The Sixteenth Amendment Scuttles Health Care Reform

Despite not being an attorney, I have a better-than-most understanding of the United States Constitution. And The US Health Care Reform Act Violates that Constitution. But it’s being rolled out, anyway. It’s like Business Change. You change the way you do things and then you figure out how to make your changes stick. God Bless America.

The best and worst thing about the way our government and legal system work in the United States is that nobody is in a position to make rules without them being challenged. Short of a Constitutional Amendment specifically outlining a power, nothing’s written in stone.

Yesterday, a Federal Judge ruled that the Health Care Reform Act is unconstitutional. He’s actually the second judge to rule that way, while two others have ruled that Health Care Reform is within the parameters of the US Constitution. This will be going to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, roll-out of the law continues. Again, that’s the nature of our system; change is allowed, even encouraged, but there are a lot of hurdles to clear.

The interesting thing about this, regardless of what side you are on in the Health Care Reform debate, is the system itself.

At its core, The United States Constitution says very little substantive. It defines a few ideals, but ultimately the United States Government has no real power; the US Constitution specifically cedes most power to the States, which are part of the USA voluntarily.

In fact, if it weren’t for The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution, our income tax wouldn’t be legal. Until the States ratified The Sixteenth Amendment, the Federal government had no authority to collect money directly from citizens.

Problem is, The Sixteenth Amendment is the only place in the Constitution where a mandate to make people spend money exists, and the Health Care Reform Act forces otherwise-uninsured citizens and residents of the USA to buy health care insurance.

Remember, by the way, that I’m in favor of Health Care Reform, regardless of that pesky little fact. Let’s not have a capitalism vs. socialism debate, please; we simply need to make sure our citizens have health care.

Bringing us back to business change.

Tomorrow, I’ll be talking about one of the most successful businesses in the United States. It’s run like a pure socialist state, and it works. And it does things its own way, which is where the capitalistic part of our business and social ideals gets preserved.

See business change run. See business change jump. Good business change! Good!