This to me is a reflection of what the constitution in action for all to see, perhaps this is why you see more so than perhaps any other state Texas pushing back on issues that deal with the 10th Amendment as a way to remind the Federal Govt. that we are the United States and not United America.
Like what issues?
Health Care? ("Provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare and....")
Income Taxes? (See the 16th amendment, ratified by Texas in 1910)
Which issues does Texas have a problem with? And hey, they can take off any time they want, right after they pay the rest of the country back for defending them from the Mexicans for the last 170 years.
This to me is a reflection of what the constitution in action for all to see, perhaps this is why you see more so than perhaps any other state Texas pushing back on issues that deal with the 10th Amendment as a way to remind the Federal Govt. that we are the United States and not United America.
Like what issues?
Health Care? ("Provide for the common defense,
promote the general welfare and....")
Income Taxes? (See the 16th amendment, ratified by Texas in 1910)
Which issues does Texas have a problem with? And hey, they can take off any time they want, right after they pay the rest of the country back for defending them from the Mexicans for the last 170 years.
Well let's see where to begin with this one, first of all the general welfare clause does not give the Federal Govt. unlimited authority. While you may think that "healthcare" may fall under that provision in fact the only people that are constitutionally entitled to healthcare under the constitution are prisoners,
Under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution, it has been determined
that prisoners (or inmates) have a constitutional right to adequate health care.1 Texas has
codified society’s requirement to give care to its incarcerated persons, and requires state prisons to provide health care.2 Under the final HIPAA Privacy rule, identifiable health information pertaining to “inmates” has been deemed “protected health information,” called “PHI.” Although excepted in the preliminary rule, the final Privacy Rule protects inmates’ PHI.3 This protection is further broadened by the loose definition afforded to “inmates.”
On a side note on the the "general welfare clause I thougt you might like to see what the founding fathers had to say about it,
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."
-- James Madison, 4 Annals of congress 179 (1794)
Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated."
--Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Albert Gallatin, 1817
Popular opinion as to the meaning of this clause has been formed around the opions odf the clause as a result of the Supreme Courts decision(s) in 1935 as it it relates to the constitutionality of Social Security which even FDR was so concerned over it that he had made the threat of packing the court with 6 more members in order to secure it's passage. I thought you might like to see what Justice Roberts had to say about their ruling on this matter in 1951.
Justice Roberts 1951-
"We voted against the Constitution to save the Court."
Looking back it is difficult to see how the Court could have resisted the popular urge ... an insistence by the Court on holding Federal power to what seemed its appropriate orbit when the Constitution was adopted might have resulted in even more radical changes to our dual structure than those which have gradually accomplished through the extension of limited jurisdiction conferred on the federal government.
Steward Machine Co. v. Davis (301 us 548, May 24, 1937)
As far as the 10th Amendment goes , I don't think it needs to be repeated here but, in short, should this healthcare bill pass , when the 10th clearly states that rights not in the constitution are reserved for the states or the people. There is no right to healthcare stated in the constitution and therefor it is a right reserved to the people and the states. One more thing to consdier as well, if this bill should pass then you also have a problem with the 14th Amendment as it applies to cases such as roe v. wade. If the democrats wish to take roe and throw it out the window in favor of healthcare for all, then you might be able to make the case.
The Constitution does not explicitly mention any right of privacy. Â…[
T]he Court has recognized that a right of personal privacy, or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy, does exist under the Constitution. Â… This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment's reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. The detriment that the State would impose upon the pregnant woman by denying this choice altogether is apparent. Specific and direct harm medically diagnosable even in early pregnancy may be involved. Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in this one, the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood may be involved. All these are factors the woman and her responsible physician necessarily will consider in consultation.
So unless you willing to admit that these zone of privacy do not exist, and that states and people have no rights under the constitution and those rights are reserved to the Federal Govt. then you have no case for Federally mandated healthcare. The only case you would have is one that would advocate a constitutional amendment or a state by state installment thereof.
A landmark decision for all Californian's quietly made history on August 20th in a Santa Cruz courtroom.
For the first time since 1996, when the Compassionate Use Act was passed, the federal authorities have been charged with violating the 10th Amendment for harassing medical marijuana patients and state authorities.
The case of Santa Cruz vs. Mukasey, was heard by U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel, who said the Bush Administration's request to dismiss a lawsuit by Santa Cruz city and county officials, and the Wo/Men's Alliance for Medical Marijuana (WAMM), wasn't going to happen.
In a recent telephone interview with Alan Hopper, an ACLU counsel familiar with the case, I asked him what came next?
”The plaintiff will get a get a court-ordered discovery document that will allow them to get documents, and even depositions, from the federal authorities to support their claims,” he explained.
So now it's the city, county, and WAMM's turn to prove their case against the federal government. The court has recognized a concerted effort by the federal government to sabotage state medical marijuana laws, which violates the U.S. Constitution. The significance of this ruling, the first of its kind, cannot be overstated.
Judge says Feds violated 10th Amendment by subverting state marijuana laws - Times-Standard Online
You mentioned the power to levy taxes, yes, the Govt. does have the power under the commerce clause to levy taxes to for any number of reasons. However this power does not extend beyond powers expressed in the constitution. What seems to be generally lost on people especially when it comes to this issue is the folllowing...
The first clause of Article I, Section 8, reads, "The Congress shall have Power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States." This clause, called the General Welfare Clause or the Spending Power Clause, does not grant Congress the power to legislate for the general welfare of the country; that is a power reserved to the states through the Tenth Amendment. Rather, it merely allows Congress to spend federal money for the general welfare. The principle underlying this distinction—the limitation of federal power—eventually inspired the only important disagreement over the meaning of the clause.
According to James Madison, the clause authorized Congress to spend money, but only to carry out the powers and duties specifically enumerated in the subsequent clauses of Article I, Section 8, and elsewhere in the Constitution, not to meet the seemingly infinite needs of the general welfare. Alexander Hamilton maintained that the clause granted Congress the power to spend without limitation for the general welfare of the nation. The winner of this debate was not declared for 150 years.
In United States v. Butler, 56 S. Ct. 312, 297 U.S. 1, 80 L. Ed. 477 (1936), the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a federal agricultural spending program because a specific congressional power over agricultural production appeared nowhere in the Constitution. According to the Court in Butler, the spending program invaded a right reserved to the states by the Tenth Amendment.
General Welfare legal definition of General Welfare. General Welfare synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary.
So in conclusion, if you believe that the "general welfare" clause the power to basically do as it pleases on any issue then you also must believe that all the other "rights" in the constitution are basically meaningless, because if this one line in the constitution does mean this according to Madison, then they would not have taken the time to include a specific mention of rights in the constitution. If this healthcare bill passes it faces a long protracted constitutional fight in several states mine included. Further, I stand by my contention that because there is no specific mention of healthcare as a right in the constitution then you have no such right and the Federal Govt. is no empowered to give it to you unless you as a citizen and many others call for a constitutional amendment giving them authority.