the constitution huh?
I keep hearing —
People on the news yelling about the Constitution. Okay. Let’s take a look at 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 defense AND GENERAL WELFARE of the United States.
Call me crazy, but I think providing for the general welfare means, when hundreds of thousands of citizens are dying because the country’s health care system is out of whack, you step in and do something about it.
That could just be me.
0 Responses to the constitution huh?
Max, why do you hate America?
Well Fork, I think it is my deep seated hatred of white people.
As a strong single-payer advocate, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see your enthusiasm for health care reform, max, given the typically non-political nature of most of your posts. (Although I am a little concerned about your affinity for the flat tax; perhaps one day we can have a little talk.)
At any rate, a couple of points:
There is a school of conservative/libertarian thought that subscribes to the notion that the 10th Amendment (“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people”) renders a great deal of extant federal legislation unconstitutional. I think such an interpretation would be catastrophic were it ever to become part of our legal framework, but it has some powerful adherents and I’ve seen it taken seriously. I recall some legal briefs justifying national environmental legislation on the grounds that such laws are part of the federal government’s power to regulate trade, for example. It may become necessary to develop a defense of national health care legislation on similar grounds to rebut the objections to your “general welfare” argument from these states-rights-ers.
Secondly, your “hundreds of thousands” phrase strikes me as a little hyperbolic if one looks at what happens in the U.S. on an annual basis. This study from the Urban Institute indicates that the ‘death from lack of health coverage’ figure has been in the 10,000-25,000 (per year) range during this century, though that figure is almost certainly climbing as more and more people lose their jobs and health coverage. Lest anyone think I’m ‘concern trolling,’ let me just add that I think this outcome is one of several damning indictments of our criminally inefficient private insurance approach to health care, and I completely agree with Ian Welsh’s “What’s More Important Than Saving American Lives? Almost Everything” post (which is where I got the Urban Institute link).
FTR, that should be “18,000-25,000” not “10,000-25,000.”
So, if I humor that figure, 25,000 people dead this year because they can’t see a doctor is working for you?
You know what I would like to see? I’d like to see as much fervor going into this as is going into anti-smoking campaigns. Maybe put big ticker tape signs up on buildings around the city that are counting up the number of people dead from lack of medical care.
[BTW, I mean it when I say “humor.” Please read: http://www.monthlyreview.org/0903navarro.htm ]
Say wha??? What part of “I think this outcome is one of several damning indictments of our criminally inefficient private insurance approach to health care” was ambiguous?? Did you miss the part where I staunchly supported single payer, or not read the Ian Welsh article I linked to?
Sheesh …
Totally agree.
It needs to be somewhat clearer we are on the same side, advocating health reform, if that is the case. When your post is a mile of text opening with a condescending statement you are surprised and gladdened a political issue actually matters to me and then is peppered with statements playing devil’s advocate to everything I say and ends calling me “hyperbolic,” that is not clear. You also have not answered the question: If the number of dead this year will be “merely” 25,000 souls, is that working for you?
Forkboy 1965 “Max, why do you hate America?”
The Lady Max
My Lady
I hope you will forgive a trespass into your entertaining Space – this Eagle struggles to understand the British NHS, let alone the strange Vested Interests & Mysteries of the US Health “System”
However, I do not think that Mr F’Boy’s suggestion (perhaps made in the Heat of an Impassioned Debate on all sides) that you “hate America”
Surely it is the mark of the Patriot who loves her Country to express herself passionately if she sees something which surely must in need of improvement
Yr Ladyship’s obedient servant etc
G E
Thank you Eagle for your gallant defense. I think Fork was kidding.
The Lady Max
My Lady
Then diverse & manifold Apologies to Mr F’Boy ….. and (having changed Spectacles) to the Lady Max for this Eagle’s typing errors
My Meaning was clear, however ill-directed
BUT There is a lot to be said for supporting the noble & glorious cause of Chivalry only while wearing correctly-adjusted Lenses
Yr Ladyship’s obedient servant etc
G E
You are always a gentleman Eagle and I appreciate the act. It was well intended and chivalrous.