Whose medical decisions?, Part IV

Jewish World Review August 21, 2009 1 Elul 5769
Thomas Sowell

The serious, and sometimes chilling, provisions of the medical care legislation that President Obama has been trying to rush through Congress are important enough for all of us to stop and think, even though his political strategy from the outset has been to prevent us from having time to stop and think about it.

What we also should stop to think about is the mindset behind this legislation, which is very consistent with the mindset behind other policies of this administration, whether the particular issue is bailing out General Motors, telling banks who to lend to or appointing "czars" to tell all sorts of people in many walks of life what they can and cannot do.

The idea that government officials can play God from Washington is not a new idea, but it is an idea that is being pushed with new audacity...

"When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from which we separated."
-- Thomas Jefferson to Charles Hammond, 1821. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 15:332

"The greatest [calamity] which could befall [us would be] submission to a government of unlimited powers."
-- Thomas Jefferson, Declaration and Protest of Virginia, 1825. The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, (Memorial Edition) Lipscomb and Bergh, editors, ME 17:445

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power not longer susceptible of any definition."
-- Thomas Jefferson, Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank, February 15, 1791

It is quite clear that the federal government has no authority to institute a system of nationalized health care. To do so would be a major usurpation of its Constitutional powers. As far as that goes, much of what the Federal government has done, with regards to "welfare" is unconstitutional. Sadly, a great many of the people of this nation would rather be made comfortable rather than have freedom and liberty. As Ben Franklin said, "if you give up liberty for safety, you deserve neither." All you have to do is read what the Founding Fathers wrote and you will see that the federal government was meant to be LIMITED. It was never meant to be this large or have the reach in to our lives it has obtained.

My question to those that read this is quite simple. Are you so helpless that you are incapable of taking care of yourself and need a nanny, in this case the federal government, to do it for you? If your answer is yes, I pity you and your childish mindset. If your answer is no, then maybe it's about time you got off your butt, pay attention to what people are saying and vote people into office that will take their oath to "preserve and protect" The Constitution seriously and be true "citizen legislators" and not act like a ruling elite.

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