Free Republic

This is an email I received today. As a plaintiff on the Obamacare lawsuit, you’ve probably been asked why Obamacare is unconstitutional. So, I wanted to share a couple illustrations that explain why Obamacare is unconstitutional. In 1919, the regulation of a drug – alcohol – required a Constitutional amendment to be ratified by the States. Yet, today we have the FDA which regulates every “prescription” drug and the DEA which regulates every “illegal” drug. We even have a “Drug Czar” on the President’s cabinet. So how did we go from requiring a Constitutional amendment to regulate just one drug,...

Sacramento, CA— The California Senate approved creating a government-run health care system for the nation’s most populous state today, ignoring a veto threat from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Supporters said it’s time for state legislatures to take up the debate as the Obama Administration’s national health care proposal falters in Congress. Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, called the plan “disastrous.” "The government-run, socialized health care plan” would cost taxpayers more than $220 billion in new taxes, he said. Aanestad, a licensed oral surgeon who owned and operated his own practice, said today in a statement that the single-payer system has failed...

Democratic strategists say the Obama administration's evolving, abstract arguments for healthcare reform are backfiring and contributing to a decline in public support for the legislation. The strategists, many of whom saw healthcare reform fail in the Clinton administration, contend that President Obama has advanced too many rationales for his plan, leaving people confused. Conservative opponents of the overhaul increasingly use a simple, understandable message: Government-forced cost reductions will restrict treatments, imperiling the ill and elderly.

Health care is a game-changer. The permanent game-changer. The pendulum will swing, and one day, despite their best efforts, the Republicans will return to power, and, in the right circumstances, the bailouts and cap-&-trade and Government Motors and much of the rest can be reversed. But the government annexation of health care will prove impossible to roll back. It alters the relationship between the citizen and the state and, once that transformation is effected, you can click your ruby slippers all you want but you’ll never get back to Kansas.

       Let’s start out with the proposition that the government has no business paying for healthcare for anyone who is not employed by the government. We have Truman, a Democrat, to thank for a bankrupt idea. His administration passed the Medicare bill, to add more fraud and waist we now have Medicaid. For all the talk of the uninsured you’d think that at least a few people would mention that those who cannot afford health insurance already have it, and it’s called MEDICAID, remember?         “Medicaid was created in 1965 through Title XIX of the Social Security Act. Health insurance...

Health Care: "What about the children?" Whenever Democrats drag out that perennial question, you know Republicans are about to get rolled. That's the case with the children's health care bill the House just passed. The bill that would more than double current spending on children's health care to $60 billion over the next five years passed by a surprising 265 to 159 vote late Tuesday, with 45 GOP representatives in favor. Just a month ago, the bill could only muster support from a lonely five Republicans. What happened? Did the GOP suddenly realize the merit of the bill, and have...

WASHINGTON--the House late Tuesday passed--by a less-than-veto-proof 265-159 margin--an expansion of a children's health insurance program over the objections of area Republican members, who voted against the bill. President Bush has threatened to veto the Democratic-backed bill, which would add coverage for several million children and families under the State Children's Health Isurance Program by increasing cigarette taxes by 61 cents a pack. "This is a crummy bill," Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said. "We created this program 10 years ago to help working families, but this goes way beyond the original intent of the bill." http://www.timesfreepress.com/absolutenm/templates/local.aspx?articleid=22217&zoneid=77

So, imagine our surprise when the first serious Democratic candidate for US President in 2008, John Edwards, started suggesting that it just might be time for universal healthcare in the States and the Wingnutterers' Whirlitzer immediately began cranking out stories about how bad the situation in Canada is based on, you guessed it, the work of that fine, unbiased and totally independent public policy group, The Fraser Institute. Now, of course, the job of Whirlitzer is not to float stories based on truth, reason and/or perspective. Instead, it's real job is to get all of the ink-stained wretches and the...

Legislators on Thursday sent Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a universal health care bill he is likely to veto and a measures increasing the minimum wage and regulating greenhouse gases he is likely to sign. Lawmakers face a midnight deadline to deal with nearly 200 bills before the scheduled end of the two-year legislative session. Before adjournment, they are expected to send the Republican governor bills to allow phone companies into the cable television market and ban hand-held cell phone use while driving. Also on the table are measures to ease prison overcrowding.

SACRAMENTO, Aug. 29 (UPI) -- California's Democrat-controlled Assembly has passed a universal healthcare bill that is expected to figure in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election bid. The bill would eliminate private medical insurance plans and establish a statewide health insurance system for all state residents, reports The San Francisco Chronicle. The state senate is expected to approve changes to plan and send it the Republican governor, who has expressed his opposition to a single-payer plan. The Chronicle said the governor, however, has not offered an alternative for the state's 7 million people who are uninsured. His office has said the governor...

August 25 -- Once again, a Santa Monica resident is ahead of the pack, leading the state -- and possibly the nation -- in progressive, and highly controversial, reform. State Senator Sheila Kuehl – often seen tooling around Sunset Park in her red Porsche – is taking a shot at changing legislative and health care history with her “California Health Insurance Reliability Act,” which comes up for a vote in the State Assembly next week, most likely on Monday. “The increasing costs of health insurance premiums are bankrupting our state, our businesses and working families,” Kuehl wrote in an editorial...