Missouri GOP Picks Guy Who Thinks Medicare Is Unconstitutional For U.S. Senate

[SunsetDreams]

Yesterday, Missouri Republicans selected Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) as their candidate to oppose Sen. Claire McCaskill’s (D-MO) bid for reelection. Akin, who like nearly every Republican in Congress voted for Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) plan to phase out Medicare, is a staunch opponent of Medicare in general. Indeed, he told a Tea Party group last year that he believes the program is unconstitutional:

U.S. Rep. Todd Akin said he has doubts about the constitutionality of Medicare and thinks global warming “is highly suspect.” [...]

Akin’s remarks questioning the constitutionality of Medicare came as he was explaining his vote against prescription coverage under the medical plan for seniors and people with disabilities. He said it was too expensive, and “it was expanding an entitlement I wasn’t too comfortable with to begin with.”

Asked about the remarks after the meeting, Akin said, “I don’t find in the Constitution that it is the job of the government to provide health care.”

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/08/08/656071/missouri-gop-picks-guy-who-thinks-medicare-is-unconstitutional-for-us-senate/

I'm sure this will go over well

Thanks Ruby the Liberal

Will someone please give these GOP Idiots a history lesson?

But there’s a major problem with this line of argument: It just isn’t true. The founding fathers, it turns out, passed several mandates of their own. In 1790, the very first Congress—which incidentally included 20 framers—passed a law that included a mandate: namely, a requirement that ship owners buy medical insurance for their seamen. This law was then signed by another framer: President George Washington. That’s right, the father of our country had no difficulty imposing a health insurance mandate.

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/102620/individual-mandate-history-affordable-care-act

[librechik]

1. (swallows hard) SUPPORT CLAIRE McCASKILL!

please Dems, don't blow this one, even tho McCaskill is red state wishywashy. Don't let another Teaper inside the club room. They poop in the punchbowl.

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Someone send this illiterate buffoon this snippet, please?

But there’s a major problem with this line of argument: It just isn’t true. The founding fathers, it turns out, passed several mandates of their own. In 1790, the very first Congress—which incidentally included 20 framers—passed a law that included a mandate: namely, a requirement that ship owners buy medical insurance for their seamen. This law was then signed by another framer: President George Washington. That’s right, the father of our country had no difficulty imposing a health insurance mandate.

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/102620/individual-mandate-history-affordable-care-act

[SunsetDreams]

4. Nice find!

I'm going to attach it to the OP. I hope you don't mind

[Ruby the Liberal]

6. Please do.

The ignorance on the right is mind boggling.

[SunsetDreams]

7. Thanks

I've added it. I don't think it's so much ignorance, I think they hope their supporters and the American public will be ignorant enough to take their word as the Gospel.

[LiberalFighter]

12. They pretend to know the Constitution just like they pretend to know the Bible.

They have read neither but are experts.

[LiberalFighter]

3. If he says that Medicare is unconstitutional then he would have to say the same for Social Security.

[grantcart]

5. Next up the CDC and then comes NASA.

[cbdo2007]

8. Cool, looks like McCaskill will get the senior vote then.

Should be a pretty easy election!

[PatSeg]

9. So his logic says

anything he can't find in the constitution is thereby "unconstitutional". The possibilities are endless.

[RC]

10. Oh really?

Asked about the remarks after the meeting, Akin said, “I don’t find in the Constitution that it is the job of the government to provide health care.”

Try reading this part of the US Constitution!

Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America:
"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, PROMOTE THE GENERAL WELFARE, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

Section 8.
"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and PROVIDE FOR THE common defense and GENERAL WELFARE of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;..."

Twice in our Constitution it mentions "general welfare" What constitutes 'General Welfare'?
The old-age benefits provisions of the Social Security Act of 1935 is an example of providing for the 'general welfare'. Medicaid/Medicare are 2 more examples of providing for the 'general welfare'.
Government controlled, Single Payer, Universal health care for the people of the United States IS covered by the Constitution, because the relative health of our citizens does affect the general welfare of the Nation. 45,000 dead people a year are proof the profit driven, privately run systems we have in place now are not working to provide the necessary health care for our nation.
How can our present private health insurance system, with its many insurance companies (each with its own way of doing things), its own highly paid management, its own attention to the bottom line for its share holders, its own claims requirements, its own forms for submitting claims, etc., be more efficient than any government controlled single Payer system, with its single set of rules and forms?

How is Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security NOT allowed by the Constitution? All those programs address the "general welfare" of "We the people..." mentioned in the Preamble to the US Constitution. "We the people..." are a part of the United States.

[kiranon]

11. Thinks "Promote the General Welfare" only applied to Gen. George Washington.

Do not think tea partiers think beyond the words on a page. They do not seem to be able to make inferences or draw logical conclusions such as that "Promote the General Welfare" means the welfare of the people in the country and not a program to help generals to stay healthy.