A common argument among Republican Conservatives (con’s) is that the constitution does not provide for the creation of government interference in healthcare. I just recently heard one of those deep thinking con’s from Oklahoma who asked one of his constituents where she thought the U.S. Constitution said they government should provide healthcare for its citizens.
Well…Senator Colburn…you have to read really deep into the document, almost to the middle of the FIRST SENTENCE. Yes, after lengthy research of almost a full second…there it was…”PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE.”
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
But, I wasn’t satisfied…so, I continued to read. Then…there in Article I…it said it again…”PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENSE AND GENERAL WELFARE.”
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 defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
So, that seems pretty compelling to me. The health of the citizens of the United States is certainly part of the general welfare. I grew up in Oklahoma…so, it’s just a bit more embarrassing to me when the likes of James Inholfe and Tom Colburn say such outrageously ignorant things like “where in the constitution does it say the government should provide national healthcare,” or “global warming a is the biggest hoax ever perpetrated on man.”
Makes you wonder if those two have really ever read the constitution, doesn’t it?
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R,
ReplyDeleteDon't you think that the "welfare mommas" are going to take the Provide for the General Welfare and keep having babies for the food stamps and welfare money?
Jeff
Some will...most won't. But, are we going to punish chidren for the abuses of their parents. However, that separate from Healthcare anyway. The point is that the Constitution does provide for the "general welfare"...and in this instance...HEALTH CARE!
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