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?

Clear

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.”

Proud to be an American

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I know what my constitutional rights are, and I know that the federal government is taking far more power and control over me right now than I want them to take. It’s nothing new. That’s why we have different political parties. Democrats favor an intrusive government that will regulate as much of our lives as possible to produce a ‘nanny nation’ that is dependent on them; and Republicans favor the individual’s pursuit of life, liberty and happiness through free, capitalistic endeavors to produce new products and a greater possible standard of living. Such a great standard of living is not a constitutional right. It is something for which we are free to strive and achieve.

The debate is not new. It’s been going on as long as the USA has been dreamed about. However, our founding fathers managed to find the perfect formula for a free nation that could grow and prosper, and lead the world. It’s called the Constitution. All of our congressional members and presidents swear to uphold it. They swear to keep us strong. They should be working to keep us as a world leader, a superpower, and an example for all other nations to follow.

Now greed has overtaken the oath to uphold the Constitution. Power begets greed. Greed begets corruption. Corruption negates our importance as individuals. The only way we have to take back our constitutional rights is to speak up! Speak with a fax. Speak with a phone call. Speak with an email. Speak with a blog. Speak with a tweet. Speak with a vote. Speak as you choose, but choose to be heard. Do not let our elected official become our masters instead of our servants!

Almost from the onset, discerning minds saw that the only flaw in this new government was complacency. In 1813, Alexis DeTocqueville said that the only threat to democracy in the USA was from within. The Communists during Eisenhower’s term said that we would lie down and take little doses of socialism, until we woke to find ourselves in the USSA (United Socialist States of America) instead of the USA.

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So why are we here? Why are we allowing this administration to turn us into a socialist government? Is it because the generation that was seduced by Obama’s charisma is also the generation that failed to learn, or failed to be taught, just what our Constitutional rights are? I never really taught my children, because I never dreamed of a time when our government would try to go so far awry of democracy. I never dreamed that our government would bankrupt the next few generations of Americans. I never dreamed that a president would apologize for the grandeur and the power that the USA had accumulated through hard work, ingenuity, freedom and capitalism.

Are we here because the majority of Americans think we should be a welfare state? It looks that way.

Are we here because the majority of Americans think the government owes them a good job? There is NO Constitutional right to a good job, but you have the right to educate yourself and apply yourself to find one.

Are we here because the majority of Americans think the government owes them a good medical plan and good health? If you read the Constitution, you will find that is NOT the case! You have the freedom, however, to make decisions about how you will spend your money, how you will eat, how you will exercise, how you will educate yourselves to make good decisions about your overall health.

Are we here because the majority of Americans think the government owes them a good home? You have to right to protect your home, but you must EARN a home. You must contract for a home. You must work to pay for a home.

The federal government does not OWE us a home, food, clothing, education or recreation. It only owes us the right to achieve and gain these things through our own efforts. It’s what makes us Americans. It’s what makes our country rise above the rest. It’s what has made us a world leader, before our elected officials forgot what they had been elected to do. It’s what made us great before our President decided to apologize for our greatness.

Are you not proud to be an American?

NO, OBAMA! NO!!

Cloudy

What in the world is this administration, Czars and our democratic congress doing??? It appears they are going to not only bankrupt me, but generations to come! And, why are they in such a hurry to do it? Why does it seem as though they are in the business of ‘ramma jamma dingdong’ governing? How can they make wise decisions when they don’t even take time to read bills? Do they really want to transform the USA into the USSA or the United SOCIALIST States of America overnight? (I think they should be required to spend one day per every 5 pages of a bill before they can vote on it. Maybe that would cut out the ridiculous pork and the NASCAR approach to duping the nation!)

Clear

I want to vomit. But, instead, I must work tirelessly to bring us back to being a free country, a capitalistic nation, a government of “we the people.”

I am very clear that I oppose big government, and I opposed the exponential growth of the federal government that we have seen over the last few months. I am very clear that I believe that the Constitution established the best possible government for people who desire to be free, desire to earn a living, and desire to think and invent and discover and improve the standard of living for themselves and others.

I am very clear that I can provide for myself. I have provided for my children. I have worked. I have paid my taxes. It has not been easy. I worked three jobs for many years after a divorce that left me with two very young children and very little child support.

I am clear that I do not want a National Health Care Plan. I have travelled abroad and have seen the yellow teeth. I have talked to people who cannot get appointments for themselves or their animals! They are willing to pay for good health care, but there is no one to pay.

Our health care system could use some reformation. Doctors should not have to pay exorbitant rates for malpractice insurance. They should not have to pay to protect themselves from people who neglect their own health, smoke, do drugs, live violent lives and come into emergency rooms for help, only to sue if any little thing is not to their satisfaction. I know that in my home town, most obstetricians quit their practice because of lawsuits over difficult births or birth defects in the children of indigent mothers who had spent the 166 days of their pregnancies drinking and/or using drugs without ever seeking prenatal care. That’s a fault of the law that allows these lawsuits, and those laws can be changed.

I also know that I have been spoiled by my medical insurance plan. I never realized it until I began to read about the “nanny nation” that our administration wants to create and began to look with new eyes at our constitutional rights.

I have the right to life (I can defend myself to preserve it, Judge Sotomayor!), liberty (I can choose to succeed and I can choose to fail), and the pursuit (may not get it, though) of happiness. The progressives of old chose for us. They made alcohol illegal and created a much greater evil in the violence of bootleggers and organized crime. Now these progressive want to extend our rights to good health and housing and adequate food and clothing and jobs. The constitution does not guarantee these things. It only guarantees our right to pursue them, as they are things that would bring about our happiness.

I do see, however, a difference in health insurance and health care.

I carry car insurance in case of a costly accident and/or injury. My auto insurance doesn't pay for oil changes or periodic tune-ups. It won't pay for a car wash or STP. I carry homeowners insurance in case of burglary or catastrophe, such as storm damage or fire. My homeowners insurance doesn't pay for normal roof maintenance, new paint or carpet cleaning. So why does my health insurance provide me with more than coverage in the case of catastrophic injury or illness? It just does. Maybe it shouldn't. Maybe this is where the system is "broken." Maybe I need to pay for my twice yearly dental visits and my eye exams and my well-checkups.

Someone suggested that we need to educate Americans about how to pursue good health. They KNOW!! You can’t watch television, listen to the news, read anything in print or online or look in the mirror without knowing you should exercise, eat more fruits and vegetables and give up smoking to be healthier. We KNOW that America is obese and that the number of cases of diabetes is rising as a result. We know! We CHOOSE however to live sickly lives. And we HAVE THE RIGHT to do so. If that costs us more, we should bear the cost. If I smoke, I pay more for my insurance. If I am obese, I pay more for my insurance.

I've never worked a day without a health insurance policy that allowed for periodic dental and vision exams, corrective lenses, yearly checkups and tests such as colonoscopies, mammograms, and pap smears. I've had to pay towards that policy and have had co-payments with each doctor's visit or treatment. It's something to which I’ve become accustomed. It’s something that has been offered.
I can live with paying for well-checkups. I am willing to take the responsibility for more of my own health issues. What I am NOT willing to abide, however, is for the federal government to tell me what I should eat, how I should live, what doctor I can see, what procedure can have, at what age I qualify for it, and/or how long I have to wait to be seen or treated. If people CHOOSE not to work, then they obviously choose to give up the benefits of a good income.
Instead of going to a national subsidized health care program, I would like to see the government back out of nationally subsidized ANYTHING!!

Don’t bail out a wino. Don’t bail out a bank.

Let those who want to succeed, and WORK to succeed, succeed. Government should do ONLY what we want it to do.

That means, citizens of the USA, that you must speak up! Don’t stay silent, wake up, and find out that your address has changed to the USSA.

You can speak out right now at: http://surveys.polldaddy.com/s/362D79E8E7A8B703/

Contact your congressional representatives: http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm