We can’t force a person not to drive drunk any more than we can force a pregnant woman to seek prenatal care or a twenty-two year old to accept his mortality and buy health care insurance. And, I, for one, am not willing to spend trillions of dollars to try.

When Push Comes to Shove

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I spent 30 years at the same job. When I took that job, right out of college, it was at the fastest growing and largest 3 year high school in the state, a school that had just opened the year before. To staff this new school, about half of the faculty was veteran teachers from within the system, and the other half was young, idealistic, fresh-out-of-college fledglings. Needless to say, we were also a bit rebellious, being children of the 60s! But we weren't bad. We were just 21 year olds! We just wanted to wear blue jeans. (Many of us didn't own much else!)

After two wonderful years of finding my wings, enjoying my students, knowing that I had found the perfect job for me, I was called into the principal's office and told to resign.

I was flabbergasted! I was speechless! And, of course I was too young and naive to know what my rights were. He rattled off a list as long as my arm of things I had done wrong; a list that included having a man over for dinner, not going to Sunday School, and taking a trip to San Antonio with a man. I only spoke once during this whole time. It was in response to the San Antonio trip when I meekly whined, "But, my mother said that I could!" When he was finished, he told me to turn in a letter of resignation the next day. I very quietly said, "I don't know if I will because I don't think I have done anything wrong."

If that had been it, I would have gone home and written that tear-stained letter. But his reaction shocked me! After my response, he shoved his chair back, stood and leaned over his desk, and pounded on it with each syllable of putrid, fiery anger that spewed from his mouth, "If you don't, young lady, I will ride you until you wish you had! I will ride you until I put you in the hospital with a nervous breakdown! And don't think I can't! I've done it before!!"

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It clicked. It hit. I got it.

He was wrong. What he was doing was wrong and I would never have questioned it if I hadn't been pushed by that outburst.

To make a long story short, I worked there for 28 more years, and he was gone at the end of that one.

As I wrote in an earlier blog, socialists came to believe years and years ago that Americans could be "nudged" into becoming governmental "sheep."

The ‘nudge’ idea came from the Socialist Party during the years of FDR. The party once ran candidates against FDR until they realized that he and his desired ‘Second Bill of Rights’ were already socialistic! Norman Thomas, the socialist leader and presidential candidate said: The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.

And it could easily have happened this year. The main stream media and young people had canonized Obama. We needed some action, and he was willing to make some bold decisions to get us out of this economic debaucle. I thought he was going in the wrong direction, but we were at a point where no one else had ever been in our history! I would have sat quietly and let him take more and more and more if...IF... he and Pelosi hadn't begun to push.

They wanted to push this health care down our throats so hard before the August break, that it made us all sit up and take notice. Then we found out the ACORN criminal thugs and the SEIU goons had turned push into shove.

I'm glad.

Without the push and the shove, the nudge would have worked.

We were right on the brink of socialism. Those in power and these socialist "community organizers" had been setting the stage for years and years.

We've got a long way to go to keep it from happening, but at least we know that the threat is real and we must stay the course and fight it with our voices, our signatures, our emails, our letters, our faxes and our phone calls.

Spread the word, America! Democracy is our only option!

(Image from www.healthcare4me)