Written by the Chairman | 08 August 2009

Is the health care debate making you sick?

On the forefront of issues is the health care issue; whether or not we should have nationalized (socialized) health care, how to engineer a plan to achieve it and how we should pay for it.  Many disagree with the concept of socialized medicine for a variety of reasons.  Many agree with the concept, but are fearful that government will likely not operate an efficient program.  The arguments are numerous and complex, but very intriguing to those who appreciate involvement in a good debate.

There is a skill among politicians to which we should be attentive.  They are very good at getting us to ask and give attention to the wrong questions.  There is one argument yet to be heard in public.  Nationalized health care is illegal.  Yes, illegal.  It is irrelevant how many people in America are without health care.  There is no need to discuss whether or not the new plan will allow people to choose their own doctors.  It doesn’t matter whether or not Hawaii will be exempt, Congress is exempt or business is required to provide coverage for their employees.  It is illegal; as illegal as robbing a bank.

Consider Alexander Hamilton, Federalist papers #78.

There is no position which depends on clearer principles, than that every act of a delegated authority, contrary to the tenor of the commission under which it is exercised, is void. No legislative act, therefore, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid. To deny this, would be to affirm, that the deputy is greater than his principal; that the servant is above his master; that the representatives of the people are superior to the people themselves; that men acting by virtue of powers, may do not only what their powers do not authorize, but what they forbid.

The nationalized health care issue and a multitude of other issues are purely constitutional issues.  It is exceptionally simple.  If the federal government passes legislation regarding any intra state health care practice whatsoever, it is contrary to the Constitution and cannot be considered valid.  The federal government not only has no specific authority to govern in the health care industry, it is forbidden to do so in the 10^th amendment.

Even the authors of the Iraqi constitution included the phrase, “No law that contradicts the rights and basic freedoms stipulated in this constitution may be established.”

America has a man occupying the office of president who placed his hand on the Holy Scriptures and swore before Almighty God and three hundred million Americans to uphold the Constitution.  Can anyone name a constitutional act he has executed since he assumed the office?  Stimulus packages, cash for clunkers, nationalized health care, cap and trade, national ownership of private industry?  May God deal with him according to his vows.  May Americans wake up to the thievery of their nation before it’s too late.

The confines of this article do not allow for elaboration on the multi-faceted effects of adherence vs. the violation of constitutional principles.  Let it suffice that it is that set of principles that created the greatest nation every to exist on planet Earth.  It is those principles that maintained our liberties for the greater part of two centuries.  To stray from that which made us great is to mandate failure, as we are witnessing in our current society.

If you will require a logical argument as to whether or not nationalized health care will work, consider a letter excerpt from a missionary friend of mine who is deathly ill in Germany right now.

Greetings from the patient who is learning patience.

 

Slowly, very slowly, little by little my condition is improving and we are continually reducing my medication. It has been a challenge to get an appointment with a specialist. The earliest possible date would have been in October! But our family doctor intervened and I got an appointment within a week. The specialist immediately transferred me to a clinic in southern Bavaria - but again, the waiting list is long. (The German socialized health care system is "care free", except it is at times hard to get the "care").  He argued on the telephone for a while and won. Tomorrow I will be admitted - or sucked into the system - and I have no idea how long it will last.

 

Please pray for renewed strength. I am feel very week and totally exhausted. At times I will collapse like a potato bag and need to heed the bed. I am still unable to walk.

Socialized medicine simply does not work.  It is inefficient, unproductive, unmotivated and inaccurate in its care.  Yet, we are relentlessly hearing about how great it is functioning in other countries.  The above letter is a brilliant example of a failing medical organism in Germany, and there are plenty of examples that echo it.  Do an online search to find international medical chat rooms.  An honest researcher will find that it simply does not work to the benefit of the one who depends on it.  Hint: try to find a happy recipient of a heart transplant or joint replacement under a socialized program.

Still not convinced?  If socialized medicine has worked at all in other countries, it is solely because of the medical advancements made in America under our free enterprise system.  Though it is possible to point to an occasional development from a socialized system, they are few, and certainly not responsible for the bulk of technology or procedures that allow them to be all they are.  These things come from America.

The health care system in America is not broken.  It requires no repair.  The best thing we could do for health care in America is to get the federal government out of it by requiring adherence to the Constitution once again.  The FDA has no authority in health care except what it takes to govern its interstate commerce.  Intra state medical practice, drug and procedural governance are within the purview of the states, and only the states.  Why is it that the more involvement the federal government has in health care, the more it needs to be “fixed”?  And we want the federal government to fix it by with the consummation of the entire system into the monstrous bureaucracy that has yet to prove its ability to manage?  This maneuver will be devastating to America and will enslave us all to the will of the greedy.

The next time it comes up, let’s demand that our lawmakers obey the supreme law of the land; their law and ours.  Let’s get the argument back on solid ground.  National health care is not an issue meriting rational, logical or detailed “how to” discussion.  It is simply unconstitutional and the politicians supporting it are not lawmakers, but lawbreakers.  They need to be treated as such.