OpEd: Jack
Side note re the Social Security program as addressed within the following text: The original Social Security Program is Constitutional as it was originally written to provide a Retirement account for the elderly working class ...no different than the retirement accounts for Federal ,State and local Government employees...they pay into the account like any other retirement system...where it became perverted is when Congress placed all the Social Security retirement funds into the general account fund of the US Government and robbed it blind! As for medicare the same applies....it was only intended to be a medical plan for seniors who had paid into the fund during their entire working career...where it became perverted is when funds were taken and used for illegal immigrants medical treatment and for medicaid which is supposed to be a separate account!
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by
Publius Huldah
Harvard Law School was embarrassed recently when one of its
graduates, the putative President of the United States, demonstrated
that he was unaware that the supreme Court has constitutional authority
to declare an act of Congress unconstitutional.
1
And after reading a recent paper by Harvard law professor
Einer Elhauge, one wonders whether the academic standards (or is it the moral standards?) of that once great school have collapsed.
Professor Elhauge says in “
If Health Insurance Mandates Are Unconstitutional, Why Did the Founding Fathers Back Them?”
(The New Republic, April 13, 2012), that Congress may force us to buy
health insurance because in 1792, our Framers required all male
citizens to buy guns; and in 1798 required ship owners using U.S. ports
(dock-Yards) to pay a fee to the federal government in order to fund
hospitals for sick or disabled seamen at the U.S. ports.
Oh! What tangled webs are woven when law professors write about Our Constitution!
I have already proved that Art. I, Sec. 8, next to last clause (which
grants to Congress “exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever” over
dock-Yards and the other federal enclaves) is what authorizes Congress
to assess the fee from ship owners who use the federal dock-Yards. See:
Merchant Seamen in 1798, Health Care on Federal Enclaves, and Really Silly Journalists.
Now I will show you where the Constitution grants authority to Congress to require adult citizens to get armed!
The Constitution Authorizes Congress To Require Citizens to Buy Guns and Ammunition.
In 1792, Congress passed “
An Act more effectually to provide for the National Defense by establishing an Uniform Militia throughout the United States”.
2
This Act required all able-bodied male citizens (except for federal
officers and employees) between the ages of 18 and under 45 to enroll in
their State Militia, get a gun and ammunition, and train.
Does Congress have authority in the Constitution to require this?
Yes! Article I, Sec. 8, clause 16 says Congress has the Power:
“To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia,
and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service
of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the
Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;” [boldface mine]
That is what authorizes Congress to require adult male citizens to buy guns and ammunition.
As Section 1 of the Militia Act of 1792 reflects,
the “Militia” is the citizenry!
Our Framers thought it such a fine idea that The People be armed, that
they required it by law! See, e.g., the second half of
Federalist Paper No. 46
where James Madison, Father of Our Constitution, speaks of how
wonderful it is that the American People are armed – and why they need
to be.
3
So! In the case of Congress’ requiring adult citizens to buy guns
and ammunition, Congress has specific authority under Art. I, Sec. 8,
cl.16.
In the case of Congress’ requiring ship owners who use the federal
dock-Yards to pay the fees to fund the marine hospitals at the
dock-Yards, Congress is granted by Art. I, Sec.8, next to last clause, a
general legislative power over the federal enclaves, such as
dock-Yards.
4
But for the country at large, Congress has no broad grant of
legislative powers. There, Congress’ powers are few, limited, and
strictly defined. See:
Congress’ Enumerated Powers.
Now, let us look at obamacare.
What Clause in The Constitution Authorizes Congress to Force Us into Obamacare?
Nothing! Over the Country at large (as opposed to the federal enclaves), Congress has only
enumerated powers.
These enumerated powers are listed in Art. I, Sec. 8, clauses 1-16 and
in the Amendments addressing civil and voting rights. No enumerated
power authorizes the federal government to force us into obamacare.
So, Professor Elhauge introduces a nasty bit of poison. He says:
“Nevermind that nothing in the text or history of the
Constitution’s Commerce Clause indicates that Congress cannot mandate
commercial purchases.”
Do you see what he is doing? Surely he knows that obamacare is not
authorized by any enumerated power. So! He asserts that nothing in
the commerce clause
says Congress can’t force us into obamacare. He thus seeks to pervert
Our Constitution from one of enumerated powers only, to an abomination
which says the federal government can do whatever it pleases as long as
the commerce clause doesn’t forbid it.
Furthermore, what he says is demonstrably false.
The Federalist Papers & Madison’s Journal of the Federal Convention
show that the purpose of the interstate commerce clause is to prevent
the States from imposing tolls & tariffs on articles of merchandize
as they are transported through the States for purposes of buying and
selling.
For actual quotes from Our Framers and irrefutable Proof that this is the purpose of the interstate commerce clause, see: “
Does the Interstate Commerce Clause Authorize Congress to Force Us to Buy Health Insurance?”.
Obamacare is unconstitutional as outside the scope of the legislative
powers granted to Congress by Our Constitution. And it does much more
than force us to buy medical insurance.
Obamacare turns medical care over to the federal government to control. Bureaucrats in the Department of Health and Human Services will decide
who gets medical treatment and what treatment they will get; and
who
will be denied medical treatment. If you think the federal government
is doing a great job feeling up old ladies and little children at
airports, wait until
they are deciding whether you get medical care or “the painkiller”.
Folks! The Time has come that we must recognize that social security
and Medicare are also unconstitutional as outside the scope of the
legislative powers granted to Congress by Our Constitution. We must
confess that it is
wicked to seek to live at other peoples’ expense! And
when a People renounce Personal Responsibility – as we did when we embraced social security & Medicare – the federal government takes control.
Social security and Medicare are fiscally bankrupt. Obamacare, which
will prevent old people from getting medical care, is the progressives’
way of dealing with the unfunded liabilities in these programs: Kill off
old people by preventing them from getting medical care!
The Piper
will be paid. Shall we pay him by killing off old people?
Or, shall we return to Personal Responsibility and dismantle (in an
orderly fashion) the wicked, unconstitutional, and fiscally unworkable
social security and Medicare programs?
Endnotes:
1 Our Framers gave us an elegant system
of Checks & Balances: Each branch of the federal government has a
“check” on the other two branches. This is expressed primarily in
the Oath of Office
(Art. VI, cl. 3 & Art. II, Sec. 1, last clause) which requires each
branch to obey the Constitution and not the other branches! The supreme
Court’s check on Congress is to declare their Acts unconstitutional:
See (in addition to the Oath) Art. III, Sec. 2, cl. 1;
Federalist No. 78 (8
th -15
th paras); and
Marbury v. Madison (1803).
Congress’ check on the judicial branch is to impeach and remove federal judges who usurp power (
Federalist No. 81, 8
th para).
2 Here is the URL for the Militia Act of 1792:
Read it! And note how short it is.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=001/llsl001.db&recNum=394
3 In “The Patriot”, Mel Gibson’s
character commanded a South Carolina Militia – civilians who took up
arms against the British. Everyone knew that “the Militia” was the armed
citizenry – farmers, trappers, shopkeepers, clergy, etc. It still is.
4 Attorney Hal Rounds provides
fascinating additional information on this issue: “Ships will dump sick
sailors wherever they may make landfall, and the locals have the burden
of dealing with the victim. Their care then raises the legal right to
compensation for their services, which the law of nations allows to be
levied against the nation, not just the owners, of the ship.” For Mr.
Round’s full comment see the Postscript of April 7, 2012
here.
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