The amount of recent discussion concerning our nation's health care situation has been impressively copious. I have come across varied arguments for a government run system, including that government employees are "reliable hard working people" and that the government-run postal
service runs effectively and operates "extremely well". Others believe it is our government's moral obligation to provide what some of the population does not have but desperately needs.
The other side of the debate argues that government-run health care will cost too much,
will give us inferior health care, and won't care for people of all ages/circumstances. It is interesting though that one issue has rarely, if ever, come to the forefront of the debate: The Tenth Amendment of our Constitution. This amendment specifically states that the federal government is limited only to the powers outlined in the Constitution. The rest belong to the states. Arguing for an unconstitutional health care system based upon one's observation that government workers work hard, that the USPS runs effectively (The USPS runs at a current $7B deficit and will have to close 100 branches), or that people aren't getting the care they need is a fallacious non sequitur argument. These arguments and opinions, in other words, have nothing to do with and are completely irrelevant to the fact that government run health care is unconstitutional.
We have become an entitlement society and our government has become the camel's nose inside the tent. We believe that if we are in need of something the government has a moral obligation to provide it. This is a very slippery slope. I would encourage readers to refer to Congressman Davy Crockett's exceptional remarks when Congress tried to appropriate just $20,000 to care for a deceased Naval Officer's Widow. His speech, titled "Not Yours to Give," is very apropos for many of the issues facing our nation, especially health care. In this speech he makes the point that appropriating money as an act of charity is an individual's right and does not belong to the members of Congress. We have become so far removed from ideas espoused in this speech by Davy Crockett that we now feel entitled to government education, arts, banks, charity, retirement, recreation and now government-run health care just to name a few. Where will this stop? When will our nation's leaders seek to restore integrity to the Constitution before we become a financially decimated nation? As Davy Crockett said: "Money with them is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people."
