Re: Hee! Hee! Hee!

Lucas: every generation

On Nov 18, 12:47 pm, "Joel Koltner" wrote:
Say James,

What's the constitutionally-legitimate reason that we have medicare?


I'm reminded of something I once heard George Lucas say of Star Wars,
that the old stories have to be re-told to each generation, to teach
them, keep them alive, and to pass them on.

This same argument over the general welfare clause has arisen several
times in our history, and each time was beaten back by telling and re-
telling the Founders' stories; each time until FDR.

Medicare--and Social Security before it--date to the time of FDR's New
Deal, a time of strife not much different from today.

Prior to FDR, courts, Congress, and Presidents had uniformly held that
the Constitution prevented the federal government from enacting
anything like the grand social entitlements of today. There are any
number of famous writings to that effect from each time the principle
was challenged.

Yet FDR wanted massive powers; he'd passed his New Deal through the
Legislative branch, comprising a massive government takeover in the
name of economic necessity, just as today.

His justification? The General Welfare clause.

But, program by program, the Supreme Court beat him back. His
"stimulus bill", The National Recovery Act of 1933" (an attempt at
centralized control of the economy), was laid waste, nullified by the
Court. [1]

Furious the Supreme Court had struck down his ambitions time and again
as unconstitutional, FDR threatened the Justices personally, that if
they didn't bend to his will he'd replace the older members, and add
up to six additional hand-picked justices, packing the Court with
cronies. [2]

It was a disgusting bill, a tactic you'd expect from Putin, not an
American president.

They yielded.

The chastised court ratified Social Security[3].

Later, FDR stacked the Court anyhow. By 1941, eight of the nine
justices were FDR appointees. But, by 1939, the Congress was moving
aggressively to rescind the New Deal. It hadn't worked.

But since then we've moved from a nation of mostly autonomous
independent states, to a nation where states have to beg Washington to
get their own (tax) monies back, giving Washington ever more control
over the entire republic.

FDR began work on the National Health Program, but WWII intervened.
Still, after decades of bitter debate, on the ground laid for such
programs by Social Security, Medicare itself was signed into law by
Johnson in 1965.


Constitutionally, Washington can't demand that the States do very
much, so a work-around was found: incentive payments. You can do
whatever you want, but we won't give you your own money back unless
you do what we want. Hence the mechanism of Pelsoi-care's tort
"reform" poison-pill, HR 3962 Sec. 2531.

The Wikipedia article on FDR's presidency [4] reveals many parallels
to today, lends some perspective to how massive Mr. Obama's
expenditures are by comparison, and how similar programs were tried in
situations arguably less dire, to no effect.

For example, after the First Stim^H^H^H^H New Deal of 1933-34 came the
Second New Deal in 1935-36. Today, one year in, Mr. Obama and the
Congress are starting to speak of a 2nd stimulus bill.[5] The New
Deal drove national debt as a % of GDP in 1937 to 40%. Today it's
85%.

And so the story goes.


“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” --
George Santayana

"Those who do learn from history are doomed to repeat it too." --James
Arthur



[1] http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=66
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Industrial_Recovery_Act

[2] The Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_packing

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_%28United_States%29#Debates_on_the_constitutionality_of_the_Act

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Delano_Roosevelt

[5] http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091118/ap_on_re_as/as_obama_economy

--
Cheers,
James Arthur

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: OT: Finesse contest finalists - thanks to all!
    ... People say that taxes are too ... nation need, and who can afford to pay? ... Unemployment and Government in Twentieth-Centruy America ... Of course these days this is never included in the propaganda about FDR. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated)
  • Re: Surprised to see no reference to al Qaeda deportation case
    ... England has won his appeal against deportation. ... A special immigration court said Abid Naseer was an al-Qaeda ... the security services can rest easy that they can continue ... nation is intact with regard to the moral high-ground. ...
    (uk.legal)
  • Re: Sobering History
    ... you really don't see a substantial similarity? ... exact type, but in all cases the nation (in ... Lincoln and FDR faced situations where there was real danger of the ...
    (rec.gambling.poker)
  • Re: Thai court rules on Thaksins fortune
    ... Thaksin Shinawatra's family fortune should be confiscated by the ... a new post from the Nation reads as follows: ... The high court rules Thaksin's wealth was ill-gotten gains. ... The judges ruled ill-gotten gains in the name of the spouse can be ...
    (soc.culture.thai)
  • More of The Nations Shameless Lies
    ... the Supreme Court sentenced Thaksin in absentia to two years ... He and Pojaman had fled to England before the ruling. ... Thailand in December after divorcing him.The Nation is absolutely shameless.The ...
    (soc.culture.thai)