SJ0002, the Health Care Freedom Amendment (HCFA), was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. The bill now heads to the entire Wyoming Senate for consideration and, if it passes, will then go to the House. This is as far as the HCFA has ever gone in the Wyoming Legislature, and this is cause for cautious celebration, but the Amendment still has a long way to go.
In what might seem like unrelated news, the North American International Auto Show wrapped up in Detroit yesterday. I’m a Michigan native, and growing up the Auto Show was a yearly event for my family. I could not make the trek home to attend this year, but Henry Payne, editor of the Michigan View blog of the Detroit News, offers this report:
[T]he lack of customers around the Prius family was striking on my Tuesday tour of the show – as was the virtually empty electric Chinese BYD display. While China’s push for alternative energy is the envy of the Obama Administration and The New York Times, the public seemed unimpressed.
The same lack of interest went for small cars built by American companies such as the Chevy Sonic and the Ford Fiesta. Instead, attendees “made straight for the new SUVs.” Of course, Payne’s observation is not proof that small “green” cars will fail, but in light of Obamacare it should raise the question: what if they do fail? What will the federal government do if no one will buy the product they’re forcing American car companies to build?
If the individual mandate to purchase health insurance withstands its current court challenge and the challenge of health care freedom amendments, there will be nothing to stop the government from mandating that we drive “environmentally friendly” automobiles. After all, if the mere fact that we will eventually utilize the health care system puts us within the grasp of the Commerce Clause, then surely the fact that we will eventually drive or ride along in trucks, SUVs, Corvettes and other glorious machines on national highways does so as well. It’s only right, then, that government mandates what kind of cars we drive. Chilling.
It’s been said time and again, but must be repeated until supporters of Obamacare’s individual mandate listen: this is the first step onto a slippery slope that will allow the United States government to exercise totalitarian control over the lives of Americans. Now, they’re here for your insurance policy; next, it will be your car keys.
