Why an Amendment to the Florida Constitution?
The outlook for avoidance of some sort of Nationalized Healthcare in the US is dire. We have a Democrat President, House and Senate--the Senate with a filibuster-proof majority--so the likelihood is that Washington will force some sort of Socialized Medicine or Government healthcare system on the entire nation in the very near future. As most anyone who has studied the US Constitution can tell you, healthcare is not one of the enumerated powers that we, the People delegated to the Federal government. It is, therefore, patently illegal. But there are two problems in regard to this Constitutional argument: First, Washington stopped paying any attention to the Constitution since Abraham Lincoln started the Civil War. And, second, in order for the Supreme Court to hear the case--and with our current Supreme Court it is very unlikely that the enumerated powers argument would prevail--we must be able to demonstrate a recognized Constitutional argument. This is where the States can be critical, because we can muster a Constitutional argument via the 10th Amendment. Although Washington ignores the People, it still must pay some attention to the States. (Of course, if the States are indebted to the Federal government through billion dollar bailouts, we can't be too sure even that will last for long.)
Florida has its own distinct process that is required to get a potential amendment on to a ballot. Since the destruction of quality healthcare in the US is imminent, we must get this issue on the 2010 ballot. One way is through a Citizens initiative, but is extremely expensive, and requires the collection of over 600,000 petitions by May of next year. Another way, is for the Legislature to propose an amendment. There are other ways (like the TBRC, etc.) but they are not available to us in time for the 2010 ballot. We are stuck with either a Citizens ballot initiative or the Legislature.
by far the simplest route is the Legislature. However, here again we have a timing problem: In order to accomplish such an Amendment, the legislature must be in session. The regular session for 2009 is already completed, but we can hold out hope for a special session. Our real target should be the regular session of 2010, but we must have the proposed amendment completed and able to pass Florida Supreme Court validation, never an easy thing in Florida for any Amendment representing Freedom, Liberty and the Free Market.
What can you do?
Write your Florida Legislators and urge them to introduce a Florida Healthcare Freedom Amendment. Write Governor Crist to call for a special session this year to consider the Florida Healthcare Freedom Amendment. We are currently working on the specific text, and can use anyone's help to get it right.
To email your Florida Representatives and Governor Crist, just click the 'Write Your Representatives' button or click here:
