Re-litigating the Welfare State

Looking over the election results so far, and noting widespread election fraud, has me thinking back to 2008 and the fraudulent elections of funny man Al Franken to the Senate.  Franken's long election battle gave Democrats the 60 votes necessary pass Obamacare, against the will of 80% of the electorate.  The Democrats kept insisting that "healthcare is a right" and that therefore the government should provide it to see that everyone has the benefit of a minimal health insurance policy.  I remember my doctor saying "in a country as prosperous as this one, don't you think we should provide healthcare to everyone?"  I remember asking how he thought we became a properous nation in the first place?

Chief Justice John Roberts apparently twisted himself into a pretzel to find this obscene law "Constitutional."   What I intend to do here is to unpack the arguments made for ObamaCare, because these same arguments keep coming up.  And if John Roberts doesn't know this either (he should) then perhaps someone will clue him in.

Certain rights are listed in the Constitution, in the first ten amendments to that document, known as the Bill of Rights.  The rights acknowledge in the First Amendment include:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

That seems fairly straight forward.  So, when an employer tells you you may not speak about something to those outside the company, is he abridging your right to free speech in contravention to the First Amendment?  If you said no, go pick up a gold star.  But how about if the FBI writes its own subpoena to request your email records from your internet supplier and the FBI tells them they can not inform you that you are under investigation?  If you said yes, you fail.  Whether or not a court agrees, it seems to violate the black letter law of several Constitutional amendments.

Now let's take a look at the Ninth Amendment, which says:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Here we find the famous penumbras and emanations that the Surpemes routinely wrap their odd interpretations of the Constitution.  It is in these unenumerated rights. So, from this you might expect that the Democrats claim that you have a right to health care is correct, and once again you get a gold star. Horay! But not so fast. Hold your horses before going out and getting your very own subsidized health care.

Going back to the First Amendment, you have a right to free speech, correct?  Does that mean the Government must give you a radio station?  No?  What about a microphone? A bullhorn?  A soapbox?  Anything?   No?  You may study the issues, hire the venue, and...well...speak.  Anything you want.  But you have to pay all expenses required, and nobody else has to listen.  Sorry.  You can buy radio ads, or get someone to write up an editorial in a newspaper.  But if you lie you may be sued for slander or libel.

It is the same way with the Second Amendment.  You have a right to a gun, a rifle or pistol, etc.  You have the right to keep and bear arms.  But the State is not obligated to give each citizen an AR-15 and 100 rounds of ammunition.  No, you have to supply yourself with such weapons as you deem necessary for the safety and security of yourself, and those under your care.  And guess what?  Having a right means you don't have to exercise it.  You can decide not to exercise any right granted you under the Bill of Rights.

And that brings us to the "subsidized" part.  In order to provide some with health care, the government takes tax money from each person who pays taxes, which includes me, and uses it to subsidize the heath care of others.  Now don't think that because I object to the government doing it, that I am not a compassionate person.  I routinely give my own money to help our local food bank, for just one charity.  My objection is specifically using tax dollars to subsidize the healthcare of those who can not, of will not provide it themselves.  And this objection extends to welfare payments, and corporate welfare as well.

First, by providing tax money, which is taken under threat that men with guns will come, and take me away, or if I defend myself will kill me. the government is essentially forcing me to work in order to provide for someone else.  This is, at its most basic form, slavery.  I seem to recall there was a 13th Amendment to the Constitution that outlawed such things in the United States.  Now here it is back under the guise of "compassion."

Secondly, the government is usually the least efficient organization for providing such services.  I remember that Hillary was routinely throwing out numbers of people who were uninsured.  I believe we all finally settled on the idea that there were 30 million such.  So how many are still uninsured?  Turns out the number is still 30 million.  Surprise!  In this year's election, Linda Coleman ran ads saying that George Holding and voted to deny people with pre-existing conditions health insurance.  Would that it were so, but no.  Our Republican Congressman did no such thing, fearing exactly what he got.  I wonder if he wishes now that he had, since he was tarred with it anyway.

The reason the Democrats propose and usually manage to pass these laws, and the Supremes let them. is for power.  And since nobody seems to read the Constitution and take it seriously, we end up with these poorly thought out decisions that simply compound upon one another and drain away our potential.