TightWind is written by Kyle Baxter. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

The Economist:

The last and strongest argument concerns the government’s power to require the purchase of health insurance under the commerce clause. The non-partisan Congressional Research Service found this the most challenging constitutional question related to health-care reform, as the commerce clause, the clause in the constitution that allows the federal government to regulate trade between the states, has never before been used to require that citizens buy a good or service.

The mandate is a gross abuse of the commerce clause, the culmination of what we’ve been moving toward since the New Deal: the commerce clause as Constitutional justification of almost any kind of economic intrusion Congress wishes.

It is the most troubling element of Obama’s plan. Requiring individuals to buy, by law and threat, a good or service is an even larger step forward for government power. If the government can mandate, without any option whatever, that you purchase a good or service, there is little else they can’t do legally.