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Ritter – Not a Defender of Colorado, Not a Defender of the U.S. Constitution

by | 10:10 am, October 16, 2010 | Comments Off

Colorado Governor Ritter has announced that he will be joining with several governors in support of the Federal law to require that every person purchase health insurance.

Let’s get something straight – our federal government was set out to be a government of limited, enumerated powers.  The power to regulate health care is nowhere listed as an enumerated power.  Instead, the only power that one could remotely contend that the Federal Government is utilizing to require the purchase of Health Care is the power to regulate “interstate commerce.”

Here’s the problem – let’s suppose the Federal Government’s power to regulate interstate commerce include the power to force people to buy healthcare. What limits then remain on this power?  Is going to the bathroom part of interstate commerce (yes, it has a substantial effect due to water treatment costs which should be enough under Gonzalez v. Raich)? Is growing tomatoes in your backyard interstate commerce if you eat the tomatoes yourself (yes, see Wickard v. Filburn).  Is refusing to give your spouse a back massage interstate commerce (yes, could have a substantial effect on the chiropractic industry, amongst others).  In short if you buy the government’s theory, there are no limits on federal power, and the Federal Government has plenary power to regulate anything it pleases, so long as it doesn’t interfere with another separate right. Such a theory, although likely allowed current law, is anathema to the system of checks and balances that our founding fathers set up.

The issue here thus is not merely whether the POLICY of Obamacare is good/bad, but also whether LEGALITY of it undermines Colorado’s rights as set up in our Constitution.  States need to jealously guard their prerogatives from federal encroachment, and Obamacare tramples on what little state’s rights remain.   We need Colorado officials who will stand up and tell the Federal Government that they have gone too far, even if current Supreme Court precedent disagrees.  After all, our state officials do not swear an oath to uphold precedent – they swear an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution.

Bill Ritter has decided to merely to ignore this obligation, but to actively thwart it.  His announcement that he will be joining with other governor’s to support Obamacare, is thus not merely an insult on the policy of Health Care – it is also an insult to all Colorado citizens, that he will not stand for the rights that this state has.

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Category: Health Reform, Healthcare, Rule of Law

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