Amendments IX and X

The next time a conservative numbnut wails about "healthcare not being found in the Constitution", read these to them, and explain what they mean.

Amendment IX:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Amendment X:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.


Then remind them that the "people" mentioned in both amendments are the same ones in the preamble: "We the PEOPLE."

Since reason and facts never work with conservatives, it's probably best to skip these steps, roll up a copy of the Constitution, and whack them upside their head.

I would just ask if they want the Republican Supreme Court to overturn Medicare?

and Amendment X says it ought to be handled state by state.

But I cite it because it says "or to the people." It's not just "state's rights" amendment, but that's a popular wingnut talking point for those twisting the meaning for their own ends.

And saying IX is against healthcare reform? Hmmm...

or- at worse, can be said to apply in terms of "our freedom to contract" on the most egregious, unhealthy and unsustainable terms. Believe it or not- over a Century after Lochner v; New York, that argument is still being made.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochner_v._New_York

That a black man has no rights a white man is bound to recognize.

Sometimes it's best that advice of the dead be ignored in favor of the living.

It says you have a RIGHT to HEALTHCARE even though it isn't specifically enumerated in the Constitution. It says what it means and means what it says.

:argh:

Americans have no custom and usage or common practice type deal with respect to a "right to health care."

Best you might find there is EMTALA, which is limited to hospital admissions in emergency situations- and "goes away" once a patient is stabilized (though the patient will still have to pay through the nose from their own assets for the "right").

Now, you might try to piggyback on some other reference- perhaps it's a "liberty interest" -or some such thing, but you won't get very far with the current court with that argument.

The Declaration declares the right to life is a fundamental right of all human beings...

The same guys wrote the Constitution - I'm sure they didn't change their mind about "right to life" in the 13 years in between - the right to life is therefore covered by the Ninth Amendment.

I know what I'm talking about, I've read the Federalist Papers and studied the history of the Revolution and Constitution. The Ninth Amendment was meant to protect unenumerated rights (such as a right to healthcare, or a right to privacy) and the Tenth to reserve unenumerated powers to the People rather than the government.

Doug D.

P.S... It isn't limited to "rights in common usage" that is a ridiculous notion because such rights have no need of protection, the 9th amendment is meant to protect ALL individual rights of citizens and was intended to protect future individual rights which were not thought of at the time the Constitution was penned" - they don't have actively practice that right to "retain" it. Rights are natural - privileges are not - privilege has to be earned or licensed, rights do not.

Amendment 9
The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

You go on thinking that... fine by me.

PRIVILEGES have to be RETAINED through exercise, license, etc.

RIGHTS DO NOT - they are ALWAYS retained by the people.

You need to study the history of the Constitution.

"If we list the set of rights, some fools in the future are going to claim that people
are entitled only to those rights enumerated"

That is the meaning of the word inalienable.

Besides everyone knows that facts have a well known liberal bias.

Seriously, nothing you say to these people will have any influence on their thoughts and opinions. Yesterday at Sen. McCaskill's townhall she made a statement along the lines of the stockmarket being higher today than it was at the beginning of the year and she was booed.

:rofl: MAO!


:yourock:


Edited: Recommended!

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
One can't have any of those three without good health."

One can't have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness without good health.

Federal courts have stated that individuals rarely, if ever, have standing to file suit on 10th amendment grounds which appears to overstrike the "...or the people" clause of the 10th amendment.

example:
9th Circuit: Court Oregon v. Legal Services Corp