I'm no Constitutional lawyer but it seems to me that forcing people to buy insurance under penalty of law runs contrary to the United States Constitution. That's what ObamaCare does, it makes health insurance mandatory. You must buy it or the government will penalize you. This mandate alters individual freedom like never before in our country's history. It expands the federal government's authority over American citizens to the extent that is downright spooky.
In order for the universal health care scheme to work, big government needs to make healthy young adults pay billions in premiums into the national health-care market. The main reason many young adults didn't have health insurance up until now is not because they couldn't afford it, it's because they figured they wouldn't need much medical care. And for the most part, that's true. The fact is, older people have more medical needs overall than do the young. But nevermind that, now "YOU VILL BUY HEALTH INSURANCE!" whether you want it, need it, or not. Period. Is that what our founding fathers had in mind for America?
As our founders set it up, the federal government was supposed to have limited, enumerated powers while the states retain broad regulatory authority. This formed the basis of American liberty. In the Federalist Papers James Madison wrote, "[I]n the first place it is to be remembered that the general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws. Its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects."
Article 1, Section 8 enumerates the powers of the federal government which include the power to tax, borrow and spend money, raise and support armies, provide and maintain a navy, declare war, establish post offices and regulate commerce. There is, as far as I can tell, no provision which would mandate that all Americans must buy government-approved health insurance or be penalized. Madison and the other guys just forgot to put it in, I guess. You know, they had so much on their minds back then.
This abuse of federal power over states authority is why thirteen (so far) state Attorneys General are calling this an unprecedented exercise of state power and have filed law suits against the feds. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty says he plans to sue over the federal health care law as well. "The federal government is now requiring citizens under penalty of a fine to buy a good or a service, and we think that's an unprecedented overreach by the federal government into the lives of individual citizens," he said.
Under ObamaCare almost every U.S. citizen must buy health insurance or be punished by an annual tax penalty that will be, within 6 years, $750 or 2% of your total income, whichever is higher. And it's the IRS that will come after you - it has been reported that they will be hiring an additional 16,000 agents specifically for health care oversight.
The Wall Street Journal has stated, "Never before has Congress required people to buy a private product to qualify as a law-abiding citizen." If Congress can force Americans to buy a product, then the whole idea of limited federal powers becomes null and void. Today you must buy health insurance and tomorrow you must buy …what? What is to prevent Congress mandating Americans to buy whatever they deem to be important at any given time? Where will it stop? Will we be required to join health clubs under penalty of law?
Government regulations are already pushing so-called "green friendly" products on American industry and American citizens. Big Government uses environmental and safety regulations to impose its authority on almost every aspect of our lives and the products we buy. In the future will we be forced to buy a government sanctioned automobile or else be penalized if we buy a car that isn't from a government controlled car company? (Of the Big Three, only Ford is still independent.) Will there be a tax penalty levied on any food that contains too much fat or salt, or sugar?
ObamaCare is only the start of a brand new America. An America far different from the one in the history books, certainly far different from the America envisioned by our founding fathers. ObamaCare is the beginning of unlimited Congressional power to regulate individual Americans. The government controlling the people. Sound like something out of Communist Russia? Yep, sure do to me.
HOPE and CHANGE, eh? The only thing we can HOPE for now, is that this particular CHANGE can be repealed before we wake up one day to an America that too closely resembles the places our forefathers risked their lives trying to escape from.
