we are slaves
The rest of the column “paraphrased” in my own words:
Virginia’s founding fathers were at the forefront of the protection of individual and state rights from an overbearing federal government.
Those supporting the Virginia law cite the 10th Amendment’s protection of states and individuals against overreaching by Congress. And while the 14th amendment gave the feds power to protect the rights of individuals against state law, the purpose of that act was to provide freedom for all citizens of the United States regardless of what state they were ine, NOT to take away our freedoms for the sake of federal power to take over our health care decisions.
Unfortunately, I think the Virginia anti-mandatory insurance law is unlikely to help us. No matter what we think should be true, it is settled case law that federal law trumps state laws. The Constitution’s supremacy clause states “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; … shall be the supreme Law of the Land; … any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
If Congress passes Obamacare, it will override the will of the people of Virginia, as expressed by our legislature in their anti-Mandatory insurance bill. Our only hope then is found in the constitutional phrase “in pursuance thereof”—which says a law must be constitutional to replace state law.
Never before has Congress tried to force citizens to enter contractual arrangements with private businesses under penalty of law. It is clear that brazenly doing so, for example under criminal penalty, would be unconstitutional. So the Democrats have tried to skirt the problem by using a “tax” charged only to those who fail to buy insurance.
However, as David Rivken and Lee Casey explain in a Wall Street Journal article, this “solution” if allowed to stand, would make a mockery of individual rights: “A “tax” that falls exclusively on anyone who is uninsured is a penalty beyond Congress’s authority. If the rule were otherwise, Congress could evade all constitutional limits by “taxing” anyone who doesn’t follow an order of any kind—whether to obtain health-care insurance, or to join a health club, or exercise regularly, or even eat your vegetables.”
Still, I am not counting on the Supreme Court to save us from Obamacare. If Obamacare passes, slavery will once again be the law of this great Nation. Doctors will be enslaved to provide health care — First voluntarily but under slave wages set by the government, and then when the inevitable shortages occur, government will coerce people to become doctors, require them to serve in under-staffed areas either through penalty of law, or by licencing which makes it impossible for them to do otherwise. Conscription like the draft will eventually be necessary.
Citizens will be enslaved to purchase insurance, at first under penalty of an unconstitutional tax, and then by putting us in jail. Government will define what insurance we are required to buy, and how much it will cost us — a cost based on on market forces, but on what is “necessary” to fund their socialist agenda. They will force us to work to earn money, so we can give that money to the insurance companies. That is the essense of slavery.
Insurance providers will be enslaved to take all clients. Where insurance once made sense, government will instead for people providing insurance to “insure” against conditions which already exist, and for which payment will be woefully inadequate for the task . When insurance providers try to raise prices to meet costs, government will dictate the price they can charge, and when they go bankrupt, government will take over.
Hospitals will be enslaved to provide abortions and other services, regardless of the conscience of their owners and doctors and nurses. Catholics will be slaves to the dictates of Government rather than the precepts of their faith. Christians will be driven from their professions or forced to kill babies, pharmacists will be required to give out pills that violate their religious principles.
Our only hope is to convince our representatives to vote against this bill. Now is the time—the vote is this week. Call, write, and visit your representative, and tell him/her to listen to the people he represents. Virginians reject Obamacare—and he should vote NO.
bump
Grim.
I just heard tonight that Virginia is going to borrow something like $600,000,000 out of the state pension fund to cover revenue shortfall. I am partially surviving on my late husbands teaching pension.
I also have my health insurance through the local board of education from my late husband’s days as a teacher. Unfortunately I can only choose one plan from two choices. I have Kaiser Permanente for which I pay about $250 a month. A close friend has a Kaiser policy for which he pays about $100 per month. He has a higher deductible and has to pay a bit more for doctor visits, but his plan would be much cheaper for me and I can afford the deductible and other differences. I called the school office and asked if I could change to the other policy. They said the only way I could would be to drop their policy which I could then NEVER get back. If I go directly to Kaiser, they do not have service in several places I might move to, but if I keep the schools policy, I am covered anywhere in the country. I am really ANGRY that I cannot get the cheaper policy through the school’s insurance program.
BTTT
BTW, if anybody is just looking at this, it would be great if you could go to the paper’s web site and read the comments and post if there is something you can answer. I haven’t checked, but almost always there’s some liberals probably from the local democratic party committee who’s job it is to make comments on all the columns in the paper. It helps of there are new, different names attacking them.
I do my part but I’m the author so it’s expected I’ll agree with what I wrote.