Posted on 01/22/2011 12:27:13 PM PST by John Semmens
In the midst of the Republican move to repeal last year’s health care legislation, several Democratic members of Congress advanced their case for the Constitutionality of the legislation.
Representative John Lewis (D-Georgia) sought to rebut the Republican case for repealing the law by arguing that “the right to health care is mandated by the Constitution.” As Lewis sees it, “The Constitution’s 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law. That means if one person has health insurance then it is the government’s responsibility to make sure everyone has it.”
The Congressman rejected the GOP claim that forcing a person to purchase a product he may not want infringes on his liberty. “The concept of liberty is too vague to really be enforceable,” Lewis argued. “As I understand what the GOP is saying, liberty appears to mean that the government’s authority ought to be restricted in some way. I don’t see how the government can be expected to enforce restrictions on itself. I could also point out that the Constitution’s Preamble, where the word ‘liberty’ appears, has been superceded by the 14th Amendment’s subsequent guarantee of equality.”
Bolstering Lewis’ point, Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) maintained that “health care is a right that the government has the power to enforce whether people like it or not. We can’t let people pick and choose which rights they want to exercise and which they don’t. Forcing everyone to enjoy the same rights is the only way we can ensure equality for all.”
Meanwhile, Representative John Conyers (D-Mich.) insisted that “the Constitution’s ‘good and welfare’ clause is all the justification we need to support the Constitutionality of the health care law. We force people to do things all the time. We force them to pay for Social Security. We force them to undergo x-ray screening at airports. If the government decides a citizen’s welfare requires him to pay for health care insurance he must pay for it. We are the law makers. Citizens must do what the laws we make tell them to do.”
“Besides, I think it was President Washington who said that government is force,” Conyers added. “So, with both the Constitution and the ‘father of our country’ on our side the case for compelling everyone to buy health insurance is well supported.”
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http://azconserv1.wordpress.com/2011/01/22/constitution-mandates-health-care-say-representatives/
Don't ya just love it when dimokrats confuse the Declaration with the Constitution? I know I do. Dumkauffs.
Ya, I know the whole Sanity Claus thing has them totally bamboozled.
Liars
So if one person makes $174,000 per year for a part time government job, then that government's responsibility is to make sure everyone has a part time government job paying $174,000 per year. Where's my paycheck, Congressman? It's my Constitutional Right. The 14th Amendment says so.
Idiot.
Our notion of “rights” originated in the Saxon “customary” law which underlies English common law, which was received as the basis for American law. Rights included the physical rights of “were” (protection/security of life or limb); the psychological status rights of “mund” (peace, privacy, conscience); and the ownership rights of private property.
Added to these were the civil or procedural rights wrested from the English king over centuries: presumption of innocence, juries, due process, equality before the law, reasonable search and seizure, etc.
Health care, food, housing, water are not rights. Rights do not extend to “equity” or equal fiscal circumstances. Equality before the law means the rule of law, not persons -that the judge applies the law the same way to a traffic violation or murder committed by a rich white man as a poor black one.
Can’t we require a civics proficiency test before people serve in Congress? Geez!
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