For the Common Good of All

When it comes to the government executing on the statement in the U.S. Constitution that reads “ . . . provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States . . .”, is there a limit on what they “provide”?

Apparently not, according to the House Majority leader:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that the individual health insurance mandates included in every health reform bill, which require Americans to have insurance, were “like paying taxes.” He added that Congress has “broad authority” to force Americans to purchase other things as well, so long as it was trying to promote “the general welfare.”
Source: Hoyer Says Constitution’s ‘General Welfare’ Clause Empowers Congress to Order Americans to Buy Health Insurance

Is it just me, or is Hoyer’s definition of what “provide” means a little different from what you or I would find in an average dictionary? It seems to me that in addition to the “broad authority” which Hoyer grants the government, he also afford himself a “broad interpretation” of word meanings as well.

What’s really disturbing about this is not just the prospect of the government telling people that they have to purchase health insurance (or pay a fine if they don’t), but the fact that if/when this is done, a precedent will have been set that will undoubtedly give the government the ability to dictate what you must buy in the future, if it so chooses.

What else will come up in the years ahead that the government will deem necessary for all Americans to purchase “for the general welfare”?

Hoyer refers to car insurance as an example of a comparable mandate; but that’s not even close to the same thing. You only have to buy car insurance if you decide to drive a car; you have the option not to, even though very few people exercise that option.

Not so with mandatory health insurance. If you’re alive, you will have to buy it.

Is there anyone naive enough to actually believe that this would be the last thing the government would force its citizens to purchase once we give it that ability?

He added that Congress has “broad authority” to force Americans to purchase other things as well, so long as it was trying to promote “the general welfare.”

Hoyer’s words, not mine.