This one just couldn’t wait for the weekly update. In discussing the government logic in justifying the Obamacare individual mandate using the Commerce Clause, Doug started pondering where such expanded powers would lead.
First, a quote:
“If Congress has the power to make you buy health insurance, where does is stop? Then they’d have the power to make you get tattoos, and they’ve got the power to make you wear little yellow stars on your coat sleeves.”
Then this little audio clip where he just takes it all the way. Ya gotta go hear the whole thing:
“…If the government can compel people to engage in private economic transactions like… the individual mandate… because it might affect interstate commerce, then imagine if the government had the power to force people to pick cotton in return for room and board…”
I love my job.
Picking cotton in exchange for room and board?
How much does standing in the shade at the edge of the field holding a whip pay?
Funny you should mention it. I’ve been thinking about this whole madate thing the last week or so and came up with a few questions”
1. What would George Washington advise be done about a government that asserted such a right?
2. What would Thomas Jefferson advise?
(Hint: rhymes with “trial by force”)
3. What would the people we remember on Memorial Day think about how we treated the freedom they died for?
How much does standing in the shade at the edge of the field holding a whip pay? I don’t know 4of7 it probably depends on if it’s a union job or not. I suspect it pays better then picking cotton though.
If South Carolina had simply waited until his inauguration and told Lincoln that slavery was justified under the Commerce Clause, why, we wouldn’t have had that Late Unpleasantness, would we?
Harvey, that most excellent quote covers a multitude of sins by our govt. It’s a damn bloody shame the RINOs lack the globes to say that very truth.
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#2 – Steve,
You’ll have to give me another hint, because “Musket to the junk” just doesn’t rhyme with “trial by force”.
#3 -zzyzx,
If it’s a union job, I’ll need an assistant to hold the whip for me.
And will that be a state employee union, or a private trade union?
(State unions have better pensions, private trade unions have better bowling teams – or so I’ve been told.) 😉
Oxymoron Alert!!! “Government Logic”
No doubt it would have to be a state employee union, 4of7, and you’d need two assistants, one to hold the whip and one to spot the slackers and malcontents to use it on.