Why is This Mandate Different From All Other Mandates?
One of the central concerns that conservatives have about the individual mandate is that it would lead to unlimited federal authority over our individual lives. If Congress can require us to purchase health insurance, conservatives sometimes ask, canāt it require us to purchase cars or broccoli or cell phones? Defenders of the mandate have been so concerned to show that it is justifiable under the Commerce and Necessary and Proper clausesāand there the argument seems quite straightforwardāthat we have not been focused enough on making sure that we donāt prove too much. And thatās partly because we tend to be political progressives and are not as worried as conservatives about limiting federal power over our economic lives. We are not libertarians, after all. While we progressive are adamant about defending civil liberties, we generally donāt believe that there is a general right to economic liberty. And thus, unless government forcesā¦ Continue reading