Leaping Loopholes

"You want to know something funny? You actually made me think about the law. I managed to go through three years of law school without doing that."
--Mitch McDeere (The Firm)

Proponents of universal health care argue that inexpensive health care should be the 'right' of all Americans. When pressed to justify the Constitutionality of this claim, many seek shelter of the 'general welfare clause' (Article 1, Section 8, paragraph 1).

This clause, along with the subsequent 'commerce clause,' has been fuel for more government intervention (directly thru amendments and laws, and indirectly thru court rulings) than any other portion of the Constitution. Their open endedness amounts to loopholes, and those intent on expanding the influence of government have been busy exploiting them before the Constitutional ink finished drying.

Many opponents to the Constitution (at least 1/3 of the citizenry per historical docs) feared the downstream consequences of these loopholes. In fact, it motivated a number of Convention delegates to walk out in disgust.

Their fear was that these loopholes would result in loss of liberty as government exploited them to grow in size and influence.

Precisely what we face today.