Thursday, March 29, 2012

Paul Clement: American Hero



If Obamacare is ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and goes down in flames, America will have a new patriotic hero to thank.

Paul Clement, the former Solicitor General, gave thoughtful arguments as to why the individual mandate was a threat to personal freedom.

He also seems to have convinced many of the judges that the coercive behavior by the Federal Government towards the States over Medicare funding was a path towards tyranny.

Here are some of his final words before the court...

Let me just finish by saying I certainly appreciate what the Solicitor General says, that when you support a policy, you think that the policy spreads the blessings of liberty. But I would respectfully suggest that it's a very funny conception of liberty that forces somebody to purchase an insurance policy whether they want it or not. And it's a very strange conception of federalism that says that we can simply give the States an offer that they can't refuse, and through the spending power which is premised on the notion that Congress can do more because it's voluntary, we can force the States to do whatever we tell them to. That is a direct threat to our federalism.


Brilliant and simple.

By the way, did I mention that he's from Wisconsin?