Obamacare Not Constitutional

That the Federal Government has no Constitutional authority to impose health insurance on us seems to have finally occurred to people. Case in point is Terrance Jeffrey, writing in today's Townhall.com, he asks Can Obama and Congress Order You to Buy Broccoli? Well, Hallelujah! At last we get away from the purely utilitarian arguments of what it will cost, and who will have to pay. Of course, when those arguments are raised, Obamacare loses, but they are also beside the point. The point is that the whole concept is not Constitutional, and therefore should be dropped. A quote:

Can President Obama and Congress enact legislation that orders Americans to buy health insurance? They might as well order Americans to buy broccoli. They have no legitimate authority to do either. Yet neither Obama nor the current leadership in Congress seems to care about the constitutional limits on their power.

They are now attempting to exert authority over the lives of Americans in a way no president and Congress has done before.

In 1994, when Congress last pondered a national health care plan that would require all Americans to purchase health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office studied the issue.

"A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action," the CBO concluded. "The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States."

Senator Orin Hatch was the lone Senator raising what should be of concern to all of the Senators. With the precedent they are setting, who knows what else they might order us to purchase? Perhaps they will next order every American to buy a new Government Motors car to boost the Union?

Meanwhile, Walter Williams also has some commentary on the Constitution today's Townhall, entitled American Idea. A quote:

The three branches of our federal government are no longer bound by the Constitution as the framers envisioned and what is worse is American ignorance and acceptance of such rogue behavior. Look at the current debate over government involvement in health, business bailouts and stimulus packages. The debate centers around questions as whether such involvement is a good idea or a bad idea and whether one program is more costly than another. Those questions are entirely irrelevant to what should be debated, namely: Is such government involvement in our lives permissible under the U.S. Constitution?

Of course, none of these things is in fact, Constitutional. There is no provision in the Constitution for the Federal Government to take the property of some Americans and to give it to others. The Constitution does not grant authority to Congress to require Americans to purchase health insurance, or broccoli for that matter.