Part 3 --- Core Problem

Recently, the stance of many Republicans on many issues have been confusing. It's time for Republicans to provide answer --- What does the Republican Party really stand for? What's the Republican Party's vision for America? What does the Republican Party really believe?


Indeed, there's a Core Problem.


Consider the issue of Health Care Reform ---

"Comprehensive health insurance is an idea whose time has come in America. There has long been a need to assure every American financial access to high quality health care. As medical costs go up, that need grows more pressing. Now, for the first time, we have not just the need but the will to get this job done. There is widespread support in the Congress and in the Nation for some form of comprehensive health insurance...The plan that I am proposing today is, I believe, the very best way. Improvements can be made in it, of course, and the Administration stands ready to work with the Congress, the medical profession, and others in making those changes. But let us not be led to an extreme program that would place the entire health care system under the dominion of social planners in Washington. Let us continue to have doctors who work for their patients, not for the Federal Government. Let us build upon the strengths of the medical system we have now, not destroy it. Indeed, let us act sensibly. And let us act now...to assure all Americans financial access to high quality medical care."

--- Richard Nixon, 02.06.1974

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Now, when you are introduced to new information it's reasonable that change in stance on issues may take place. It's time for members of BOTH parties to provide answer --- What do you really stand for? What's the vision for America? What do you really believe?

Indeed, there's a Core Problem.

Consider the History of the Individual Health Insurance Mandate, 1989-2010 ---

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Consider the words of Judge Laurence Silberman, Ronald Reagan Appointee ---

'The three-judge panel in Washington, in a 2-1 decision, said the most controversial element of the law -- mandating that people buy health insurance or face a tax -- was not a violation of individual rights. "It certainly is an encroachment on individual liberty, but it is no more so than a command that restaurants or hotels are obliged to serve all customers regardless of race," Judge Laurence Silberman wrote in his opinion. "The right to be free from federal regulation is not absolute, and yields to the imperative that Congress be free to forge national solutions to national problems, no matter how local -- or seemingly passive -- their individual origins." 

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"Broad regulation is an inherent feature of Congress's constitutional authority in this area; to regulate complex, nationwide economic problems is to necessarily deal in generalities"

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"It suffices for this case to recognize, as noted earlier, that the health insurance market is a rather unique one, both because virtually everyone will enter or affect it, and because the uninsured inflict a disproportionate harm on the rest of the market as a result of their later consumption of health care services."

Consider the words of Judge Jeffrey Sutton, George W. Bush Appointee and former law clerk to conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia ---

"No one is inactive when deciding how to pay for health care, as self-insurance and private insurance are two forms of action for addressing the same risk. Each requires affirmative choices; one is no less active than the other; and both affect commerce."

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"If Congress could regulate Angel Raich when she grew marijuana on her property for self-consumption, it is difficult to say Congress may not regulate the 50 million Americans who self-finance their medical care."

Indeed, there's a Core Problem.

What do US really stand for? What's the vision for America? What does America really believe?