LA should not miss chance to protect citizens' liberty

Perhaps Louisiana has its regular legislative sessions later than in any other state, but that does not means it should miss the opportunity to ensure that its citizenry is not forced into following suboptimal policy where state inaction could lead to deprivation of liberty.

In response to the Democrat-controlled federal government attempt to force Americans to pay into an altered health care system higher costs for lower quality, over 30 states have or are enacting into law provisions that would prevent the federal government from curtailing people’s liberty in their choices about whether to have health insurance. These do not prevent citizens from participating in federal health insurance programs, only recognizing their freedom to opt out of them without penalty.

While an argument could be made that the Commerce Clause (Art. I Sec. 8) of the Constitution could be stretched to interpret this kind of power as a shared power with the federal government and therefore it would take precedence over states’ wishes if it legislated in that area, more than a couple of hundred years of judicial recognition of the general police power of states should prove judicially negating in that regard, affirming that states have supreme power in the abilities to regulate the health, safety, and morals of the public. Thus, there is a very reasonable expectation that these laws are not moot exercises.

That the Democrat effort on this issue seems to be running out of steam does not reduce the imperative among the states to legislate this protection. Still simmering are these plans, not yet dead politically, and there’s no guarantee in the future that a majority of elected officials will not try to take the people and country off the rails in this area again.

So far, no enterprising legislator in Louisiana has prefiled such a bill. Doing so and its passage into law would perform prodigious service to the state.