Republicans, The Constitution, And Health Care Reform

As the health care debate heats up tomorrow night when President Obama delivers a prime time speech to a joint session of Congress, we get word that Republicans are claiming that health care is not allowed to be a subject of government initiatives under our venerable Constitution.

Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, himself a medical doctor, makes this statement in a very assertive way: The Constitution forbids any action on health care reform.

Let’s think about this: Where does it say in the Constitution that the Congress cannot deal with the issue of health care? Nowhere, Senator Coburn!

But I have a question for Senator Coburn: Where in the Constitution does it say we can have a military draft, or Social Security, or Medicare, or Civil Rights laws, or Environmental Protection Laws, or Consumer Laws, or any of the myriad of laws that have been passed in the 220 year history of our Constitution? The answer is nowhere!

BUT the Founding Fathers, a lot wiser group than most of the members of the Congress, and certainly than most Republicans who have always opposed almost ANY legislation designed to deal with real problems other than building up the military, DID come up with a solution to problems they could not foresee in 1787.

What did they put into the Constitution? ARTICLE 1, SECTION 8–the ELASTIC CLAUSE–which reads that Congress shall make all laws which are NECESSARY AND PROPER, FOR THE COMMON DEFENSE AND THE GENERAL WELFARE!

That “elastic clause” is the basis of ALL significant laws that have been passed in our more than two centuries of America under the Constitution.

And it is clear without question that it IS necessary and proper, for the common defense and general welfare, to pass health care reform, and that it is perfectly legal and constitutional!

So, Senator Coburn, stick to medicine, not the Constitution, which you have no clue to its meaning. You are NOT following the beliefs of the Founding Fathers, no matter what you might think. Health care reform is a necessary step at this point in our history!