Why the Healthcare Debate Really Matters

I realize that the average American's eyes will cross at the mention of constitutional issues surrounding the individual health insurance mandate.  The subject matter is not exactly riveting.  But I think people would be much more interested if they were being accurately told exactly what is at stake.

The Supreme Court's decision on this debate will determine how much control the Federal government has over private economic decisions for generations to come.  There are people who say, "Look, I know the constitution tries to make sure government doesn't get too much power and make people's lives worse.  But when we're trying to do something good for others, morality requires that we find a way around it."  People who think like this, despite their best intentions, are enemies of freedom and prosperity.  They would have a society of men, not of laws.  They, in their simplicity, would take us down the road to serfdom. 

For example, our President has said that he would prefer that courts "break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution...that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties - says what the states can't do to you, says what the federal government can't do to you, but doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf."

The President seemed to think that this vital structural feature of U.S. government is a flaw, rather than the source of all our freedom and national prosperity.  That is shocking.  He disingenuously argues that such an arrangement is not inherent it the Constitution itself, but has been imposed on it over the years by judges and constitutional scholars apparently less knowledgeable or enlightened than he.

When the talk radio hosts rant about these sorts of statements from the President, they are absolutely right.  This is nothing less than a radical re-imagining of the structure of the American system of government.  I pray that the Court has the honesty to call it what it is, and reject it.  Because if the Court is willing to legislate out of the Constitution any meaningful restraints on Federal power, not even the repeal of this particular bill can undo the damage.

The die will be cast.