CouleeConservatives.com

Here's how I replied to a blogger who used the "general welfare" argument for passing the current health care bill.
 

I think Thomas Jefferson nailed it when he wrote,

"They are not to do anything they please to provide for the general welfare.... [G]iving a distinct and independent power to do any act they please which may be good for the Union, would render all the preceding and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for the good of the United States; and as they sole judges of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do whatever evil they please."

According to the Tenth Amendment the federal government can only do those things specifically outlined (enumerated) within the U.S. Constitution.  Since mandating every American to buy health care is not found as an authority granted to Congress in the Constiution the current legislation is un-Constitutional.  The solution should be left to the states and the people to work out for themselves.  The federal government does not have the authority.

You have outlined many of the problems that exist in the current system that must be addressed.  However, no matter how greivous those challenges may be, it still does not give the Congress the authority to provide a solution unless a constitutional amendment comes with it.

For the sake of argument, let's pretend that what the Congress is doing is legal. What's to stop conservatives in the future from mandating that every American must buy a home security system in order to prevent all home invasions?  How about mandating that all Americans purchase a handgun and the training to use it to protect themselves?  How about mandating that every American purchase mutual funds so they can retire with dignity? 

The political pendulum is always swinging back and forth so conservatives will be in power again eventually.  If the current health care bill is allowed to become law then the door will have been opened wide for all future congresses to totally misuse their power.  You might agree with the misuse of that power today but what about when the tables are turned in the future?  That is why our Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution the way they did including the Tenth Amendment.  They were fully aware of the hunger for power in some men's hearts and today's Congress is proving them right by abusing the Constitution and totally misusing their power.