Is Obamacare Constitutional?
Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett has some doubts:
But the individual mandate extends the commerce clause’s power beyond economic activity, to economic inactivity. That is unprecedented. While Congress has used its taxing power to fund Social Security and Medicare, never before has it used its commerce power to mandate that an individual person engage in an economic transaction with a private company. Regulating the auto industry or paying “cash for clunkers” is one thing; making everyone buy a Chevy is quite another. Even during World War II, the federal government did not mandate that individual citizens purchase war bonds.
3 comments
I so hope you are right, because if this Obamanation is found to be constitutional I plan to be among the first to go to prison for disobeying the mandate. I have no income and I will not pay the tax, nor will I accept “charity” in the form of Medicare. I have Shrugged, and if I have to go to prison to prove how evil this bill is I will do so.
@ Dan
If you don’t like your free health care/Medicare don’t use it, with that level of thinking, I hope you avoid medical care all together. I am also assuming you are turning down other forms of government “charity” such as: Roads, Police, Public Schools, Street Lights, Fire Men, The United States Military, etc. If universal healthcare is “evil” I don’t want to be good.
FLUFFHead, your examples are quite poor at best. You clearly NEED the federal government to make healthcare choices for you. As I do not think you are able to make them on your own.
Roads are primarily STATE/COUNTY funded. Interstates, of course are Federal. They are built to aide in interstate commerce and national defence under the Federal-Aide National Highay Act of ’56. The key, AIDE. You are not forced to used these roads nor are you forced to engage in interstate commerce.
The Military is constitutionally provided for. It is there to protect the interests of the United States. (In a nutshell, I am not going to go into all the reasons)
All others are state and local government provided. Granted, they receive in most cases federal funding.
Heathcare is FORCING you to engage in commerce with a company. That is not consitutionally provided for and is being challanged by over a dozen states. The hearing is set the 12th or 14th, I do not recall, of this month.
Chosing to use or not use it does not change it’s contitutionality or the federal governments abuse of it’s power. Nor do you have a choice to elect out. Failure to pay our healthcare tax, will land you with penalties and i would guess eventually jail.
Leave a Comment