Senator DeMint has been busy. In addition to getting his state’s AG to investigate Senator Nelson’s bribe, he has introduced a Constitutional Point of Order that will force a Senate vote on the constitutionality of the individual insurance mandate contained in the Reid version of Obamacare:
Today, U.S. Senators Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) and John Ensign (R-Nevada), raised a Constitutional Point of Order on the Senate floor against the Democrat health care takeover bill on behalf of the Steering Committee, a caucus of conservative senators. The Senate will vote tomorrow on the bill’s constitutionality.
This is going nowhere in the Senate, of course. But it will certainly come up in the courts once Obamacare has been passed. The mandate requires us to buy a product (insurance) simply because we exist. That is certainly unprecedented, and probably unconstitutional. Demint quotes the CBO:
The Congressional Budget Office stated, ‘A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.’
And for those of you who can’t see the difference between this and various state laws requiring you to buy car insurance, the analogy is hopelessly flawed. In fact, there are four distinct differences between this federal rquirement to buy health insurance and a state auto insurance law:
First, there is a fundamental constitutional difference between the inherent police powers of the states and the enumerated powers of the national government.
Second, automobile insurance requirements impose a condition on the voluntary activity of driving; a health insurance mandate imposes a condition on life itself.
Third, state auto insurance requirements are limited to those who drive on public roads. The public roads are mostly constructed, owned, and maintained by the government.
Finally, states require drivers to maintain auto insurance only to cover injuries to others. The mandate does not require drivers to insure themselves.
Not that critical thinking matters here. The Democrats have no real interest in facts and even less in health care or reform. It’s about money and power. As Demint puts it: “This is not liberty, it is tyranny of good intentions by elites in Washington who think they can plan our lives better than we can.”
I think Demint is being too kind when he speaks of “good intentions.”
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