We are working to overcome a hundred years of indoctrination and increased dependency. The Founders would be appalled that, almost 221 years since our Constitution was written, we are now having to re-explain what a Republic is and how it works.

Federalism is the great lost concept.

The Tenth Amendment specifically states that any powers not given to the federal government are reserved by the States and the people. End of story. What we have not given D.C. is still ours.

In recent history, Congress has justified entirely ignoring the Tenth Amendment by citing its “implied powers.” The problem is that the “implied powers” are only those powers used by Congress in pursuance of their delegated powers.

It is possible to streamline operations and return to the states the powers they once held. Dr. Paul is not in favor of immediately abolishing programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security because, while these programs are unconstitutional and ultimately harmful, too many Americans have been made dependent on them for those programs to be immediately ended.

Dr. Paul’s transition plan would cut our overseas spending by several billion dollars and use that money to protect the domestic programs on which many depend, at the same time allowing young people to opt-out of Social Security, and ending the requirement that they pay for Medicare and Medicaid out of their paychecks.

Imagine a return to federalism. What works in one state could be adopted by another. What doesn’t work could be avoided. Currently, we have a “one-size-fits-all”-style of governance that forces all states to endure bad policies. If California wants certain energy standards, then they should be able to pass them and see what happens, not enact those standards on a national level and force every other state to adopt the same.

It’s high-time that more people understood not just what the 10th says, but why – and how its restoration will be a huge step in the advancement of your liberty.

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As the George Bush stated in his weekly radio address:

“From my conversations with Democrats and Republicans, it is clear both parties recognize that strengthening health care for all Americans is one of our most important responsibilities”

Based on this statement, it’s also quite clear that both parties have chosen to abandon the rules of the Constitution. As the 10th Amendment states so plainly:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Here’s a simple challenge for anyone reading this post: review the US Constitution, and try to find health or health care mentioned anywhere. You might have a tough time, because it’s not there.

Therefore, since getting involved in medical care or the medical insurance business is not within the purview of the federal government, such activity is simply not authorized. Health care, health insurance, drug policy, and the like, must be “reserved to the States…or to the People,” no matter how noble the cause may seem to be.

One fact is nearly indisputable, though: health care in America is in bad shape, and it’s getting worse each year.

We are often reminded that more than forty million Americans go without health insurance, and that this is the fault of the greedy corporations making billions and not due to anything the government has done. We’re told that it’s the health care providers, it’s our employers, or it’s our own bad decisions.

According to the politicians, our declining health care system is anybody and everybody’s fault, except the federal government. This just must be true, because they care about us so much, and would never lie, right?

But, it wasn’t always this way. For decades, the healthcare system in the U.S. was the envy of the whole world. Not too surprisingly, there was far less government involvement in health care at that time as well.

The mess our health care system is in is not the result of too little government involvement, but rather, too much! Obviously, the politicians would never tell us this.

Such honesty would prevent them from having even more power over our day-to-day lives.

Instead, we are told that more and more government involvement, regulation, and decision-making over our health and well-being will solve our problems. But, government is already responsible for nearly two-thirds of all health care spending. They have given us Medicare, Medicaid, billions of research dollars, and countless thousands of pages of regulations.

Even the so-called conservatives, with George Bush leading the charge, have continuously expanded federal power and strengthened government control over our health. With Bush’s prescription drug program, Republicans saddled us with the largest expansion of medical socialism at the national level since the introduction of Medicare. Leftists and socialists should be cheering!

Has all this spending and “regulation” reduced the price of health care? Has all this government “intervention” increased the quality of health care?

No. And this should be quite obvious. Every single year health care gets more expensive, and less accessible, with reduced quality as well. As a result, the politicians spend and regulate the industry more and more each year – to save us, of course.

The important question is this: Who is better off from all the “help” the government has given us? Is it the companies that get favored status, we the people, or the politicians themselves?

If these meddling politicians really cared about people; if they really cared about YOUR health, they’d be doing everything possible to get the federal government out of health care entirely.

Forty years of declining quality and rising prices should make it obvious to even the casual observer that all this government intervention is failing. More intervention is only likely to do the same.

The solution to all today’s medical problems is to get government out of health care. At the very least, we need to end all this massive federal regulation, end Medicare, and repeal all mandatory coverage laws. The result of these early steps would be better care at a lower cost for seniors, the growth of charity hospitals and free clinics, and more options and lower prices for the rest of us.

The best way to make health care more efficient and more affordable is to take the government and politics out of it. If we are to survive this awful mess, we need to follow the tenth amendment and get the federal government completely out of health care, drugs, and everything else not specifically authorized by the Constitution.

This is just what is needed to help the sick and the poor, and that’s exactly why the politicians aren’t even talking about it.

Despite a veto threat from President Bush, the House is approving another key measure the Democrats want.

It’s a bill that would force the government to negotiate with drug companies to get lower prices for Medicare patients. Supporters say the government has more muscle than private insurance plans. And many Democrats complain the year-old Medicare prescription program tilts too far toward profits for the drug and insurance industries.

Let’s be clear here. There’s nothing in the Constitution that authorizes the government to engage in Medicare at all.

A strict constructionist, of course, would find this quite unconstitutional. In fact, to do anything otherwise would be a violation of the words of James Madison, the “father” of the Constitution

“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.”

Medicare is ripe with fraud and waste. There’s millions of dollars of fraudulent claims each and every year. Doctors have to follow rules forced on them by politicians or bureaucrats – not a good way to provide health care, is it?

But then again, to argue against Medicare solely on reasons of cost, need, efficiency, and the like is missing the point entirely.

The constitution does not authorize the federal government to get into the medical insurance business.

Therefore, according to the tenth amendment, the federal government needs to stay out of it. And that’s the law.