Posted by
Patrick Henry on Friday, September 11, 2009 10:18:29 PM
During President Obama's speech to the joint houses of congress on healthcare, he made the claim
that his program would not provide healthcare to persons in the U.S. illegally. That statement so
incensed South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson that he broke legislative protocol and shouted
"liar" at the president. While the president has accepted Wilson's apology, Democrats in the House
are threatening him with censure if he does not formally apologize to them.
So lost has the controversy become in Wilson's angry outburst and what should be done about it,
that few have even stopped to think about whether his charge was true. Certainly there is value in civility,
and in abiding by traditions, and in that sense Wilson's behavior is unjustifiable. While the bath may be
ineffective or undesirable, however, we ought not hasten to throw the baby out with it. Was Obama or
was he not lying?
HB 3200, which we must assume Obama was talking about, does not, in fact overtly provide funds
to specifically cover illegal aliens with health insuirance. Neither, however, does it overtly prevent
such coverage, and Democrats have repeatedly rejected the attachment of enforcement measure that
would require persons seeking coverage to prove citizenship. That would seem to make their intent
clear enough. Further, the old principle of law is that "what is not specifically forbidden is permitted."
So, without some enforcement measure in place, there is absolutely nothing to stop illegal aliens from
claiming that they are citizens and registering for government funded healthcare. At least not under
the terms of HB 3200. Did President Obama know this at the time he made the statement that drew
Wilson's ire? Of course he did! Was he dodging the issue by hiding out under the umbrella of "the bill
doesn't say it covers illegals?" Probably so. Is that dishonest? You be the judge.
Then there is the troubling case of two California initiatives to plug their own loopholes. Submerged
in a sea of unsustainable taxes and flooded by illegals who were bleeding their capacity to provide free
public services dry, California passed two bills denying such services to the undocumented. The problem
is that this remedy apparently runs afoul of the Constitution which holds that services provided by
government to its citizens must also be provided to other residents, both legal and illegal. Both were
thrown out as unconstitutional by district courts. Now, the president is a constitutional lawyer who has
actually taught constitutional law in the law school of a prominent university (The University of
Chicago), right? One must ask if it is plausible to believe that the president of the United States is
ignorant of the California debacle and of the constitutional provisions cited by the courts in reversing
those bills. If he is a good constitutional scholar and has a whole legal staff to track and research
these precedents, how could he not know that if he gets his "public option" it must, by law, cover
illegal aliens as well as American citizens? And if he knew and STILL persisted in promising congress
and America that illegals would not be covered by "his" plan, was he not, in fact lying? (The PC term
is "misrepresenting the truth." Would Joe Wilson be in less hot water if he had yelled that?)
The problem with rushing "healthcare reform" through, as Obama is seeking to do, is that it simply does
not allow time to weed out the loopholes, contradicitons, unconstitutionality and impracticality with
which HB 3200 is riddled. Censure Joe Wilsod for poor taste if you will. But Obama needs to be held
accountable for the inaccuracies and mendacity of his own statements. Quick to call his opponents
liars, he might have bent a few truths himself.