Yeah, right!

HR 3962, called the "Affordable Health Care for America Act"

Democratic: 219 for  39 against
Republican:     1 for 176 against
Independent     0 Libertarians making any positive political impact,
ever

CNSNews.com: "Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution
grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance
mandate?"

Pelosi: "Are you serious? Are you serious?"

On 8 Nov, 14:02, Charles Bell <cbel...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

MYTH:"Health insurance reform could be unconstitutional...or violate the
10th amendment."

FACT: As with Medicare and Medicaid, the federal government has the
Constitutional power to reform our health care system.

The 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution states that the powers not
delegated to the federal government by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states ... or to the
people.  But the Constitution gives Congress broad power to regulate
activities that have an effect on interstate commerce.  Congress has
used this authority to regulate many aspects of American life, from
labor relations to education to health care to agricultural
production. Since virtually every aspect of the heath care system has
an effect on interstate commerce, the power of Congress to regulate
health care is essentially unlimited.

The 10th amendment does not authorize states to constrict Congress'
power under the commerce clause.   As the Supreme Court has held,
Congress can bar racial discrimination in Ollie's Barbeque in Alabama
(Katzenbach v. McClung)  or the growing and sale of medical marijuana
in California  (Gonzales v. Raich), even in the face of state laws
permitting such behavior.

The 10th amendment does place one significant limit on Congress and
the federal government: Congress cannot "commandeer" state officials
to administer programs.  It must get the consent of state officials
who are asked, e.g., to run health programs for the poor or to help
build highways.   Typically, Congress obtains that consent by
providing financial support to the states.   A state is free to refuse
the support and refuse to assist the federal government in
administering the program, but Congress can authorize the federal
government to administer the program on its own.   Thus, Congress
cannot force a state to administer a health insurance exchange, but it
can authorize the federal government to administer such an exchange in
any state that declines to do so.

On Nov 9, 6:36 am, 1Z <peterdjo...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Where in this list of enumerated powers given to Congress is the power
to mandate the purchase by an individual particular goods or services
or face fines, duties and imprisonment by the federal government?

Section 8
1:  The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties,
Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common
Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties,
Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

2:  To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

3:  To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several
States, and with the Indian Tribes;

4:  To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws
on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

5:  To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin,
and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

6:  To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and
current Coin of the United States;

7:  To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

8:  To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing
for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to
their respective Writings and Discoveries;

9:  To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

10:  To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high
Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

11:  To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make
Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

12:  To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to
that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

13:  To provide and maintain a Navy;

14:  To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and
naval Forces;

15:  To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of
the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

16:  To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia,
and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service
of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the
Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia
according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

17:  To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over
such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of
particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of
the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority
over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the
State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts,
Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And

18:  To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying
into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by
this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any
Department or Officer thereof.

"To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several
States . . ." means that the federal government does have to power to
force a state to cease prohibiting citizens from other states from
purchasing insurance policies originating from companies within its
borders, or prohibiting its own citizens from purchasing insurance
policies in other states .  That is a federal interstate commerce
regulation intended to enhance commercial competition in the medical
insurance industry, though there be other unintended economic
consequences, like an expanded federal regulatory bureaucracy more
odious than the individual states' bureaucracy.  That is part of the
GOP plan for healthcare reform.

It does, as a matter of fact, for any business that does not do or
intend to do business in another state.

. . . Giving unlimited power to Congress to regulate any local
activity under the rubric of interstate commerce involving the
purchase any item for any purpose across state lines.

(Gonzales v. Raich)

In dissenting opinion, Justice Thomas maintained the majority had
crowned Congress with omnipotence under the Commerce Clause and
reduced states to wards of the federal government.

That is why the Supreme Court, like the Obama Presidency, is an
unconstitutional usurpation of power and should be abolished.