Sen. Lembke speaks on Health Care Freedom Act

“It is a very interesting time to be serving your country,” said State Senator Jim Lembke last week at a gathering of the Randolph Area Pachyderms.

The senator, who represents senate district number one in south St. Louis, is a co-sponsor of a health care choice bill recently passed and placed on the August 3 ballot. He is spending the next six weeks traveling the state to make voters aware of their choice when it comes to federally mandated health care. The reason the amendment is so important, said Lembke, is the federal government, in mandating laws without alternatives, usurps state’s rights.

Senator Lembke recounted some of the history behind the Bill of Rights, including the aspect that the first eight amendments pertain to individual rights and the last two relate to State and Federal powers.

“This is not a new debate, it has been going on in one form or another for over two hundred years, just read the Federalist Papers” said Lembke. “That was an on-going debate between Federalists and anti-Federalists, especially Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.”

One of the more intense arguments dealt with the ninth and tenth amendments of the Bill of Rights. The so-called enumerated acts essentially give power back to the people and in the case of the tenth, power to the states and to the people of those states. A very powerful sentiment and, as Lembke pointed out, one that has now been unleashed by various actions, especially in Washington D.C.

The overarching theme of the evening was the concept of choice by the people, choice especially when it comes to some type of universal government-mandated health care. The senator felt that the Federal government has over-stepped its authority in the area of the Commerce Clause. He said that the government is forcing Americans to buy a product that they may not want or even have need for. With this lack of choice in mind, the state assembly in Jefferson City passed a referendum, HB-1764, that will give Missouri voters a choice as to whether they have Federal Health Insurance coverage or not. Missouri will be the first state to give state voters an opportunity to voice their opinion on what is also known as “Obama-care”.

This bill will also require the Missouri attorney general to defend Missouri citizens against any prosecution by the Federal government over the new national health care mandate.

“Every time we pass a law in Jefferson City, Missourians lose a little more freedom,” said Lembke. “The constitutional job description of state legislators is to ‘balance the budget’. We are doing that job.”

Lembke told the group that Missouri is one of 14 states that still has a AAA bond rating and the reason for the good rating is the balanced budget. He said only the people, at the local level, can do what is necessary to help the state in its current financial crisis.

“We have the opportunity to make government work better– now is the time,” said Lembke. “We have to give you a government you. the people, can afford. This is why I am so passionate about Proposition C. This will give you, the Missouri voter, a chance to make government work and work in an affordable way. We can’t keep trying to spend our way into prosperity, whether through unsustainable health care bills or reckless spending on programs that don’t work, we have to stop squandering our children and grandchildren’s future. We are responding to 60 percent of Missourians, who are against the Health Care Reform Bill 2010. It is time for Missourians to make their voices heard. Please vote yes on Prop C this coming August. Remember, all eyes of the nation will be on Missouri this August.”