Yesterday President Obama signed into law a costly health care reform bill that is expected to provide health care to 32 million uninsured Americans (BBC News, 2010). You may be saying, “Great!” or asking yourself “Shouldn’t everyone have a right to health care?” The truth is it’s not a matter of rights, but of Constitutional principle.
According to BBC news, only minutes after President Obama signed the bill at a White House ceremony, a team of 13 attorney generals began filing legal proceedings on the grounds that the reforms are unconstitutional (BBC News, 2010). The bill is unconstitutional because health care is not listed as a right in the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. According to the US Congress, the Bill of Rights was created to ensure the rights of the people that cannot be infringed upon (ProCon.org, 2010 and The United States Congress, 1789). In the past the American people have vehemently defended the Bill of Rights. This document is supposed to be infallible. Now its validity is being violated before the very eyes of all Americans.
The government should not have to provide health care because it is not a right—it is an individual’s responsibility to ensure their personal health. Living a healthy lifestyle can prevent health problems and disease (ProCon.org, 2010). The taxpayers of this nation should not have to feel like they need to pay for health care for those who are too weak to solve their own personal problems.
Of course, there will be some who think all Americans should have the right to health care because it was declared a right in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (The United Nations, 1948), but this cannot stand. The government must adhere to the principles of the Constitution as the Preamble clearly states that the purpose of the government is to “promote” the general welfare, not provide it (The Congress of the United States, 1789). The day this country fails to live up to the principles of the Constitution is the day that this country begins to fall apart. Hence, the health care reforms that were signed into law yesterday should be reversed and the dignity of the Constitution of the United States of America preserved.
The speech had to be less than two minutes long, so that's why it's so short. Otherwise I would have made it much more detailed and included more rebuttal from the other side. So what do I really think of the new health care reforms? I LOVE THEM! But, they are not perfect yet. I realize that it's going to take about 4 years to implement the program that has been put into place correctly as as effectively as possible. I also realize that during the long, tumultuous battle to get the health care reforms that we have now, many of the most important parts of the bill had to be cut for the sake of both Democrats and Republicans agreeing to sign it. Honestly, I could make this post pages long, but I'm just about to start a My Brother's Keeper Program mentoring session (a mentoring program that works with middle school aged Black males at Malcolm X Academy in Detroit, Michigan) and I need to devote my full attention to that. Maybe more about health care later.
If you'd like to see a really legit list of pros and cons on the question of health care, check out the link to the ProCon.org website in the references below.
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References
-The Associated Press. (2010, March 23). Obama to sign landmark health care reform bill at White House ceremony. Retrieved March 23, 2010, from http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/world/article/484962--obama-to-sign-landmark-health-care-reform-bill-at-white-house-ceremony
-The Congress of the United States. (1789, March 4). Bill of Rights. Retrieved March 23, 2010, from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.htm
-Pro and Con Arguments: "Should all Americans have the right (be entitled) to health care?". (2010, March 17). Retrieved March 23, 2010, from http://healthcare.procon.org
-The United Nations. (1948, December 10). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved March 23, 2010, from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/-(2010, March 23). Obama signs health bill into law. BBC News. Retrieved March 23, 2010, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/8583350.stm
