When I read this, “there is no constitutional limit on Congress’ power to enact such mandates.”
I wanted to pick up the phone and call her, not her staff, her. There is a Constitutional limit.
If their powers are not enumerated in the Constitution, then they reside with We the People. And we ALL know on FR that is a truth.
What she said is treasonous to We the People. They do have limits. Congress cannot decide how I am to spend my productivity or on what goods and services I must have.
They are way, way over the line.
“The only conceivable constitutional basis for Congress requiring that Americans purchase a particular good or service is the power to regulate interstate commerce,” said Mr. Hatch.
“Even if the Supreme Court has expanded the commerce power, there has been one constant,” Mr. Hatch continued. “Congress was always regulating activities in which people chose to engage. They might be non-commercial activities or intrastate activities, but they were activities.”
Yet the committee’s health care proposal, Mr. Hatch said, did something entirely different.
“Rather than regulate what people have chosen to do, it would require them to do something they have not chosen to do at all,” he said. “If we have the power simply to order Americans to buy certain products, why did we need a Cash-for-Clunkers program or the upcoming program providing rebates for purchasing energy appliances? We could simply require Americans to buy certain cars, dishwashers or refrigerators.”
Or broccoli, or carrots, or “medical marijuana” for that matter.
The Constitution’s commerce clause is short and simple. It says: “The Congress shall have Power ... To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”
Now, imagine an American sitting on his back porch casually enjoying the would-be anathematized state of not owning health insurance. When it comes to health insurance, this American has not been, is not and never intends to be engaged in any form of commerce with any entity in any foreign nation, distant state or Indian tribe.
If he did decide to engage in health-insurance-related commerce with any entity in a foreign nation, distant state or Indian tribe, Congress could constitutionally regulate that action. But this American simply won’t oblige. As a free person - like generations of Americans before him - he has weighed the risks and benefits of buying health insurance, and he has decided not to buy it. He is fully ready to accept the good and bad consequences of this decision.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/24/open-wide-and-say-ah/