A very good example of how expansive the Commerce Clause became is best provided by a case known as Wickard v. Filburn that was decided by the Supreme Court in 1942. Filburn was a farmer who was fined by the Government because he harvested more winter wheat on his property than the amount that was approved by the Agricultural Adjustment Act. He was limited to eleven acres, but he harvested an additional twelve acres that he was going to use for personal consumption only, and by doing so he incurred a fine that he refused to pay. The case made it to the Supreme Court and they unanimously ruled against Filburn because any wheat that he personally consumed would not then be purchased on the open market thus indirectly affecting interstate commerce. Plus, he may be lured into selling some of his wheat to the market if the price were to increase which was the objective of the Government at the time using regulation. This being even remotely related to the Commerce Clause was a stretch at best, but it did not deter the Government from pursuing it and prevailing with the help of the Supreme Court. This illustrates how anything you can buy, sell, touch, use, or consume can now be regulated based on a “perceived” linkage to commerce, and this became the primary mechanism by which the Federal Government has expanded its power through time.

Using this concept you can easily see this same practice being used with health care as the tool against us citizens to further erode our freedoms and liberties. Upon legislating universal health care and having the Government as the administrator it is easy to foresee them dictating the decisions concerning our health. Regardless of the form that any new health care plan takes, the Government’s involvement will be profound right from the beginning and likely increase with time. They will exercise full authority to select your doctors and hospitals as well as the treatments you receive as each of these providers and procedures will be fully regulated by the Government, maybe even by another appointed Czar that is answerable to none of us or our representatives. Health care will be rationed regardless of the promises made, there will be long waits as well as treatments withheld because any one specific case may not be deemed worthy of the expense. Life and death judgments will now be decided by someone other than the person affected or their family. These are the apparent things that can be envisioned because they are readily observable around the world, but an equally unpleasant thought comes from the combination of the Government inevitably having the customary monetary shortfalls mixed with their nonstop expansionism. In the interest of saving money on health care, they will start dictating and/or regulating your everyday behaviors by simply relating them to health care in some manner, however indirect, much like they did with commerce. They may become very interested in your habits such as smoking, alcohol usage, soda consumption, exercise habits, the foods you eat and how often etc. They may want to know what hobbies you enjoy such as skydiving, racing cars, flying airplanes, or spending time on a mountain snow skiing. What about work related activities like how much time do you drive, the dangers in your daily activities, your choice of job and its hazards. You can take this line of thinking through your day from sunup to sundown and everything you do in between and relate it to health care in some way, therefore they will have the authority to regulate and control our lives even more than they already do. The precedence for this behavior has already been long established and continues to this day. It is not far-fetched at all to assume they will exploit the health care system for their benefit just like they did with the Commerce Clause, it will just be the new means to their expansionary end.

It seems to be a constant that the Government always wants to increase their reach into our lives, for it has been an endless march since the Progressive era. It is a zero-sum game and any power they attain must be relinquished by the individual citizens or the state, and this transpires slowly over time. Universal health care may be viewed as a panacea by many in our society, but knowing our Government’s inclination and history, it will likely prove to be another failed program dragging our nation further into the fiscal abyss and eroding our freedoms and liberties in the process.