Up and at ‘em! Big Brother needs you to work!
George Will refuses to let go of the argument that health-care reform legislation needs to overcome a serious hurdle: the Constitution.
Supporters of the mandate say Congress can impose the legislation under the enumerated power to regulate interstate commerce. Since the New Deal, courts have made this power capacious enough to include regulating intrastate activity that “substantially affects” interstate commerce. Hence Congress could constitutionally ban racial discrimination in “public accommodations” — restaurants, motels, etc. — as an impediment to interstate commercial activity.
Opponents of the mandate say: Unless the commerce clause is infinitely elastic — in which case, Congress can do anything — it does not authorize Congress to forbid the inactivity of not making a commercial transaction, of not purchasing a product (health insurance) from a private provider.
“Congress can regulate commercial activities in which people choose to engage, but cannot require that they engage in those commercial activities.” So says Sen. Orrin Hatch, who also notes that if Congress can mandate particular purchases to help the economy, there was no need forCash for Clunkers: Congress could have ordered people to buy cars (with subsidies, if necessary). Why not the Anti-Couch Potato Act to Make Calisthenics Mandatory and to Impose a $50 Excise Tax on Cheeseburgers Because Unhealthy Lifestyles Affect Interstate Commerce?
Will didn’t take it this far, but if you grant Congress that power, here is the logical progression:
IF it is legal for Congress to ban specific forms of inactivity because there would be an economic consequence, THEN it would be legal for the government to force you to work, even at a job not of your choosing. Oh, did you retire? Too bad! Get your ass to the office, pronto!
(Which is a good thing, because once people start dropping out of medical professions, they’ll need a way to conscript doctors, nurses and therapists.)
