The Unconstitutionality of Pelosi's Health Care Reform

So it does seem that the proposed health care reform legislation currently being considered in the House is at the very least a federal power grab that would ensure control over the lives of many Americans, but may it also be unconstitutional? The discussions are beginning that challenge the legitimacy of the health care overhaul bill based upon the grounds that it offends the US Constitution, and more specifically, the Tenth Amendment.

According to constitutional mandates not only does the bill usurp State’s rights in favor of broadening federal powers, it also threatens individual liberty, delegates authority to the executive branch that is solely granted to Congress through the “enumerated powers” clause, and offends the Supreme Court’s Substantive Due Process rules that were implemented in order to protect individual freedoms.

Now is the time to stop this obscene over-reach by the federal government into the lives of Americans that threatens to undo for years to come the freedoms that have been granted under the Constitution “to the people.”

Resolution in Honduras

Stepping back from previous pronouncements of support for deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, representatives from the US and the Organization for American States (OAS) have agreed to let Hondurans decide who will run their country. This is of course a win for those who believe in the rights of sovereign nation-states to act independently of the international community in recognizing such things as constitutional law – and this is precisely what the Honduran Supreme Court did when they tossed Zelaya out of office.

While he was president, Zelaya proposed to amend his country’s constitution to put an end to presidential term limits thereby assuring himself the position for countless years into the future. But it was because of Honduran institutions, the Congress and it’s Supreme Court, that Zelaya’s constitutional make-over was halted and democracy in Honduras was salvaged. Read here about how institutional capacity has promoted the sovereign rights of Honduras allowing for Hondurans, not the international elites, to decide the fate of Honduras.

Newly Expanded 'Hate Crimes' Legislation Presupposes Thought and is a Federal Power Grab

Not only does the current expansion of Hate Crimes legislation signed into law by President Obama on Wednesday, October 28th, allow for the prosecution of individuals based upon a presumption of their thoughts at the time of a crime, it also expands the powers of the Federal government. In signing the bill, Obama vowed to “help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray or who they are.”

But in so doing, Obama has acted to broaden the powers of the federal government into an area of enforcement that already exists under state civil and criminal laws thereby contributing to the erosion of state and local roles in governance, and ultimately removing power from the individual (see here for more on Constitutional powers and the federal vs. state governments).