A new group has joined the crazy chorus of birthers, teabaggers, deathers and toters -- they're called Tenthers. The tenthers are the ones who scream "I want my country back!" and "You took an oath to uphold the Constitution!" and talk about the tyranny of "the usurper", etc. etc.
The tenthers claim they are strict constitutional constructionists. Based on their reading of the 10th Amendment, they contend this administration in general, and health reform in particular, are unconstitutional. Since strict constructionists approach the constitution like fundamentalist Christians approach the Bible, I figure the best way to bury this argument is to fight fire with fire. It's time to get literal.
If you read the actual document handed down to us by the Framers, you don't have to speculate about the original intent of the Founding Fathers. All you have to focus on is the constitution's literal design. When you do that the only conclusion you can draw is that universal health insurance is an inevitable constitutional mandate.
Let me show you where it is written...
A lot of people at tea parties and town halls are busy screaming "We the People!" They are like religious fundamentalists who scream "an eye for an eye!" Neither is speaking in complete sentences, so they don't make sense to anyone else but themselves. To make sense, you need to speak in complete sentences. Fortunately for us, the framers of the constitution knew that. Let's start at the beginning and review the preamble to the constitution:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The preamble is more than pretty prose tacked on to a complex legal tool. The preamble to the constitution explains who is doing what and why they are doing it.
Who: We the people.
What: ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Why: seven reasons are given
1. in Order to form a more perfect Union,
2. establish Justice,
3. insure domestic Tranquility,
4. provide for the common defence,
5. promote the general Welfare,
6. and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves
7. and our Posterity
To deal with the tenthers you only need to focus on reasons 4 and 5.
provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare,
The meaning of that section is clear if you look up the definitions of the words "common","defense", and "welfare":
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Common
adjective
- belonging equally to, or shared alike by, two or more or all in question.
- pertaining or belonging equally to an entire community, nation, or culture; public.
[Source: American Heritage Dictionary]
Defense
noun
- resistance against attack; protection.
- something that defends, as a fortification, physical or mental quality, or medication.
[Source: Random House Dictionary]
General
adjective
- of or pertaining to all persons or things belonging to a group or category.
- of, pertaining to, or true of such persons or things in the main, with possible exceptions; common to most; prevalent; usual.
[Source: Random House Dictionary]
Welfare
noun
- health, happiness, or prosperity; well-being.
[Source: American Heritage Dictionary]
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That explains who, what and why, but the preamble says nothing about how. For that you have to read the enumerated powers of the various branches of Government. These are, appropriately, enumerated in Articles 1 (legislative), 2 (executive), 3 (judicial) and 4 (states). Note the first branch of government to be granted power is the legislature. Article 1, Section 8 enumerates the powers of the Congress.
Article 1, section 8 begins:
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
This section then proceeds to list several specific tasks Congress can claim as its legitimate function. This section gives the Congress its powers, but it is only at the end of this section that it explains how Congress gets to exercise that authority:
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Article 1, Section 8 is where it is written that congress has the constitutional authority to make the laws our government needs to carry out its obligations. While that power is necessary, it is not sufficient for congress to carry out its obligations. That is why this same section grants congress constitutional authority to raise and collect taxes. Together, these powers are necessary and proper for congress to meet its obligations and exercise its power. That is sufficient justification for congress to exert these powers in the course of executing its duties.
Given the clarity of this authorization it is hard to understand why the tenthers even exist. Here's the 10th Amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
When you look at the 10th amendment, it is obvious that Article 1, Section 8 renders the tenthers argument moot. Now that we know congress has the constitutional authority as well as the necessary and proper means to provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare, the question becomes historical. Has congress exercised this power before?
Of course it has.
It is no coincidence the United States Public Health Service is as old as the United States Marine Corps. Both were created by Acts of Congress in 1798 and signed into law within days of each other by President John Adams, a Founding Father. This close connection between public health and national defense was not something Adams cooked up by himself. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson recognized the importance of public health interventions as critical components of national defense.
General George Washington protected his army from the scourge of smallpox (a threat he perceived to be potentially greater "than...the Sword of the Enemy") by requiring then-controversial smallpox inoculations for new recruits of the Continental Army.
President Thomas Jefferson promoted vaccination throughout the country and even instructed Meriwether Lewis to bring immunizations on his pioneering westward journey to share with people in new settlements of America.
Defending public health has been accepted as a central responsibility of the nation's government on par with national defense since the dawn of the republic.
It's ironic we have to look backwards through time to understand the constitution because it was written for the future. Return to the preamble and review all the reasons listed for why it was written. The 7th and last reason encompasses all of the previous six and secures them for our Posterity.
Posterity
noun
- succeeding or future generations collectively
- all descendants of one person
[Source: American Heritage Dictionary]
Once you consider this seventh element, it becomes clear why this instrument contains within its design the revolutionary concept of amendment. The tenthers can cling to their notions and misinterpretations as much as they like. It doesn't change the fact that rights and protections granted to one group tend to expand over time to include everyone else and their descendents. That's a logical and inevitable consequence of the constitution's design. We saw that for voting rights, property rights and civil rights. The right to basic health care will be no different.