Supreme Court must rule: Obamacare sets dangerous precedent for freedom
With the Supreme Court set to examine Obama's Affordable Care Act, more than the health-care law hangs in the balance. If the court says the Constitution's Commerce Clause justifies the law's 'individual mandate,' government can essentially make people do whatever it wants.
St. Louis
After months of debate, several lawsuits, and multiple competing federal court rulings, the Affordable Care Act will have its day in court. That day will determine the nature of freedom in America.
On Monday, the US Supreme Court agreed to examine the constitutionality of the health-care law sometimes known as Obamacare. The main question is its “individual mandate,” specifically whether the federal government has constitutional authority to require citizens to purchase health insurance. For that justification, supporters have looked to the Commerce Clause in the Constitution, which gives Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.”
But for the Commerce Clause to provide sufficient authority to the federal government to mandate that everyone buy health insurance, choosing not to buy health insurance has to be regarded as “activity.”
The distinction between inactivity and activity is vital for upholding the Constitution’s principle of enumerated government powers and thereby maintaining a free society. It is important that all Americans understand the threat President Obama’s health-care law poses to freedom in the US.
The truer it is that individuals have discretion to act except as specifically prohibited by law and the truer it is that government has discretion to act only as specifically empowered by law, the freer a society is. There is abundant evidence that the Founders understood and believed this.
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