—Do you agree or disagree with the Raich decision?—
Well, it’s sticky for me. It offends me that the government can regulate something that may grow wild in some areas. However, the way the laws are written I do believe the decision was within the constitution.
But I believe there is a chasm between the government preventing someone from doing something and forcing them to do something. Take the Jim Crow laws. In that case, the government said you could not discriminate based on race. The “kept them from doing something”. But with affirmative action, it was not only the opposite (forcing them to do something) but was actually government forced racial discrimination (forcing businesses to hire or otherwise deal with certain people over others based solely on race). The former was “government permitted” discrimination while the latter was “government forced” discrimination.
It is disgusting.
What does the way the laws are written have to do whether Raich is within the Constitution or not?
You also just endorsed the New Deal Commerce Clause, which makes possible federal control of education, welfare, the environment, as well as health care.