Senators Display Their Constitutional Ignorance on the Health Care Issue

Democrats have demonstrated that they have no reservations whatsoever about trampling underfoot the Constitution in their quest to implement some form of national health care system. One of the most disturbing provisions in the health care bill working through the Senate is the requirement that all Americans purchase health insurance or potentially face fines and jail time. CNSNews asked several Democratic Senators to identify the part of the Constitution that gives them the authority to make this mandate. The following were some of the responses, as reported by CNSNews:

Senator Reed (D-Rhode Island) responded as follows:

Let me see, I would have to check the specific sections, so I'll have to get back to you on the specific section. But it is not unusual that the Congress has required individuals to do things, like sign up for the draft and do many other things too, which I don't think are explicitly contained [in the Constitution]. It gives Congress a right to raise an army, but it doesn't say you can take people and draft them. But since that was something necessary for the functioning of the government over the past several years, the practice on the books, it's been recognized, the authority to do that.

Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas) apparently believes that "Congress has the authority to force individual Americans to buy health insurance because the U.S. Constitution 'charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people.'"

Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) deferred to the lawyers when questioned:

“Well, we’re very lucky as members of the Senate to have constitutional lawyers on our staff, so I’ll let them answer that."

“But what I will say is that most certainly it is within Congress’ jurisdiction to come up with a way to have a health insurance funded with shared responsibility, is the way I like to, you know--government has a responsibility, individuals have a responsibility and business has a responsibility."

The scariest thing about this is that it doesn't seem to have ever occurred to these Senators to question whether they have the constitutional authority to mandate purchasing health insurance. We are truly in trouble if constitutionality is the farthest thing in the minds of our congressional leadership when deliberating legislation. The truth is that Congress has no right or authority whatsoever to require that we purchase health insurance. The proper role of government, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, is to secure our unalienable rights to life, liberty, and property (rendered "pursuit of happiness" in the Declaration). Instead of securing our rights, this mandate plunders and violates them. If we aren't allowed the liberty to make financial and health decisions on our own without government interference, how can we possibly say we are free? The proper role of government is to protect and defend our unalienable rights, not attempt to be our caretaker.

If there is one good thing to result from the liberal takeover of our federal government a year ago, it's that Americans can now see what liberal governance looks like. I believe that the more the radical, left wing leadership in Congress and the White House push authoritarian, nanny-state policies, the more they seal their fate in the 2010 elections.