Supporters of healthcare reform claim it’s about accessible and low-cost health coverage for Americans. If that were true, they’d reject Nancy Pelosi’s bill, HR 3962. Usually, critics write about the economic reasons. But there’s another huge problem . . .
The bill is an unprecedented attack on personal liberty.
HR 3962 will hamstring our finances. But it’s also full of blatant attacks on individual liberty.
For instance, chain restaurants and vending machine owners will be forced to publish calorie information on their menus. That’s not interstate commerce… unless the state line cuts through a McDonald’s counter. Congress can’t order private property owners around this way, and the Free Press clause of the First Amendment also clearly forbids this mandate. Calorie reports may be nice, but that’s outside of the government’s lawful scope.
HR 3962 also violates the broad 9th Amendment protection of individual liberty, and the 10th Amendment’s requirement that federal power be limited to only those functions listed in the Constitution.
Even though the Supreme Court has blown a gaping hole through many Constitutional protections of economic freedom — and blamed their lawlessness on the Commerce Clause power to regulate interstate commerce — it’s apparent that even this wide hole is too small for Congressional ambitions. Does anyone on Capitol Hill even know what interstate commerce is?
Ron Paul appeared on Fox Business News tonight with David Asman on the “Nightly Scoreboard”. They discussed several topics in a nearly 10 minute segment. As usual, Ron Paul just delivers the truth.
In defense of Rep. Watt, however, it’s not totally his fault. His district is the most obviously gerrymandered in North Carolina, following I-85 like a snake from Charlotte to Winston Salem. It is overwhelmingly Democratic, and his re-election has never been seriously challenged. Why should he represent the people when he is electorally invincible?
While we may not be able to hold Rep. Watt accountable, we can fight back. His attempt to eviscerate HR 1207 must be approved by the full Financial Services committee.
We can block that approval, and restore the original bill. It is especially important that each member of the Financial Services committee hear from their constituents the clear message that Rep. Watt’s proposed changes are unacceptable. And you must act now because . . .
It seems like the more the American people demand that Congress slow down and read its bills, the more Congressional leaders arrogantly counter with mammoth legislation they want to pass in a hurry.
The latest example is the 1,900 page healthcare monstrosity the House leadership unveiled last week. They want a vote on it this week!
I believe they’re overreaching, and helping to build our movement.
This is what I wrote in my personal comments . . .
Congress passed the Patriot renewal bill in 2006, only to discover later that someone had inserted a provision allowing the President to appoint U.S. Attorneys without Senate approval. This year, Congress passed the stimulus bill with the AIG bonuses.
Nearly everyone in Congress was shocked when they learned what they had passed. This happened because Congress didn’t read these bills before they voted on them. This is irresponsible.
With the USA Patriot Act set to expire at the end of this year, and Congress mulling around even more nefarious replacements for it, it’s time to keep in mind the major items in it that make it evil (as compiled by the ACLU):
Search your home and not even tell you… by conducting secret “sneak and peek” searches of your home or office, without informing you that a warrant was issued. (SECTION 213)
Collect information about what books you read, what you study, your purchases, your medical history and your personal finances … without probable cause. (SECTION 215)
Label you a “terrorist” if you belong to an activist group … and the USA PATRIOT Act broadly expands the official definition of terrorism, so many domestic groups that engage in certain types of civil disobedience could very well find themselves labeled as terrorists. (SECTIONS 411, 802)
Monitor your e-mails and watch what internet sites you visit … by monitoring Internet traffic and e-mail communications
on any Internet service provider — *without* probable cause. (SECTION 216)
Take away your properly without even a notice or a hearing if the government merely says a person or organization has engaged in or is planning an act of “domestic terrorism.” The government could thus effectively bankrupt an organization with which it disagrees. (SECTION 806)
Spy on innocent Americans by allowing a vast array of information on U.S. citizens to be collected and shared with the CIA (and other non-law enforcement officials) without proper judicial oversight or other safeguards. (SECTIONS 203 AND 901)
Put immigrants in jail indefinitely. The USA PATRIOT Act permits indefinite incarceration of immigrants and other non-citizens without the government having to show that they are, in fact, terrorists. (SECTION 412)
Wiretap you under a warrant that doesn’t even have your name on it. Judges are required to approve a wiretap without even knowing who is to be wiretapped or where the wiretap is to be placed. (SECTION 216)
Ron Paul appeared on Larry King Live tonight following Michael Moore to refute (and agree) with some of what Moore said. It was a very good appearance by Paul. He spoke about health care, foreign policy, and the difference between capitalism and corporatism.
“How did I go bankrupt? Two ways. Slowly, and then all of a sudden.” — paraphrased from “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway
“May you live in interesting times.” — a proverbial Chinese curse
President Bush and the Republican Congress expanded government more than any administration in history. They also laid the basic foundations for a future police state. Now, President Obama and the Democratic Congress have . . .
Retained, and in some cases expanded, all the Bush-era policies — the wars, the PATRIOT Act, warrantless spying, REAL ID, imprisonment without due process, extraordinary rendition, etc.
Begun to extend the already existing foundations for a future socialist state with things like direct government ownership of businesses, the health care bill, cap and trade, and a host of other measures big and small
Put the Bush and Obama policies together, sprinkle in a couple more terrorist attacks, and one or two more state-caused financial calamities, and you have a recipe for . . .
The destruction of American liberty
The blossoming of a Leviathan State
Read the signs . . .
We are living through a Statist revolution.
Statism is a mindset that prefers coercion to cooperation. Statists love the State because they are blind to its fundamental nature . . .
The State is a monopoly that you cannot easily fire, replace, or even control
Ron Paul participated in a House Foreign Affairs committee today regarding Iran and a bill that would “enhance” energy sanctions on Iran put in place in a 1996 bill.
Ron Paul uses his 5 minutes quite well as he declares that sanctions are an act of war and attempts to educate his peers on the unintended consequences of these types of sanctions.
You can use my letter to Congress as a guide to your own . . .
I want my Senators to oppose S 1803, and support S 604 instead. I also want my House Rep. to reject any attempt to foster a bill similar to S 1803 in that chamber.
S 604 would perform a real audit of the Federal Reserve, but S 1803, the so-called Federal Reserve Accountability Act, would actually help the Fed avoid accountability! It would . . .
* Severely limit the scope of any audit,
* Set unreasonable time-frames that will delay or postpone certain audits indefinitely,
* Permit some audits to be performed only one year after a program has been terminated.
Give me a break!
It should be perfectly obvious to any reasonable person that active Federal Reserve programs need the most accountability. And what about programs that are never terminated? Focusing audits on terminated programs is like closing the proverbial barn door after the cow is gone, while giving on-going programs a permanent pass.
Frankly, it seems to me that S 1803 is a fraud designed to preserve the status quo while fooling some Americans into thinking you’ve enacted a real reform. Where did this idea come from anyway? The banking lobby?
You politicians constantly claim that citizens who aren’t doing anything wrong have nothing to fear from their government. Well, if the Federal Reserve isn’t doing anything wrong then it too has nothing to fear. S 1803 actually enhances my suspicion that the Federal Reserve is probably doing lots of bad things!
The cure for this is transparency.
The self-serving political claim that Federal Reserve transparency would disrupt the financial markets is simply wrong. Financial markets require honesty and transparency for the efficient allocation of capital, and for systemic stability. The lack of transparency for Federal Reserve actions is actually the source of market disruption, and creates constant chaos in our international financial relationships.
Please audit the Fed! And make sure it’s a real audit, not a fake one.
Believe me, I’m paying close attention to how you represent me.
“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to stand by and do nothing.”- Edmund Burke
My rebuke to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and my comments on the Constitution and federal powers of Congress in regards to health care and the “Commerce Clause.”
Last week, the U.S. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi,responding to a reporter’s questionof whether the Constitution gave Congress the authority to enact individual health insurance mandate, kept repeating, “Are you serious?”
Now, let’s give Speaker Pelosi the benefit of the doubt and attribute her impolite reply to simple disbelief. In fact, from her point of view her authority is unchallenged per a September press release, and many others such asPolitico’s Erwin Chemerinskyand even the contemporary Supreme Court agree.From her press release, Pelosi states:
“The Constitution gives Congress broad power to regulate activities that have an effect on interstate commerce. Congress has used this authority to regulate many aspects of American life, from labor relations to education to health care to agricultural production.Since virtually every aspect of the heath care system has an effect on interstate commerce, the power of Congress to regulate health care isessentially unlimited.“
The Speaker is certainly correct that federal Congress has certainly legislated on “many aspects of American life.” In fact, there is a lot more at stake with the Commerce Clause than “just” our health care – the entire authority for economic central planning rests on this single clause. I strongly disagree with Pelosi that the Constitution allows Congress broad power in this respect. First, the exact language frommy job description in Powers of Congress,Article I, Section 8, Clause 3:
“The Congress shall have Power… to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”
Pelosi believes that she has the power to “regulate Commerce… among the several States” and I suggest that in blunt language she instead literally means to “control the economy… of the States.” Pelosi and her ilk accomplish this by confusing the modern meanings with the legal meaning and contemporary context of the founders.
Liberty Maven
We’re pleased to welcome 
Now, let’s give Speaker Pelosi the benefit of the doubt and attribute her impolite reply to simple disbelief. In fact, from her point of view her authority is unchallenged per a September press release, and many others such as
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