Dear editor,
Your Sept. 19 editorial criticizing my decision to challenge the constitutionality of the federal health insurance law, commonly known as Obamacare, left me scratching my head. What you dismiss as a veil of legalese, many Kansans call the rule of law required by our Constitution. I took an oath to uphold the Constitution, not the health insurance law.
You suggest that questioning the statutes constitutionality shows why people distrust government. But I think many people distrust government because too often people in public office follow public opinion polls rather than the Constitution they swore to uphold.
The powers of the federal government are limited and enumerated. If the Constitution does not grant Congress the power to enact an individual mandate that commands Americans to buy insurance, then the law purporting to do so is null and void no matter how popular that law may be.
Thats whats at issue here. This is not some cunning plan. Its basic civics.
Sincerely,
Derek Schmidt,
Kansas Attorney General
