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From The Individual Mandate To Educational Mandates?

Professor Bainbridge asks whether the pro-Obamacare constitutional lawyers see any limits on government power, and concludes they don?t.

On their theory, he asks,

why can't the government order me to exercise more and eat less? After all, being overweight increases the likelihood that I'll need medical services, which implicates economic activity. If the Supreme Court upholds the individual mandate, the combination of that decision with the expansive definition of commerce in use since Wickard will mean that there are essentially no limits on the government's ability to regulate anything except abortion, sodomy, and guns.

?After posting that,? he adds,

it occurred to me that a better question would be: On [their] theory, why couldn't the government order me to hire a personal trainer? After all, that's compelling me ?to engage in economic activity with another private party....?

Along the same lines, I ask on Minding The Campus, Could the Feds Tell College Students What to Do? If a decision not to buy health insurance has a sufficient impact on the economy to justify being fined or taxed, why not the decision of a qualified student not to major in a STEM field or pursue a STEM career?

You?ll have to read the essay to see whether the question makes sense.

Full post as published by Discriminations on January 13, 2011 (boomark / email).