Health care mandate unconstitutional - From NFIB

It's the time of year for fireworks, barbecues, pool parties and celebrating our nation's freedom. Because of what our forefathers fought for, the American dream of entrepreneurship, prosperity and limitless creative ambition has become a reality for so many people.


But this July 4 brings a harsher reality for Americans as one of our most core freedoms hangs in the balance: the freedom from the government to force citizens to buy a certain product or participate in any one part of commerce.

Three months ago, Congress passed and President Obama signed the health care bill into law. The nation needed health care reform, but this law was not the way to do it. In fact, this law is unconstitutional.

The health care law infringes on every American's right to purchase what they please, including health insurance plans. The law forces Americans to buy health insurance, whether they want to or not, or face a penalty in the form of a fine. Our nation was not founded upon a government that forces its own citizens to purchase something against their will or face a penalty.

Maybe being forced to purchase health insurance doesn't sound so bad to you. But what about if the government forces you to buy vitamins or join a gym, or says we can't eat our barbecue on July 4 because it's unhealthy? If the courts uphold the health care law, there is no limit to what the government will be able to mandate Americans purchase.

This law is not only detrimental to our freedoms but also to our businesses, particularly infringing on small business owners' abilities to manage the day-to-day operations of running their operations. The individual and employer mandates combined with the onslaught of new taxes, paperwork requirements and new rules will dramatically increase the cost of starting and running a small business. And while there are a few provisions that may benefit a limited number of small businesses, the overall effect of the law will do much more harm than good.

A law that harms small business harms the entire nation. Small businesses deserve better than a health care law that was rushed through the legislative process, ignored the Constitution and ultimately will destroy jobs and force some small businesses to close their doors. Along with 20 states, the National Federation of Independent Business is fighting to overturn this legislation and protect our nation's freedoms through a lawsuit against the health care law.

Mandates from a central government authority that forced the people to behave or act in certain ways were exactly what we won our independence from more than 200 years ago. Let's not go back.

Julia Ciarlo Hammond, state director, National Federation of Independent Business, Richmond