October 2009

Missouri Sovereignty and Health Care Reform

Federal health care reform legislation will likely reach final passage and be signed into law by President Obama early in 2010.

There has been growing opposition to this massive take over of health care by the federal government which will not stop when the bill is signed into law.

Opposition to the federalization of health care will just move from Congress to State Legislatures.

In Missouri, a joint House Senate Resolution (HJR 48) has been filed which proposes a Missouri constitutional amendment prohibiting any person, employer, or health care provider from being compelled to participate in any health care system. Only a simple majority of both houses of the state legislature is needed to put this constitutional amendment on the ballot for the November 2010 general election.

In recent years there has been a growing state sovereignty or US Constitution 10th Amendment movement. This movement has been growing as the federal government passes more and more intrusive laws and regulations.

In recent years Missouri has passed and signed into law several bill's which push back at an over reaching federal government. In 2008 Missouri passed a law opting out of any mandatory provisions of the federal National Animal ID System (NAIS). And in 2009 Missouri passed a law opting out of the federal National REAL-ID.

Missouri is not alone, a growing number of states are passing similar laws to opt out of burdensome federal laws and regulations.

In 2009 a new non-partisan organization was formed, the Missouri Sovereignty Project, to encourage adoption of laws which would assert Missouri Soveriegnty and push back against the federal governments encroachments on our individual liberty.

Recognizing the importance of asserting Missouri Sovereignty as a check on the excesses of the federal government, the Missouri Libertarian Party Executive Committee passed the following resolution at their December 2009 meeting:

Whereas the Libertarian Party Platform plank on Government Finance and Spending states "We call for the repeal of the income tax, the abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service and all federal programs and services not required under the U.S. Constitution."

And whereas the Missouri Libetarian Party agrees with the Missouri Sovereignty Project mission to “institutionalize” the U.S. Constitution’s 10th Amendment into Missouri’s populist and political fabrics so her citizens and legislators can work together to render ineffective, by legitimate means, any law enacted by the federal government that violates or suppresses any Missourian’s “…unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and pursuit of Happiness.”

Therefor let it be resolved that the Missouri Libertarian Party encourages its members and candidates to participate in the Missouri Sovereignty Project.