Hoyer Says Constitution’s ‘General Welfare’ Clause Empowers Congress to Order Americans to....

CNSnews ^

[Sub-Driver]

Hoyer Says Constitution’s ‘General Welfare’ Clause Empowers Congress to Order Americans to Buy Health Insurance Wednesday, October 21, 2009 By Matt Cover

(CNSNews.com) – House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that the individual health insurance mandates included in every health reform bill, which require Americans to have insurance, were “like paying taxes.” He added that Congress has “broad authority” to force Americans to purchase other things as well, so long as it was trying to promote “the general welfare.”

The Congressional Budget Office, however, has stated in the past that a mandate forcing Americans to buy health insurance would be an “unprecedented form of federal action,” and that the “government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States.”

Hoyer, speaking to reporters at his weekly press briefing on Tuesday, was asked by CNSNews.com where in the Constitution was Congress granted the power to mandate that a person must by a health insurance policy. Hoyer said that, in providing for the general welfare, Congress had “broad authority.”

[RJS1950]

When the letter of Marque and Reprisal is issued with his name on it I want to be sure that my name is one of the many who can serve it on him. The other poster is correct, the preamble is a mission statement, not the specifications of law.

[ForGod'sSake]

Thanks EdReform! In my advancing years I suppose I should reach a point where I am no longer amazed at the depths of treachery our would-be masters will sink to in their efforts to control EVERY facet of our lives. Steny Hoyer is a sleazy dirtbag who knows better, so IMHO he should be accorded a speedy impeachment, hauled to the nearest tree and hung for treason.

To me the language in the first paragraph of sec 8 is so clear and unambiguous that most 6th graders would be able to understand its intended meaning. The obvious intent of the "general welfare" clause does NOT apply to the people or the states specifically but to the common defense and general welfare of these United States as a whole. How can anyone in their "right" mind interpret it any other way. Rhetorical, so...

I would submit odinga and the dims in congress(along with some squishy Pubbies) are even commiting acts contrary to their own skewed interpretation of sec 8. That is, in their pursuit of the "general welfare", they are actually dividing this nation and subjecting it to internal stresses that will lead to a fracturing of the country. Hang every one of the bastards!

[The Comedian]

Well Steny,

We have an impasse here.

You say you have some invisible Constitutional authority to catalog me, rob from me, medicate me, and make me pay for child murder.

I say you don't.

Are you willing to kill me to prove your argument?

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[NRA2BFree]

He added that Congress has “broad authority” to force Americans to purchase other things as well, so long as it was trying to promote “the general welfare.”

Yeah, Comrade, that's the ticket. "Force" Americans to do "other things" as long as it's for the common good. Right, you socialist pos?

Is it just me or does it seem to you like the RATS are getting more arrogant since Obamanation has been prezz? We're going to need more rope.

[Little Ray]

Okay. My bad.
Between that, the Interstate Commerce clause and a whacky USSC, there is nothing beyond the reach of the Congress...

[DuncanWaring]

Are you willing to kill me to prove your argument?

Vicki Weaver could answer that for you.

If Lon Horiuchi hadn't blown the top of her head off.

[The Comedian]

Are you willing to kill me to prove your argument? Vicki Weaver could answer that for you.

If Lon Horiuchi hadn't blown the top of her head off.

Yes indeed.

So if Steny and his stormtroopers *are* willing to kill me if I don't buy insurance, or dance when they shoot at my feet, or whatever other insane dictate they can think up, it only makes sense for me to be prepared to nullify their capacity for applying deadly force to the best of my abilities.

And by logical extention, that includes deadly force itself of course.

Does Steny Hoyer *really* want to get into a fight to the death with me? I mean a fight where at least one of us is *guaranteed* to get a bullet between the ears?

I can't imagine anyone being that dedicated to and passionate about making sure I've got standardized government insurance.

Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

[Charles Martel]

Hoyer is wrong. The Constitution in that section says Congress has the power to lay and collect TAXES, etc., in order to provide for the common welfare. TAXES, not insurance requirements.

True - and the "general welfare" part refers to the nation's "health and welfare", not that of the citizenry.

[RJL]

Steny, Where in the Constitution does it state that the general welfare clause is not constricted by the enumerated powers clause?

[Liz]

The Constitution is meaningless to the present govt. We ain't seen nuttin' yet. Ohaha’s got BIG plans, much much BIGGER PLANS for us. Ohaha told the N/Orleans crowd: "I'm not tired. I'm just getting started."

PASTE THIS ON YOUR BATHROOM MIRROR AND MEMORIZE IT . "Medicine is the keystone of the arch of the socialist state.” Vladimir Lenin.

Once govt gets control of medical care, all the defining, controlling features of socialist govt can be introduced, one by one.

Remember the 4th Amendment: Socialized health care is impossible without seizing private medical records----the 4th prohibits seizure without warrants.

===========================================

Obama-Soros Health Crimes
Canada Free Press | 10/14/2009 | Joy Tiz
FR Posted Wednesday, October 14, 2009 by jazminerose

Most of Obama’s stated plans for America are indistinguishable from those of George Soros. As the left forces nationalized health care on us, we may want to consider Soros’s Project on Death. Soros is a leading promoter of the assisted suicide movement. He papers over it with tripe about compassion; in reality, the project is a push for palliative care rather than treatment for gravely ill patients. As always, it’s all about the money: (Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...

===========================================

NOTE: The Emanuel brothers--Rahm and Zeke---are in charge of the healthcare trillions.

On the plus side, Dr Zeke was spit-shining his penny loafers when the subject of "death panels" surfaced.

[Liz]

.....the rights of the individuals are protected from the main body of the US Constitution.....

The US Constitution was written to restrain the govt.

============================================

POLLING DATA CONFIRMS Pols who support imposing a fee on Americans who don’t sign up for ObamaCare are performing the political equivalent of swallowing a time-release poison capsule.

How ’bout that America? ObamaCare Death Panels—working just the opposite way Obama intended.

[Jacquerie]

Two points:

First, the rat Congress will likely invoke Article III Section 2 and remove Scotus from jurisdiction.

Second, if Congress doesn't and Scotus hears the case, it is but a short intellectual, Leftist walk for Scotus to build on Helvering v. Davis - 1937. Social Security was challenged and found Constitutional in large part based on the General Welfare clause, rejecting Madison and adopting Hamilton.

Writing for the 7-2 majority, Justice Cardozo held that Congress was given the power to spend money for the public good under the General Welfare Clause. Hence, the Social Security Act did not violate the 10th Amendment. The Court would defer to Congress in determining what legislative acts served the general welfare. Congress itself would be the monitor of what Congress would do.

I'm reminded of the Framer's warning that our republic would survive as long as we remained a moral people. We long ago lost the moral courage to demand that our representatives and President limit their powers to those enumerated. Toss in a like minded Scotus these past 70 years and the demise of our once shining city on a hill is in view.

[Repeal The 17th]

“Charles Lollar eyes Hoyer’s seat”
Former Marine vows to limit government spending, reduce taxes...
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http://www.gazette.net/stories/10092009/polinew203937_32527.shtml
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GAZETTE.NET
Maryland Community Newspapers Online
Friday, Oct. 9, 2009
by Daniel Valentine | Staff Writer
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Charles Lollar, a conservative Republican from Charles County, announced this week his candidacy for the District 5 congressional seat held by House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D).

“We’re going to speak the truth. We’re going to speak about what matters. There are people hurting out there,” Lollar told about 80 supporters gathered Wednesday at the American Legion banquet hall in Greenbelt, where he announced his run that was expected after he set up an exploratory committee several months ago.

Lollar, 38, a Newburg resident and regional general manager for Cintas uniform company, is the first official challenger to announce a run against Hoyer in the 2010 congressional race.

Lollar previously served in the Marines and currently is chairman of the Charles County Republican Central Committee.

Lollar said he is running on a pledge to reduce taxes, limit government spending and “give Congress back to the people.” He also opposes the public option in health care reform and government spending on bank bailouts.

“I’m concerned about the direction this country is going,” he said. “We need to change direction, and I don’t think a 26-year incumbent is the one to do it.”

[MissouriConservative]

Madison even said -

""If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout the Union; they may assume the provision of the poor; they may undertake the regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police, would be thrown under the power of Congress.

Were the power of Congress to be established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations, and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the people of America."

That last part is the kicker. Too bad our present set of "leaders" aren't up to date on what our founding documents really mean. Or, you can be cynical, and say that they know the real meaning but don't give a rat's rump.

[Repeal The 17th]

This will end badly.
-
The clock is ticking...

[Travis McGee]

They could order women to be impregnated by the doner of their choice using the same “general welfare” rationale.

And granny? Forget it. For the “general welfare,” all “useless feeders” must go into the Soylent Green mulching machine.

[katlynne11]

Steny’s idea of the constitution is to cut and paste any damn thing he wants it to mean. It is NOW out of hand. This is not the machination of only Hoyer....it is the pretext for democrats to do any damn thing they think of to conscript another vote into their coalition of horror. It is getting dangerously close to becoming the times that try mens souls. That any group of freedom loving people would concent to what these monstrosities have in store for us is not possible. The wedge is being driven so tightly that it soon will be irreparable. Yet Washington thinks it cannot happen. Is their tyranny less than George III? Are their pronouncements and mandates less stultifying and oppresive? How can this play out with any satisfaction to those who love liberty?

[elkfersupper]

May 22, 1856
The Caning of Senator Charles Sumner

Caning of Sumner (NY Public Library) On May 22, 1856, the “world’s greatest deliberative body” became a combat zone. In one of the most dramatic and deeply ominous moments in the Senate’s entire history, a member of the House of Representatives entered the Senate chamber and savagely beat a senator into unconsciousness.

The inspiration for this clash came three days earlier when Senator Charles Sumner, a Massachusetts antislavery Republican, addressed the Senate on the explosive issue of whether Kansas should be admitted to the Union as a slave state or a free state. In his “Crime Against Kansas” speech, Sumner identified two Democratic senators as the principal culprits in this crime—Stephen Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina. He characterized Douglas to his face as a “noise-some, squat, and nameless animal . . . not a proper model for an American senator.” Andrew Butler, who was not present, received more elaborate treatment. Mocking the South Carolina senator’s stance as a man of chivalry, the Massachusetts senator charged him with taking “a mistress . . . who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight—I mean,” added Sumner, “the harlot, Slavery.”

Representative Preston Brooks was Butler’s South Carolina kinsman. If he had believed Sumner to be a gentleman, he might have challenged him to a duel. Instead, he chose a light cane of the type used to discipline unruly dogs. Shortly after the Senate had adjourned for the day, Brooks entered the old chamber, where he found Sumner busily attaching his postal frank to copies of his “Crime Against Kansas” speech.

Moving quickly, Brooks slammed his metal-topped cane onto the unsuspecting Sumner’s head. As Brooks struck again and again, Sumner rose and lurched blindly about the chamber, futilely attempting to protect himself. After a very long minute, it ended.

Bleeding profusely, Sumner was carried away. Brooks walked calmly out of the chamber without being detained by the stunned onlookers. Overnight, both men became heroes in their respective regions.

Surviving a House censure resolution, Brooks resigned, was immediately reelected, and soon thereafter died at age 37. Sumner recovered slowly and returned to the Senate, where he remained for another 18 years. The nation, suffering from the breakdown of reasoned discourse that this event symbolized, tumbled onward toward the catastrophe of civil war

[LTCJ]

Don’t make me read up on Bastille Day, Steny.

[JrsyJack]

He added that Congress has “broad authority” to force Americans to purchase other things as well, so long as it was trying to promote “the general welfare.”

And here I am thinking the Constitution was written to LIMIT the power of government over the citizens.