The key question
Premise: The federal state, via the Constitution, claims the ability to require via mandate (and penalties if the mandate isn’t obeyed) that individuals buy a specific product from private companies. That’s the premise at work in this new health care refom law.
Question: If that premise is upheld, what can’t the federal state require an individual to obtain/purchase if it so commands by law?
Discussion: I’m leaving it up to you to carry on this discussion. I’m of the opinion that the ability of the federal government to mandate such behavior is unconstitutional and will eventually be found to be so. But if it isn’t, then I’ll have to back off my previous statement that this law isn’t a “fundamental change in the relationship between the federal state and the individual” and instead simply an expansion of what has gone on previously. If upheld, it would be a fundamental change – and not one for the better.
Your thoughts?
~McQ