“Obamacare” is Constitutional – Stop Making My Ears Bleed!
By Gus Bridi

To My Neo-Con Friends:

I’m sick of hearing it from you people!

So you’ve read that big scary document called the Constitution over and over again and you just couldn’t find language that says “Obama’s health care plan is constitutional” therefore all those right wing blogs citing to the unconstitutionality of the bill are clearly right (pardon the pun)?

I suppose you overlooked the Commerce Clause, and the legal significance that clause has over the course of years in establishing precedence by the Supreme Court? By way of example in US vs. Southeastern Underwriters Association (1944) the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Commerce Clause gives Congress the explicit right and power to regulate insurance. Can it get anymore clear than that? All Congress is doing here is regulating the insurance industry. They are not BECOMING the insurance industry.

“But they are FORCING ME to buy health care!” you scream. “How can this be allowed?” you ask without even a hint of irony while being a proud member of the same party that enthusiastically supports the Patriot Act and $1 trillion a year in military spending.

Article I, Section 8 of he Constitution also allows the Congress to levy taxes. The 16th Amendment expanded that right giving Congress the right to levy taxes on non-apportioned direct taxes on income which overturned the 1895 Supreme Court decision in Pollock vs. Farmer’s Loan & Trust Company. (Very basic stuff here– first year law students who take Constitutional Law all know this).

In the case of “Obamacare” as you right-wing nut jobs love to refer to the bill as, the Congress is essentially levying a 2.5% tax to pay for subsidies to uninsured citizens for those citizens with a household income of over $88,000 per year. However you receive a tax exemption if you have health insurance and therefore don’t have to pay the tax. All Congress did was levy a tax on income and provide an exemption for a classified group of citizens.

“How daaaaaaaaaare they!” you protest?

Well, they do it all the time without your objection. Look at home ownership for example. The interest you pay for your home loan is tax deductible. Not all citizens have home loans. Yet many citizens get tax relief (much more significant than the tax relief from the health insurance tax proposed in this new bill), simply by owning a home and paying for the loan on it. (The horror!!!!!) Moreover, in order to qualify for that home loan, you are required to have fire insurance and a home owner’s liability insurance policy. (Holy crap!!! Government mandated insurance!!!!! The sky is falling!!!!)

And Republicans looooooove this provision of the tax code. “The government is just encouraging you to buy a home,” you say with doe-eyed innocence, “and home ownership is good for you.”

(You have a point, plus all those greedy well-to-do renters don’t need tax relief– screw them.)

So you see, the government isn’t forcing you to buy health insurance anymore than they are forcing you to buy a home. They are just giving you a tax break if you elect to buy one or both. They are encouraging you to buy it because “it’s good for you.”

Even more humorous– this “mandated” health insurance and enforcing the “mandate” with tax relief, was precisely what John McCain was campaigning on in his bid for the presidency while making his case for health care reform, and it was touted as genius by the Republican party. Now all of a sudden it’s unconstitutional?

I’d like to point out too that this isn’t the first time Republicans have had a hissy-fit over the constitutionality of Congressional reform. There had been one idiotic fight after another to write off civil rights legislation back in the 60′s as “unconstitutional” the most notable of which was the attack on the Voting Rights Bill of 1965, which in part outlawed voting qualifications and “civics” and “literacy” tests as a method to deny minorities the right to vote. Ironically (or maybe not) this was what Tom Tancredo suggested be revived in his recent Tea Party speech in Nashville. Many of those attacks on the constitutionality of the Civil Rights legislation I mentioned were, similar to the Obamacare attacks, based on Commerce Clause arguments. All those arguments failed. Undoubtedly so will this one.

Come off the ledge and join us in the real world. It’s spring time. The birds are chirping. The grass is green. Flowers are blooming. The sky is blue. Easter is right around the corner. Try to enjoy yourself and not be so damn uptight. Sick people who couldn’t see a doctor are going to have a little easier time at it now. It’s not the end of the world– I’m sure Jesus would be happy.

I’ve been a lawyer in private practice for approaching 15 years and have grown tired of “politics as usual.” Why? Because “politics as usual” nowadays means our “elected” leaders have failed in every regard to safeguard the interests of their constituents and have become beholden to their corporate and special interest masters. I believe my political profile is that of the vast majority of Americans. I am a mixed bag politically– leaning left on many issues, leaning right on many issues, and leaning neither way on many others. I do not believe in a two party system of politics. I do not believe in a multi-party system of politics. Like the first president of this great country, George Washington, I believe in a system with no political parties where politicians are held accountable to their core philosophies and the needs of their constituents, unfettered and un-yoked by a party system that requires loyalty to party before loyalty to country.

Come visit me on my blog at http://www.ZeroPartyPolitics.com, where a myriad of issues are analyzed under a Zero Party perspective.

Gus Bridi, Esq.

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