Thursday, February 17, 2011

Nothing to see here

You have to give them credit--when something works, conservatives go back to it again and again. And nothing works for them like fear, which the Detroit News uses amply in its editorial on Judge Roger Vinson's recent wholly corporate/Koch brothers paid for decision declaring Obamacare unconstitutional. This is their close to the piece: "Interpreting the Constitution to allow it [Obamacare] would mean Congress could do almost anything it wanted." I'm not a scholar on the constitution, but this is your usual conservative total bullshit. In the first place, the Commerce Clause is going to restrict what Congress can do merely by the fact that not everything we do as humans is commerce (Congress couldn't mandate that we all wear nothing but red clothing, for example). And second, I'd make the case that Congress actually can make any law it wants by getting a majority of votes in both Houses and the President to sign it. It doesn't mean that Congress will--using the example above, those of us who like to wear blue, green, and yellow clothes aren't likely to vote for their re-election. And we're likely to make a huge stink about it. A loss of votes and bad publicity are not outcomes that any congressperson wants. Of course, I shouldn't complain too much--this could be one of those "be careful what you wish or you will surely get it" moments: the public option is definitely not a constitutional question. Peace, emaycee

1 comment:

  1. Honestly, I am something of a scholar on the Constitution.

    Article I., Section 8:

    "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;...

    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."

    Healthcare represented 18% of our deficit. If Congress found it necessary and proper to do what it did, then it had the power. Moreover, any judge that is interpreting the Constitution to say that Obamacare is Unconstitutional is a biased judge. And as Justice Felix Frankfurter said in Wilkerson v. McCarthy, "A timid judge, like a biased judge, is a lawless judge."

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