Supremacy clause doesn’t apply
Regarding the AP report “Tennessee Senate votes to reject health care mandate” (Feb. 18). Sen. Andy Berke from Chattanooga voted against the measure due to his belief that the bill would violate the supremacy clause of the federal Constitution.
The U.S. Constitution’s purpose as our founders intended was to establish a federal government with limited expressed powers and that any powers not expressly given to the federal government by the Constitution would be the state’s or the people, respectively.
The supremacy clause would apply if a state bill would propose the state to perform a function set forth in the U.S. Constitution as a federal function such as send ambassadors to another country or print money.
The U.S. Constitution does not give the federal government the authority to require citizens to purchase health insurance, thus the supremacy clause is not a valid reason to vote against the state bill.
If lawmakers and citizens want to start providing health care via the federal government, first the U.S. Constitution must be amended to allow the federal government the power to do that task. Without that amendment, I believe and fully support the states and its citizens to refuse national health care.
KEVIN CROWE
Elizabethton, Tenn.
U.S. to mark Spay Day today
Spay Day is today. Since 1995, the Humane Society of the United States has assigned the last Tuesday of February as a day to urge people to spay or neuter their pets, improve their health, and help end the tragedy of pet overpopulation.
Since its inception, millions of dogs and cats have been spayed or neutered, but there is much more work to be done. Our community needs to respond to the burden of pet overpopulation.
I urge every responsible pet owner to spay your females and neuter your males. Help local rescues and individuals that identify, humanely trap, spay/neuter, and release strays and ferals in your neighborhood and community.
The information is available through local veterinarians, non-profit shelters, rescues and clinics. Visit www.wallysfriends.com for specific information on being part of the solution to end pet overpopulation.
KIM BUTLER
Signal Mountain
Tea Partiers need to read the facts
Tea Party activists praise conservatives and say that they don’t want corruption in Washington and that they think Reagan descended down from Heaven.
Here is the Tea Party philosophy: Obama is a terrorist, Sarah Palin is God, Rush Limbaugh is the Pope, and Al Gore is the Devil because he believes in evidence.
Conservatives control the Supreme Court, which just allowed corporations to “buy” politicians. Where was the Tea Party then? Conservatives gave us the deficit by giving huge tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. I can understand why rich people are conservatives; but why would middle-class people be conservatives? Thanks to liberals we have Social Security, student loans, minimum wage, Medicare and Jon Stewart.
What have the conservatives given us? A recession and a hockey mom from Alaska who has to write on her hand to remember three things.
I challenge the Tea Party to welcome themselves into the 21st century and to actually read the facts instead of Fox News.
CHAD HENDERSON
Flintstone, Ga.
Stimulus seeks honest proposals
The Free Press editorial “Stimulus ‘stimulates’ foreign jobs” (Feb. 17) was an unresearched smear against the federal government’s efforts to breathe life into an economy left for dead a year ago. Your readers deserve better.
Requests for stimulus funding for infrastructure projects generally require support from state and local governments. Was the Texas wind farm project that promises so many jobs to China requested by Gov. Perry of “Texas should secede from the Union” fame? Or was it Sen. Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee?
The Recovery Act asks for honest proposals for worthy projects that will create jobs and restore prosperity in America. It is not the president’s fault if some dishonest politicians shill for taxpayer money on behalf of the businesses and lobbyists who fund their campaigns. Sen. Schumer, D-N.Y., objected to the Texas wind farm grant last November, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu has not approved the request.
The Texas grant request comes on behalf of Cielio Wind Power, the largest independently-owned American wind power developer, and U.S. Renewable Energy Group, a private-equity company. If American entrepreneurs can’t even build a windmill without help from China, then maybe they should ask for grants to run lemonade stands.
ROBERT L. FAST
Berke’s stand shows courage
Whatever your opinion on the issue, state Sen. Andy Berke’s vote against requiring the state to oppose individual health care mandates was a profile in courage.
Standing alone against your peers is one of the most difficult things a person can do. But in my opinion, Mr. Berke has not only shown courage in his vote but good judgment, which I believe will become evident in time.
Tennesseans overwhelmingly, along with the rest of the nation, want affordable health insurance even when they have pre-existing medical conditions. A growing number of Tennesseans have no insurance at all. Mr. Berke knows that to accomplish these goals and modernize a good but definitely improvable health care delivery system, it’s going to take all of us pulling together — like a real team.
Mandates would help accomplish those goals without converting to a one-payer system.
Thank you, Mr. Berke, and keep up the good work.
GENE SHILES
Signal Mountain