Friday, September 20, 2013

To Regulate Commerce...

I was listening to (Right wing) talk radio (propaganda) the other day, when a snarky caller said to the host, "I hear you bashing Obamacare all the time, well, I would like to know what your alternative is?"

Hands clearly at 9 and 3
I think the caller was one of those low information voters (I really like that term) who was under the impression that the Republicans do not have a plan?  Their are plenty out there.   But my answer (which I screamed to myself in the car...texting is illegal, but screaming an emotional tirade at the radio is perfectly fine) would have been, "My alternative is for the Government to have nothing to do with your healthcare, and to stay out of the relationship between you and your doctor."

Surgeon General Whats-her-face
Anything that gets in between buyer (patient) and seller (doctor) COSTS money.

The sad fact is that the caller on that show, as well as many, many, Americans have begun to accept that the Government has to have a health care law, that health insurance comes from your job, and that consumers need protection from doctors and insurance companies?

This all started from the expanded use by the Federal Government of the Commerce Clause.  Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, Congress shall have the power to...regulate commerce...among the several states...  Traditionally this did not cover things that happened within one state.  I'm sure it happens, but for the most part we don't cross state lines to see the doctor.

All of this must be reversed.  Not just Obamacare, but the unconstitutional nature of what the Congress does and what the Supreme Court allows.  This was the goal of Chief Justice John Roberts when he said Obamacare was "constitutional."  He said Congress has the power to tax, that is the first sentence in Section 8 (he completely missed the point that as written, Obamacare is MUCH, MUCH more than a tax).  But Roberts also said that Congress did NOT have the power to regulate Commerce in the way they have been.  But we have yet to see any fruit from that tree...

They can "defund" Obamacare all they want - they will just write more bad law later.

*Interesting fact, one of the points of many, if not all, Republican plans is to allow insurance plans to be able to cross state lines (opening up competition, and lower prices, as well as 'portability').  Ironic, that what Congress IS allowed to regulate, they have just stopped altogether.

3 comments:

LL said...

As usual, you have clearly identified the problem -- both cause and effect.

There have always been Congressional remedies to the healthcare issue (portability/opening markets, etc) that are completely Constitutional. The debate, controlled by the left, has always been about "vote buying" and government control, which is not Constitutional.

However, when have Constitutional issues ever plagued the Obama Administration? They ignore it, move on and try and shout down the opposition with the media cheerleading for them.

If you hold yourself out as a "Constitutionalist", it's now viewed as one of those "code words" for being a radical. That's new in the last 4 years.

Woodsterman (Odie) said...

The largest raise in medical costs started around the creation of Medicare (government run, huh, huh)

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