by Nicole Flatow
Pop quiz: What is the central constitutional provision at issue in the Supreme Court’s review of the Affordable Care Act? If you said the Commerce Clause, you’re one step ahead of many of the tea partiers who protested outside the Supreme Court during oral arguments.
Responding to questions from staff at the Constitutional Accountability Center, tea partiers bearing signs that read “Obamacare is unconstitutional” couldn’t name any part of the Constitution that they believe the law violates.
“Well, I should know better. I should be able to answer that question and I can’t,” said one protester in a video produced by CAC, “Tea Party vs. The Constitution: ObamaCare Edition.”
“If you read the Constitution, there’s nothing in there about health care,” said another.
Others, when told that the Commerce Clause is what authorized Congress to pass the law, said the Commerce Clause was “added later” and was not part of the original Constitution.
And when the interviewer tried to correct them by pointing out that the Commerce Clause is in Article 1, Section 8 of the original Constitution, one protester responded, “There’s no use in arguing about that because I don’t think either of us know for sure.”
Watch the full video, including facts from experts who know what the Constitution actually says, below:
No doubt that these Tea
No doubt that these Tea Partiers are among the nation's biggest idiots, and that regulating the health insurance industry is well within Congress's constitutional authority, but I still don't see how it follows that the individual mandate falls within the provisions of the Commerce Clause. Regulating commerce between the states and forcing individual American citizens to purchase a faulty product that they may not want or cannot afford are two very different things.
The Tea Partiers are easy targets being such ignoramuses, but that doesn't mean that serious legitimate concerns about the Affordable Care Act don't exist. Of course, the Tea Partiers don't even know what is in Obamacare, thinking that it is some kind of socialist takeover of healthcare, when in fact it is designed to solidify this immoral, inefficient for-profit system that already exists -- and further, ensure that a single-payer system will never be possible in this country.
It's too bad nobody is protesting this law for the right reasons.
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Dear Idiot
I am a Tea Party supporter. I've read the Constitution and the ObamaCare bill. Have you? Pelosi, Reid, and Obama sure as hell haven't.
Obama tried to create a commerce (i.e. “activity) which is not allowed by the Constitution. There’s nothing remotely “individual” about the ObamaCare mandate. The Constitution does not give Congress the power to require that Americans purchase government mandated services, including health insurance. Nor does it permit the federal government to force citizens to use their own money to purchase government mandated services. Period.
Just to clarify things a bit: Article I, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, also known as the Commerce Clause:
Clause 3: To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;…
It had to do with the establishment of federal rules to ensure fair practices in the trade of goods across state boundaries. It has nothing to do with a government-created commerce which forces citizens, by law, to purchase said commerce. Furthermore, government interference is limited by the Tenth Amendment, which provides that any powers that are not enumerated in the Constitution are reserved for the states.
The Commerce Clause has been twisted and manipulated to justify the use of federal laws that have little to do with interstate commerce, or government mandated purchase of government-sponsored healthcare.
Libtards are such easy targets, especially when they assume Tea Party members fit the Obama meme.
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