Federalism claims in conflict

As usual, the conservatives are special pleading. In Cal Thomas’ column printed Nov. 3, he argues that the Tenth Amendment prohibits health care reform. However, when faced with the Terri Schiavo case, as professor of constitutional law at George Washington University Jonathan Turley puts it, “legislators … admitted that their intervention was a flagrant violation of federalism.” The Tenth Amendment wasn’t a factor in conservatives’ intervention.

For one person, the Constitution should be denied, according to the right. But Cal Thomas would tell you that saving some 44,000 lives who lack health insurance per year, according to the Harvard Medical School, is a violation.

The Tenth Amendment is also a weak point to stand on. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that states can’t withdraw from the union. The Confederates argued that this power devolved to the states. It took at least 618,000 American lives, North and South, to put that bit of nonsense in its place.

Cal Thomas is trying to beat down the clear intent of the Framers to create a vital, living charter for the United States.

Jeffrey E. Bourget

Coeur d’Alene