Using the Wrong Argument

I. Am. Tired. No, I am not referring to my sleepless nights spent with my newborn. No, I am not referring to keeping up with my two year old. I am tired of the back and forth mud slinging regarding the Health Care Reform bills. I believe you can have a passionate debate about this hot button issue without referring to either side as Nazi's, or mobsters.

Although I find the expansion of the national government frightening (not in the "KGB kicking down my door" way, but in the "federal government bankrupts itself and can't run anything effectively" way); my argument can stand alone without name calling and yelling. I believe many of the conservative talking heads and outraged citizens attending town hall meetings are making the wrong argument.

Congress can not draft any legislation, enact any bill, vote on any proposal, without getting the BIG approval from one source. The Constitution. This document is the ultimate check on the expansion of their power, if they abide by it. It expressly gives our representatives their roles and duties to the United States and to the people. There are two portions of the Constitution which, I believe, should prevent Congress and President Obama from enacting either health care bill.

Promote General Welfare: There is a huge difference between "promoting" and "providing". Congress and the President have the authority to "promote general welfare", which health care falls under. It does NOT say that the national government should provide for the general welfare. Congress and the President can regulate, tax, enact tort reform, all of which promote general welfare. Even if you believe that health insurance is an unalienable right (which I would disagree with you), it is not within the scope of the national government's powers. If it is not an expressly written power granted to the national government, it is reserved to the states.

Tenth Amendment: Although I just paraphrased this pesky amendment, I want to include the actual text. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The tenth amendment is the most violated part of the Constitution by a trillion miles (we're so comfortable with the concept of measuring things in the trillions). If President Obama and Congress want to enact health care reform, the golden restraints of the Constitution, should limit them to their own states. Yet, just as every politician at the national level has in the past (Republicans and Democrats both included) they are overstepping their limits. It is only through the states that health care reform should take place. For example, Massachussets. If the citizens of Massachusetts wants universal health care, go for it. However, an editorial written in the Boston Globe, does not give glowing reviews. If California wants to overspend in their entitlements and bankrupt itself, go for it. But the other 49 should not have to foot the bill. This should be a state issue, not a national government issue.

There are many reasons to be for or against universal health care, or a public option, or a co-op, or whatever they term giving the national government power over our health. And those are people's opinions. However, the founders were explicit, if it isn't written in the Constitution, the national government should not touch it. Period.