Congressional candidate Clint Hylton: Dale Toms and Mark Sheehan, candidates for the state legislature: Merle Turner, candidate for Division 5 Associate Circuit Judge; Tom Mann, candidate for Presiding County Commissioner were also among the speakers.

Pictures from the event are on page six of the September 2 issue of The Telegraph.monteecarnahan_3475

RE: PROPOSITION C – NULLIFICATION OF FEDERAL HEALTH CARE LAW

Proposition C, which will appear on the Aug. 3 statewide ballot, purports to exempt Missourians from following a provision the recently enacted federal health care reform law that eventually will require all Americans to have health insurance, which would be subsidized for those who can’t afford it, or be subject to fines or tax penalties. Because federal law generally trumps state law, however, Proposition C likely would be unenforceable if approved by Missouri voters.
The Missouri General Assembly placed Proposition C on the ballot with the passage of House Bill 1764 on May 11. The bill passed 26-8 in the Senate and 108-47 in the House of Representatives. Because it contains a referendum clause putting the matter before voters, HB 1764 bypassed Gov. Jay Nixon and wasn’t subject to a potential veto.
The original purpose of HB 1764 was to modify state laws relating to the voluntary dissolution and liquidation of insurance companies. Under existing law, when a solvent insurer wants to cease doing business, it must go through the court system to liquidate its assets, which can be a lengthy and costly process. This provision of HB 1764 would allow voluntary dissolution with the approval of the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration, which proponents say will make for a quicker and smoother process.
The Senate added the federal health care law nullification provision to HB 1764 during the final days of the 2010 legislative session. Because the General Assembly can order public votes only on entire bills – not portions of bills – both issues will go before voters with Proposition C and pass or fail as a package.
The ballot question for Proposition C, which was written into the language of HB 1764 by the General Assembly and not prepared by the secretary of state as typically is the case, is as follows:
“Shall the Missouri Statutes be amended to: Deny the government the authority to penalize citizens for refusing to purchase private health insurance or infringe upon the right to offer or accept payment for lawful healthcare services? Modify laws regarding the liquidation of certain domestic insurance companies?”

NULLIFCIATION

Conservative “tea party” groups opposed to the federal health care law are the primary force behind nullification legislation in Missouri and many other states. Missouri will be the first state in the nation to put the health care nullification question before voters.
The theory of nullification, which gained some measure of popularity in the first half of the 19th century, asserts that individual states have the power to declare federal actions unconstitutional. One attempt to put the theory into practice resulted in the Nullification Crisis of 1832-1833, which began when the South Carolina Legislature declared the federal tariff unconstitutional and unenforceable in that state.
President Andrew Jackson considered the action treasonous and won congressional authorization to use military force against South Carolina to enforce the tariff. A compromise eventually was struck that avoided a confrontation. Three decades later, the Civil War essentially settled the nullification question in favor of federal supremacy.
Although long considered a historical artifact, the theory of nullification has begun making somewhat of a resurgence in recent years among some political conservatives, who claim that Congress and the federal government, with the blessing of a compliant U.S. Supreme Court, have long been exercising powers not granted to them by the U.S. Constitution, thus usurping powers granted to the states by the 10th Amendment, which reads: “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.”

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT OF PROP C

Congress has no authority force Missourians to buy health insurance or any other good or service.
States and their citizens must stand up to the unconstitutional usurpation of power by Congress, which is undermining our freedom and liberty.
Even if Proposition C can’t legally trump the federal law, Missouri voters deserve the right to be heard on the issue.
If Missourians – and potentially voters in other states – overwhelmingly repudiate the federal health care mandate, it will send a needed message to Congress that this law must be repealed.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION TO PROP C

States have no power to pick and choose which federal laws they want to follow.
Supporters of Proposition C are wasting time and Missouri taxpayer money to hold an election on a ballot measure that, even if approved, will do absolutely nothing.
Given that the state budget has been slashed by more than $1 billion in recent years, wasting taxpayer money to make a political point is especially wrong.
Millions of Americans currently don’t have access to affordable health care. The new federal health care bill, once fully implemented, will change that and is a long-overdue reform.
(Published 7-29-10 issue of Saint Joseph Telegraph)