Don’t Know Much About History
P. Schultz
March 2, 2014
Here are
some interesting facts I learned just yesterday about American history, which
seem relevant these days even though they involve stuff that happened a very
long time ago.
The fifth
Congress of the U.S., which met in 1798, passed a bill, which became law,
entitled “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seaman.” What makes this
law relevant today is that it required, yes, required that privately employed
seamen purchase health insurance. This act also led to the establishment of The
Maritime Hospital Service which consisted of several hospitals built and run by
the national government. These hospitals were funded by a 1% tax on all seamen,
and this tax was withheld by the employers of said seamen.
Secondly,
in 1792, George Washington signed into law “The Militia Act of 1792,” which
among other things required that the militia members buy a weapon, as well as
other necessary items such as “a sufficient bayonet and belt, two
spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch, with a box therein, to contain not less
than twenty four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each
cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good
rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch, and powder-horn, twenty balls suited to the bore
of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder….”
So,
for all of those people arguing that it is unconstitutional for the national
government to require people to purchase health insurance because, as that
paragon of intelligence, Justice Scalia, said, that this would mean the
government could require us to buy broccoli, guess what? Apparently, something
like this has already been done and it was done by some of those men who helped
to write the Constitution. Now that seems to confirm that the “original intent”
of at least some of those who wrote the Constitution is perfectly consistent
with Obamacare’s mandate. Will this persuade any on these protesters of
Obamacare? Come on, folks, you don’t actually think that these types are
influenced by such evidence, do you? What fun would that be?
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