Quote:
Originally Posted by GlennD
The 10th Amendment to the Constitution is the issue here. Bear in mind that the intent of the Constitution is to limit the powers of the federal government. Most of the first 10 amendments (the Bill of Rights) contain language saying "such and such right shall not be infringed" - in other words, the amendments are restricting the government from infringing on a right that is assumed, rather than that right being granted by the government.
The 10th Amendment states:
Most of what you list are not services provided in the US by the federal government. They are appropriately provided by state and local governments. Until fairly recently, this amendment was the crux of a lot of the differences between liberals and conservatives in the US. (Recently of course, I'm not even sure that the two main parties know what they stand for - they seem to exist just to kick each other in the face.) To most conservatives, the Constitution contains no language granting Congress the power to manage a health care system. Therefore, Congress has no right to do so.
Congress can write an amendment granting that power, and try to get it through the ratification process.
The States are not limited in this case by the US constitution, but each state has it's own constitution that may (or may not) limit it.
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So there would have no problem with each state government providing "free" health care to all state residents and doing away with the private health industry? The issue is only that it should not be done by the federal government?
From an outsiders point of view it seems the issue has more to do with the attitude of "why should my taxes go to pay for his/her medical bills? I pay my health insurance premiums and they should do the same if they want medical care!"
Mind you, I'm not suggesting this is your personal view. Just that from what I read and hear it seems most are more concerned with the hip pocket and what their taxes shouldn't be paying for than with anything to do with the power of the federal government.
Cheers,
PKFFW