The
blog The Right Side of Austin ran this
commentary titled If Obamacare is Upheld, taken from the blog The Truth About Guns. The main premise of the article, written by James Johnson
and published on June 19, 2012, is that if the government can mandate
healthcare, the government can also mandate guns.
He begins his point by stating that while the right to bear arms is
clearly outlined in the constitution, nowhere in the constitution can
one find the right to healthcare. Proponents of the healthcare reform
bill, he says, justify it by “an extremely warped interpretation of the
commerce clause.” While these statements are true, he could have made
his point much clearer by elaborating on how the healthcare bill was
declared constitutional. It also would have helped if he had given a
rebuttal to the justification of the bill.
Johnson’s next paragraph points out that, after a decision to uphold
the second amendment, crime rates in Chicago dropped substantially. This
observation is beneficial to his point, but Johnson should have given
citations for this information. The evidence is also not enough. Crime
rates dropping in one city will not change a nation’s mind. If he wants
to change things, he should utilize the plethora of evidence out there.
Johnson goes on to say that the fact that “an armed citizenry is the
first line of defense” completely justifies a government mandate to bear
arms. Once again, he gives no examples or evidence for his point. The
point itself is a bit far-fetched. While an armed citizenry may in fact
be a nation’s first line of defense, that cannot in itself rationalize a
government mandate for every citizen to bear arms.
I believe that while Mr. Johnson presented a novel idea, he could have been
much more convincing had he offered better arguments and more evidence.
What the writer of the blog you are writing about is saying is that we don't force every American to purchase a gun and it would not be considered ethical or constitutional for us to do so. While I do feel that health care is a basic necessity that everyone should be able to afford and that the President Obama was trying to do the right thing for the people of this country , it is not, nor has it ever been ethical to force someone to purchase any product or service from a company. As a matter of fact to me this whole deal wreaks of corporate lobbyist back door dealing with our political leaders so that they can line their pockets at the expense of American citizens, which is not at all what the president was trying to accomplish.
ReplyDeleteI understand that; actually, I agree with the author. I just think his argument was poorly presented.
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