Will the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment End Obamacare?
HD Download"If you're going to take away liberty and property, there has to be some sort of due process involved," says Chris Littleton, the head of Ohioans for Healthcare Freedom and a Tea Party leader in the Buckeye state. "In this case, as citizens, we feel that those things are fundamentally inhibited and we want the Supreme Court to hear our case on this."
Littleton's group is pushing an upcoming ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to prevent citizens' involuntary participation in any health-insurance system. The U.S. Supreme Court is widely expected to issue a ruling on the constituationality of what's known as the "individual mandate" in Obamacare and Littelton thinks passage of the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment will give his state unique legal standing: "This is citizen-initiated, which is very unique. If it passes, Ohio will be the only state that's done something like that." While most challenges to the individual mandate revolve around the limits of Congress' commerce clause powers, Littleton believes the amendment will activate due process and 10th Amendment considerations.
Littleton sat down with Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie to discuss the Healthcare Freedom Amendment and the similarities between the Occupy Movement and the Tea Party. "I sympathize with the Occupy people…They're sensing that the system is broken," explains Littleton. "But it seems their answer to things is the confiscation of wealth…where [the Tea Party] advocates for legitimate and true free market systems rather than what we have right now."
For more on the constitutionality of the individual mandate, watch Reason.tv's "Wheat, Weed, and Obamacare," which U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson cited earlier this year in his ruling striking down the Affordable Care Act.
For more on Chris Littleton and his work with the Ohio Tea Party, watch Reason.tv's "The Tea Party vs. John Boehner."
Approximately 5 minutes.
Produced, shot and edited by Jim Epstein; additional camera, Joshua Swain.
Scrolldown for downloadable versions, and subscribe to Reason.tv's YouTube Channel to receive automatic updates when new material goes live.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?