Really?!

As we wander again, aimlessly, trying as we might to make certain that every US citizen has healthcare and health insurance, two very distinctly different subjects, we should be reminded again, why that is just not possible. When the framers were setting up this system of government, they chose very few federal prerogatives knowing that a central government cannot fix a one size fits all framework outside of that small list in Art 1 Section 8. It just cannot be done. It could not be accomplished even for 13 very distinctly different Colonies and it will never be done with 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Colony of New York and the Colony of Rhode Island were not even remotely alike, then or now. Today, the former Colonies, and now States, of Maryland and Virginia are so different they might as well be on different planets. I lived in Virginia for a quarter century and I KNOW this to be true.

          I have been to the remotest stretches of NW China and I have been to Mexico City. If you wander outside of the Zona Rosa in Mexico City, or visit that region of China, you too would remark that no one in the US of A lives in poverty. Period! That is a fact, not fake news.

          This problem exists in each and every form of government known to man. They have all tried to fix it and all have failed; socialism, communism, capitalism, democracy et al. If you try to design a fix by instituting a totalitarian regime, headed by a benevolent dictator, you will fail. Giving that kind of power to a “king” is destined to fail. The framers were well acquainted with such totalitarian regimes and they came up with our form of government to avoid that and avoid the possibility of that in our Constitution. Power corrupts but absolute power corrupts absolutely. Absolute power in the hands of a despot is merely a weapon.

          “But, you say, we all have a right to healthcare and even health insurance.” Or, “But some will not have healthcare or health insurance if we don’t fix it”. Where in God’s name did you come up with that nonsensical idea? Here is a concept for you. In the good ole USA, we are all born with an equal opportunity to succeed. Some do, some do not, no matter your form of centralized government. In every system of government, the cream rises to the top and the failed sleep in a shanty, or under a bridge.

          Guess what, we do not all have a car—5% of the driving age population do not have a car. Many of those cannot even afford a bus ticket. Go figure. Guess what else; 14% of those who do have an automobile do not have auto insurance. The vast majority of us do not have a home in Palm Springs, or even closer to home, in Nichols Hills. Guess what else; 4% of us never make it until our 25^th birthday, almost 1% of us reside in prison, 10% of us do not have a cell phone. Sad but true.

          A campaign slogan of former president, Harry S. Truman, was “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage”. That was almost 70 years ago. Nice slogan but we are nowhere near that even now and it just won’t happen anytime soon.

          Is any of the above really a role of the federal government? More importantly, is any of the above something any centralized government can fix? Think about that and think about that statement of any of this being a RIGHT, whether our Constitution, the Magna Carta or anything else, including the Bible.

          Whatever Congress and the President decide about a law instituting healthcare/ insurance will again head to the Supreme Court [SCOTUS], bet large on that. The makeup of this Court will be quite different than the last charade that ruled on the ACA. It is my understanding that the latest nominee is a Constitutional Originalist. I guess we are “fixin’ to find out”. If he is a said Originalist, whatever the role of Fed Gov remains at the federal level is in jeopardy, other than a pass through to the States, where it belongs.

          The role of SCOTUS is not to make a value judgement, as did the previous Court. The role of the Court is to determine the Constitutionality of a law and the Statutes pursuant thereto. They are to look at whether Art 1 Section 8, and laws pursuant, includes a federal role in healthcare, period. It does not, simply stated. Read it yourself and tell me the Fed Gov even has a dog in that hunt. But, you say, “We all have a RIGHT…”

          While we all here are born with the same equal opportunity, we all don’t end up with equal results. Ah yes, those prickly laws of nature… Where you end up is what you earn, not what the government provides. If your self-worth and self-reliance takes you to a lofty life style, I say well deserved. If it is however, based upon what you get from the government, you are simply a ward of the state and that just ain’t very lofty. If you have an iPhone and a BMW and live in mommy’s basement and daddy paid for it all, you didn’t earn it, mommy and daddy did. Your self-actualization is determined by yourself, individually, by what you earn; not that of mommy and daddy, not Fed Gov. YOU!

          For those of you who say that healthcare/ insurance should be a federal prerogative, there are two ways to amend the Constitution to get that done. The framers provided those mechanisms and that is why it is a “Living Document”; it can be expanded in time if it is determined a sufficient enough priority to include. It only takes ¾ of the States to agree to an amendment. Good luck Chuck! Please note that I said STATES—we are a Republic, not a free for all democracy as some would wish. Otherwise, it is just another Letter to Santa Wish List. It is not the role of the Fed Gov to make sure we all have a car, iPhone, live to collect Social Security, a home in Palm Springs or even healthcare/ insurance, dread the thought. “If wishes were fishes…” Where/ when did we come up with thinking we deserve all of this crap or that it is a RIGHT? Ultimately, you will get what you paid for and you will get paid for what you earn. THAT is a veritable right.