The Conyers Clause
Written by Brian Garst, Posted in Health Care, Welfare & Entitlements
CNSNews asked John Conyers, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to justify the Constitutionality of an individual mandate to purchase health insurance.
CNSNEWS: “What part of the Constitution do you think gives Congress the authority to mandate individuals to purchase health insurance?”
Rep. Conyers: “Under several clauses. The good and welfare clause, and a couple others.”
Rep. Conyers, who has a law degree, made up this clause. There is obviously no “good and welfare clause.”
Nor can we be comforted that this might just be a slip of the tongue. The General Welfare Clause, to which he may have intended to refer, does not grant any actual powers to Congress. Rather, and contrary to popular understanding, it is a restriction on the powers granted elsewhere, preventing them from being used to advance a specific or special interest.
The disdain for which the left treats the Constitution is a direct result of the fact that it stands in the way, by design, of their deepest desires for power and control.
I serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.