Posted by
Jerry Briffa on Saturday, August 15, 2009 1:19:58 PM
President Obama claims that the new health care system he and his fellow Democrats are concocting won't be anything like the debacles we see in Canada or the U.K. Instead the President claims that our new government run system will be "uniquely American". I'd like to know what is so uniquely American about a government takeover of health care or any part of our economy? Clearly this is just more wordsmithing from our Wizard to hide the truth about his plans. He knows that Americans understand that the majority of Canadians and Brits hate nationalized medicine. He therefore, cleverly states that their systems wouldn't work here but one that is different in that it is "uniquely American" will work just fine. The trouble is that the proposed bills for his "uniquely American" plan aren't one lick different than the Canadian and British plans. Oh those darn details! Moreover, there is absolutely nothing American about the government taking over any part of our economy whether it is health care, the auto industry, the banking system, the insurance industry etc.... Such takeovers are uniquely un-American.
America was founded on principles of a small central government, rugged individualism (to use Teddy Roosevelt's phrase), state's rights, free enterprise and religious and other personal freedoms. Our Founding Father's were concerned about a strong central government and the intrusions such a federal government may make on our personal liberty. Perhaps they had President Obama and the current crop of Democrats in mind way back then. As a result, the Founding Fathers, who believed very deeply in the right of every citizen to be free from intrusion from their government, created our Constitution to limit the scope and power of the federal government. Many people mistakenly believe that the Constitution was created to bestow rights on the federal government however, the exact opposite is true.The 10th amendment to the Constitution specifically limits the powers given to the federal government by giving them only those powers set forth in the Constitution while all other power is left to the states. The Founding Fathers rightly believed that state governments, which are closer to the people, would be more responsive to their needs and desires. Remember that it was the needs and desires of the individuals--individual liberty, that mattered most to the Founding Fathers. The federal government was meant to serve not to be served. No where in the Constitution is the power to take over private business, including health care, granted to the federal government. The fact that we have permitted the federal government to intrude beyond it's constitutional powers in the past with regard to health care i.e. Medicare and Medicaid, does not make such intrusions constitutional. Because federal programs may be popular doesn't make them constitutional either.
Despite the 10th amendment we have been completely brainwashed with regard to the role of federal government and it's constitutional powers. Seventy years of federal "social programs" have numbed us to the fact that they are unconstitutional. They have simply become part of the fabric of our society. Over time we have accepted that an expansive federal government is not only morally right but constitutional. Because we have all grown up with Social Security, Medicare, etc... we have assumed that they must be constitutional. Anyone who has ever challenged this belief is labeled as anti-poor or anti-children and/or a right wing lunatic.
I am a firm believer in the fact that God permits evil to bring about a greater good (remember that Easter Sunday follows Good Friday). Perhaps Obama's unprecedented grab for control of our lives (an evil deed) will be a wake up call to all of us to learn our Constitution and hold the federal government to its constitutional limits. If we did the underpinnings of a huge amount of our federal debt and deficit would disappear overnight. Popular federal programs like Medicare and Social Security could be replaced by free market programs that would be more efficient and cost effective. To do so we must begin to challenge these programs in court as violating the 10th Amendment and start to roll them back. Hopefully the health care debate has finally aroused the American public and opened our eyes to the reality that an unchecked government is an evil that must be contained at all costs. Perhaps this wake up call puts an end once and for all to us falling for the ruse that the government is a benevolent force for good in our lives. Whether it's for the children or for our elderly or for whoever the government can't do it better than the folks nor do they have a legal right to try. We must cherish and defend our Constitution with every legal means available. It is the greatest secular document ever written and has fueled and insured the prosperity and security of our nation for over 230 years. The Constitution, not the federal government, is what makes us "uniquely American". Without it and the limits it places on the power of government we are at the mercy of power hungry politicians like those presently in office.