Citizens or Serfs?

"Obamacare is not a battle over health insurance. It is a struggle over whether America will remain a nation of self-directing citizens or docile, powerless serfs."

Q. Do citizens and states have the constitutional authority to challenge Obamacare?
A. Yes. The Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the US Constitution affirm a supremacy of rights reserved to the people and to the states: Amendment 9: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Amendment 10: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Moreover, the natural right of contract existed long before our Constitution, and is a fundamental right of citizens and a free people. American courts do not enforce involuntary contract promises.

Q. How can citizens and state legislatures challenge Obamacare mandates?
A. The "Health Care Freedom Act," HB 10, has been introduced in the Virginia General Assembly to challenge Obamacare. It can be introduced in other state legislatures in 2010. Passage of HB 10 ensures that Virginia and other states will take up this challenge of defending Liberty on behalf of citizens who refuse to submit to the illicit demands of Obamacare.

HB 10 states: "No law shall restrict a person's natural right and power of contract to secure the blessings of liberty to choose private health care systems or private plans. No law shall interfere with the right of a person or entity to pay for lawful medical services to preserve life or health, nor shall any law impose a penalty, tax, fee, or fine, 0f any type, to decline or to contract for health care coverage or to participate in any particular health care system or plan, except as required by a court where an individual or entity is a named party in a judicial dispute. Nothing herein shall be construed to expand, limit or otherwise modify any determination of law regarding what constitutes lawful medical services within the Commonwealth."

Q. If Congress passes Obamacare, how does this square with the obligation of Congress to represent their constituents and not impose obligations on citizens against their will?
A. Congress’ ONLY duty is to serve citizens under the express powers of the US Constitution. Congress' own staff concluded (see below) that the proposed insurance mandates are novel and unprecedented in the 220 years since Congress was established in 1789! Forcing citizens to purchase private health insurance violates the compact between elected representatives and citizens reducing government "of, by and for the people," to demands of lords over subjects. The Declaration of Independence affirmed “That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.” It is the usurpers in Washington who propose to alter self government under the guise of health care reform.

Q. But Congress already mandates tax payments for Social Security and Medicare. What's so different about Obamacare?
A. Congress has never attempted to force individuals to purchase anything in the private sector. An August, 1994, Congressional Budget Office report by Robin Seller, written re: Hillary-care, states: "A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of federal action. The government has never required people to buy any good or service as a condition of lawful residence in the United States. An individual mandate would have two features that, in combination, would make it unique. First, it would impose a duty on individuals as members of society.

Second, it would require people to purchase a specific service that would be heavily regulated by the federal government."

Q. Congress compels registration for the military draft, and state governments require the purchase of auto insurance, so can’t Obamacare require insurance purchases?
A. The power to raise an army to provide for the common defense is an enumerated power given to the national government. The mandating of health insurance is not a power granted to Congress. Forty-seven states impose liability insurance to drive on public, tax-paid roads. No insurance is needed to drive at any speed on one's own property. Liability insurance is required to compensate and protect others from injuries. Though it is a widely granted privilege and a practical social necessity, courts have held that driving on a public road is not a right. It is subject to conditions imposed by state legislatures which are empowered to enforce general police and welfare powers.

Q. What else could Congress mandate of citizens if health mandates go unchallenged?
A. Congressmen and Senators could disingenuously tell citizens they will not raise taxes before an election, but then impose spending “mandates” on all Americans to achieve the same goal after they are elected. If Congress can force all Americans to buy health insurance, then Congress can mandate, under heavy penalty of jail or fines, that citizens purchase new windows or insulation to save the environment. Congress could compel states to not register automobiles older than 2005 to minimize air pollution. The potential for abuse is unlimited.

Further, the Congressional Budget Office in 1994, stated Congress would be exercising a dangerous power: "a decision to exclude the costs of an individual mandate to purchase health insurance from the budget could lead policymakers to impose other mandates on individuals … to use mandates to control the allocation of a large portion of the nation's resources without the cost of those actions being controlled through the federal budget process."

Q. Does the "Health Care Freedom Act," protect businesses?
A. Yes, HB 10 protects both individuals and “entities” from mandatory health care purchases. Obamacare requires every company with an annual payroll of $500,000 or more to insure its workers with private plans, approved by the Obama Administration, or pay an 8% payroll tax. Obamacare also requires companies that do provide health insurance to pay 72.5% of an individual's premium, and 65% of a family plan. While Congress has passed laws pertaining to minimum wage, overtime, workplace safety, family leave, and workman's compensation, it never required companies to offer non-wage related or "fringe benefits" such as health insurance. Companies are not required to offer retirement plans, but if they do, they must conform to ERISA laws. Companies may, but are not required to, offer health insurance.

Q. Are there reputable legal scholars who think the Congress may NOT have the constitutional authority to compel health insurance purchase mandates?
A. Yes, “the health care mandate does not purport to regulate or prohibit activity of any kind, whether economic or noneconomic. … To the contrary, it purports to “regulate” inactivity by converting the inactivity of not buying insurance into commercial activity. …In recent years, the Court invalidated two congressional statutes that attempted to regulate noneconomic activities. In United States v. Lopez (1995), it struck down the Gun-Free School Zones Act, which attempted to reach the activity of possessing a gun within a thousand feet of a school. In United States v. Morrison (2000), it invalidated part of the Violence Against Women Act, which regulated gender-motivated violence. Because the Court found the regulated activity in each case to be noneconomic, it was outside the reach of Congress’s Commerce power, regardless of its effect on interstate commerce. To uphold the insurance purchase mandate, the Supreme Court would have to concede that the Commerce Clause has no limits, a proposition that it has never affirmed, that it rejected in Lopez and Morrison, and from which it did not retreat in Raich. …Congress may … not
regulate the individual’s decision not to purchase a service or enter into a contract.”(Heritage Foundation by Georgetown University law professor Randy Barnett can be found here; also see American Law and Justice.)

HB 10 has been introduced by Virginia State Delegate Bob Marshall (13th House of Delegates District) for the 2010 Virginia General Assembly session. If you live in Virginia, ask your own state representative to cosponsor HB 10. If you do not live in Virginia, ask your state representative to introduce HB 10 or a similar bill to challenge Obamacare.

Dangerous ID Act

VA Legislation to Stop Real ID in Virginia

RPVNetwork

Sat, 01/10/2009 - 09:49.
Real Id
VA Liberty Defense, along with 10 other organizations have joined forces in a statewide campaign to add Virginia to the growing list of states to enact anti-Real ID legislation.
Twenty-one (21) states have engaged in an all-out revolt against Dangerous ID (the so-called Real ID scam) and have already passed legislation that will nix the federal mandate and more are expected to follow.
There will be a Rally in support of Delegate Bob Marshall's H.B.1587 and Senator Ken Cuccinelli's S.B.481 at the Virginia State Capital Bell Tower on January 21, 2009 at 1:00 pm.

Gilmore and Marshall - Virginia Should Be Proud

The horrible death of Hugh Finn in 1998 affected me deeply. Many people sought to save him. Two of them were Governor Jim Gilmore and Delegate Bob Marshall.

Hugh Finn's death by starvation and dehydration (a death to which we would never dream of subjecting the lowliest of God's creatures) was ordained by his doctors, his spouse, even his church, through Bishops Walter Sullivan and Thomas Kelly. Lawyers and the courts, ultimately condemned him.

Delegate Marshall and Governor Gilmore fought valiantly but unsuccessfully on Hugh Finn's behalf. It was a hard moment politically but a stunningly beautiful moment of grace for these men.

I will never forget it.

Now both are running for the same Senate seat. So what do we do?

We should thank the good Lord for blessing the Commonwealth with leaders such as these, review their records of public service and listen to them carefully in the days ahead.

It seems odd to take pleasure in such a hard choice, but I do. Virginia should be proud.

Oh Good Grief...

I know Republicans think it is difficult to be elected and then hold on to their seats in northern Virginia but do they have to start crunching granola and hugging trees?

Tree clearing to begin
By AMANDA STEWART
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

~excerpt~
"I can understand the interest in historical accuracy, but I'm not sure they need to go as far as they are," Prince William Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-13th, said Tuesday.

On Monday, Marshall sent letters to Rep. Frank Wolf, R-10th District; Rep. Tom Davis R-11th District; Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va.; and Sen. John W. Warner, R-Va., asking them to intervene.

"I'm hoping something can be done to stop this," Marshall said.

But it may be too late to stop the clearing now, park officials said.

The clearing has been in the park's general management plan for more than 20 years, Sutton said. And the park has completed the environmental studies necessary to proceed, he said.

"There's no reason to stop it now," Sutton said.

The park conducted an environmental assessment project last year and found that the clearing will not significantly impact the environment.

Marshall said he is concerned about the effect the clearing could have on pollution in the area. He said he's also concerned that removing the trees could cause flooding in times of heavy rainfall.

But even if it is too late to save the battlefield's trees, Marshall said he hopes Congress can make changes that will prevent something like this from happening again.

He asked the congressmen to consider new regulations that would require the Park Service to have "independent environmental studies" done before clearing trees on park land and to consult with surrounding counties that might be affected.