Pelosi: Never mind the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence authorizes Obamacare
posted at 4:05 pm on March 22, 2012 by Tina Korbe
OK, so Nancy Pelosi doesn’t actually say “Never mind the Constitution” in this clip, but she practically has before and she might as well have this time, too. While I firmly believe that the Founding documents are best understood in conjunction with each other (as Rick Santorum says, “If the Constitution is the “how” of America, the Declaration of Independence is the “why”), the Constitution is far more relevant to the authorization of Obamacare than, er, the Declaration of Independence, which is not a blueprint for government but a philosophical statement on the origin and nature of the authority to form a new government in the first place.
That’s all irrelevant, though, because the Declaration of Independence doesn’t provide support for Obamacare in the way Nancy Pelosi suggests anyway. Here she is, Ms. Obamacare:
Pelosi actually claims that Obamacare increases our liberty. She says it removes the constraints that a lack of healthcare places on a person. But a lack of healthcare doesn’t constrain a person in the same way that a government mandate does. On the free market, a person can take steps to acquire health insurance if he doesn’t have it. Under Obamacare, we’re no longer free to not have health insurance — ever. The choice is gone.
To listen to Pelosi talk, the nation never boasted photographers, artists or small-business owners before the Affordable Care Act was passed — but that’s surely not fair to Ansel Adams, John Singer Sargent or Sam Walton. They did it without the help of the ACA and other greats could do it without Obamacare, too. Again, the Declaration doesn’t say we have a right to success in all our endeavors. Nobody has the right to make somebody else pay for their health care.
Update: I missed this quote, but, apparently, Pelosi did specifically mention the Constitution today. She said Obamacare is “ironclad constitutionally.”
Related Posts:
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages: 1 2 3 Next »
I love derelict and delusional leftie fools.
Schadenfreude on March 22, 2012 at 4:07 PM
You are allowed to pursue happiness, happiness is not a right,
Un.Be.Lievable.
NoFanofLibs on March 22, 2012 at 4:08 PM
Ok, when did Phil Hare dress in drag, get 50 facelifts, and infiltrate the House of Representatives?
Doughboy on March 22, 2012 at 4:08 PM
Uh…that’s not a binding document.
CABE on March 22, 2012 at 4:09 PM
Just a bucket of water is all it takes and she’d be gone forever. C’mon please, somebody throw a bucket of water on her…
Tim Zank on March 22, 2012 at 4:09 PM
These people are insane. There is no reason behind what they say. Nothing matters but the power of the State – they being the ones who wield that power.
They are the very enemy that the Founding Fathers rose up against.
A storm is gathering.
OhEssYouCowboys on March 22, 2012 at 4:09 PM
Reckon she had that take before they passed it? After all she said they had to pass it to see what was in it.
DanMan on March 22, 2012 at 4:09 PM
Yep, the botox has gotten to her brain (I know, what brain?)
NapaConservative on March 22, 2012 at 4:09 PM
Nancy Pelosi lecturing on the Declaration seems reasonable. What next? Ron Jeremy lecturing on abstinence?
CorporatePiggy on March 22, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Give her a break, Tina. She is simply referencing the oft overlooked “Good and Plenty” Clause. Duh.
Kataklysmic on March 22, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Declaration of Independence apparently gives government the power to force us to be happy?
What. Really?
lorien1973 on March 22, 2012 at 4:10 PM
Dementia is a horrible thing.
kingsjester on March 22, 2012 at 4:11 PM
Rosie O’Donnell’s exercise video?
Kataklysmic on March 22, 2012 at 4:11 PM
Well, why didn’t she just say that in the first place?
I’m in!
landshark on March 22, 2012 at 4:11 PM
“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated (Art. I, Sec. 8).”
-Thomas Jefferson
“When all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in great things, shall be drawn to Washington as the center of all power, it will render powerless the checks provided of one government on another and will become as venal and oppressive as the government from the government from which we separated.”
-Thomas Jefferson to Charles Hammond, 1821.
“With respect to the two words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.”
- James Madison, Father of the Constitution, to James Robertson
“…[T]he government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.”
-James Madison
“If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the general welfare, the government is no longer a limited one possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one subject to particular exceptions.”
- James Madison, January 21, 1792, Letter to Edmund Pendleton
“There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.”
-James Madison, speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
-James Madison, 4 Annals of Congress 179 (1794). (When Congress appropriated $15,000 for relief of French refugees who fled from insurrection in San Domingo to Baltimore and Philadelphia, James Madison stood on the floor of the House to object)
Resist We Much on March 22, 2012 at 4:12 PM
This is the crux of the left when it comes to Government’s power. If they perceive something as being for the greater good they claim the founding documents authorize it.
Of course, this only works for things they agree with. If it’s something they disagree with, well, then that’s unconstitutional.
And yet, they don’t see the inherent tyranny in their position on this matter.
VinceOfDoom on March 22, 2012 at 4:12 PM
The woman is absolutely insane. She exists in some other dimension.
rplat on March 22, 2012 at 4:13 PM
Jesus Christ, did these people ever stay awake in school!
reddevil on March 22, 2012 at 4:13 PM
How does the Liberty of stealing property from your fellow citizen square with that citizen’s Liberty?
Chip on March 22, 2012 at 4:14 PM
Oh, I don’t know. That part about “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance” is pretty relevant today.
Socratease on March 22, 2012 at 4:14 PM
Working for 4 months straight before I’ve covered my tax debt for the year and actually start earning money that I get to keep does not make me happy.
Being forced to purchase something (whether I want it or not) does not make me happy.
Having politicians dictate whether or not I can put salt on my fries does not make me happy.
There are so many things that Liberals do that makes me unhappy. Based on Pelosi’s own logic, if it makes me unhappy, it must be wrong.
I still find it hard to believe that she read a very libertarian document about freedom from tyranny and government intrusion in your life and somehow divined support for government forcing people to purchase health insurance.
JadeNYU on March 22, 2012 at 4:14 PM
Actually the right to free healthcare is granted under the Articles of Confederation.
If you rightie wing-dings ever bothered to listen to a book, you might know things like I do.
Bishop on March 22, 2012 at 4:15 PM
“With respect to the two words ‘general welfare,’ I have always regarded them as qualified by the detail of powers connected with them. To take them in a literal and unlimited sense would be a metamorphosis of the Constitution into a character which there is a host of proofs was not contemplated by its creators.” –James Madison
“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
- Ben Franklin, “On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor,” 29 November 1766
“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
- Thomas Jefferson
“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labour of the industrious.”
- Thomas Jefferson
Maerose must have confused our Founders with Karl, Friedrich, Vladimir, Leon, and Josef.
Resist We Much on March 22, 2012 at 4:15 PM
How dare you!! Questioning Her Royal Nuttiness, Queen Nancy?!?!?
Bitter Clinger on March 22, 2012 at 4:15 PM
here is how it affects families today: my health ins premiums went from $11,000 year to $31,000 a yera with $5,000 deductibles. i hope the artist that cant make it on his own appreciates his freedom while i lose mine. what a twit this women is.
badswing on March 22, 2012 at 4:15 PM
So the hag who salivates at the thought of killing babies and death panels wants us to believe that she is FOR life ?
The dimwit who wants to regulate and ration our food wants us to believe that she is FOR liberty ?
The bitter raisen that is actively promoting unemployment and food – stamps wants us to believe that she is FOR persuit of happiness ?
burrata on March 22, 2012 at 4:15 PM
She was some sort of lawyer at one point wasn’t she? Or maybe I’m just thinking of everyone else in congress.
Buckshot Bill on March 22, 2012 at 4:15 PM
Complete nit wit.
Free of the constraints of reality.
aniptofar on March 22, 2012 at 4:15 PM
And I’m sure the Magna Carta authorizes abortion on demand…or something.
Bitter Clinger on March 22, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Well it is clear that dear nan has had WAY too much botox or she has not ever read our Constitution? I just have to wonder, what in the world is wrong with most d women in dc? Have they or are they all on something that makes the totally insane?
L
letget on March 22, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Right. And the Magna Carta authorizes the Patriot Act.
infidel4life on March 22, 2012 at 4:17 PM
If brains were beans, Pelosi wouldn’t have enough to make a bee fart.
All she’s good for is pushing Marxist policies and sucking up money for herself and her family by benefiting her cronies.
I used to think, “At least she has that cute little dimple on her chin.” But then I discovered that after all the plastic surgery, that is actually her navel.
Adjoran on March 22, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Let’s just state the essence of Controversial, Unaffordable and Unconstitutional Obamacare:
It’s the government taking care of people in exchange for their vote by attacking the economic Liberty of a minority of federal income taxpayers.
Chip on March 22, 2012 at 4:17 PM
Great stuff.
Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, was one of the most outspoken opponents of a centralized government.
It’s only fitting that this lunatic invokes the very document that was written by one of the opponents of a centralized government – so as to argue for same.
These Marxists are insane – they are irrational.
OhEssYouCowboys on March 22, 2012 at 4:18 PM
Moochelle’s lecturing nutrition via her Famous Lobster Diet Plan?
Nanzi and fwends shone the light on themselves as regards “pursuit of happiness” through their determination to banish the Happy Meal.
Put down that home made sammich kiddo! Gummint has decreed cafeteria food shall be your nutriment and you will like it.
viking01 on March 22, 2012 at 4:18 PM
You know what makes us more free? Government forcing us to do something.
lorien1973 on March 22, 2012 at 4:18 PM
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY?!
risingson4 on March 22, 2012 at 4:18 PM
According to Pelosi …
“liberty and the pursuit of happiness” = wealth confiscation and redistribution.
Comrades Marx and Lenin agree.
farsighted on March 22, 2012 at 4:19 PM
What if MY pursuit of happiness doesn’t involve government intrusions?
Flange on March 22, 2012 at 4:19 PM
Tina, you so miss the point here. Your own argument defeats you… Ansel Adems, Sam Walton, and John Singer Sargent are all DEAD. If only they had Obamacare to allow them to have the health to pursue their happy liberties (or something like that, according to Pelosi… whatever!) they would be able to be celebrating their 110th, 94th, and 156th birthdays this year.
You walked right into that trap.
I figure with ObamaCare I can live to be at least 200. (Or, at least I’ll be able to vote for Democrats that long.)
JohnD13 on March 22, 2012 at 4:19 PM
Could this bag of wind even pass a citizenship test?
onlineanalyst on March 22, 2012 at 4:19 PM
Sounds like she’s been smoking Obama’s stash.
infidel4life on March 22, 2012 at 4:19 PM
“How about a little fire. Scarecrow?”
Del Dolemonte on March 22, 2012 at 4:20 PM
Yeah, that Thomas Jefferson character was a lawyer.
Damn him – the fool.
OhEssYouCowboys on March 22, 2012 at 4:20 PM
these are the same arguments collectivists always make. If we just give all our burdens (meaning choices) to gov’t – we’ll be truly free! No more pesky thinking or choosing. You are now free to live your life exactly how the gov’t tells you to. That is true freedom.
Monkeytoe on March 22, 2012 at 4:20 PM
Pelosi has erected a new sign over the doors to Congress: “Arbeit Macht Frei”.
I think it’s Austrian for “Eat More Fries”…I’m sure it’s harmless.
Bishop on March 22, 2012 at 4:21 PM
Like I said in the previous post….
There is seriously something wrong with these idiots!
try again later on March 22, 2012 at 4:21 PM
There are bowling balls smarter than this woman.
Axion on March 22, 2012 at 4:21 PM
health insurance is not health care. she’s tossing out a deeply flawed argument for socialized health care on the back of her socialized insurance coverage which she clearly realizes is not constitutional.
unfortunately her target audience is as stupid and uninformed as she is tyrannical and mendacious.
she can do whatever she wants with health care/ insurance is what it boils down to. she can do whatever she wants despite the constitution and the bill of rights. she doesn’t feel in the least beholden to our rule of law or either founding document.
mittens on March 22, 2012 at 4:21 PM
Staggering that someone in her position could be this ignorant of our Founding documents (content and intent).
Staggering.
mankai on March 22, 2012 at 4:21 PM
Heh. These people actually believe the things they say. What a crock of pelosi.
jb34461 on March 22, 2012 at 4:22 PM
Did y’all know that Jesus wants to raise taxes ?
and God d@^^ America is in the Bible ???
burrata on March 22, 2012 at 4:23 PM
“Never mind the Constitution…”
Aren’t those words and actions of treason for an American citizen, especially an elected official?
Half of America must be asleep or just totally ignorant of the greatest man-made document on this planet.
jazzuscounty on March 22, 2012 at 4:23 PM
And it is this intellectual co-sanguination that allows the Left to get away with what they get away with.
The Constitution carries force of Law; the DOI does not. It was a revolutionary document meant to inflame the citizens of these lands to revolt, not build a nation. The Right must learn to base its arguments in the Supreme Law of the Land, not Liberty’s Manifesto.
JohnGalt23 on March 22, 2012 at 4:24 PM
Dumb as a box of rocks and led the House of Representatives…proof positive that voters are stupid.
cajunpatriot on March 22, 2012 at 4:24 PM
It’s why the Marxist developed such ideas as “deconstruction”, which led to “critical race theory”, “critical women’s theory”, etc.
The idea was to use academic gobbledygook to tear down our laws and institutions so that they meant whatever leftists wanted them to mean. I fear that such inane theories posing as academic thought will cause far more damage to the U.S. ultimately than the USSR was able to ever physically do.
We are still paying the price for the USSR’s infiltration of our schools and other institutions in the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s. We have never had a full and true accounting of all the connections there were.
Monkeytoe on March 22, 2012 at 4:24 PM
Does this mean she still hasn’t read that monstrosity?
The “Affordable Heathcare Act” … The title is truly telling “Act” = an Act of forcing a citizen to pay for something mandated by the government whether that citizen wants it or not…. I think we have seen similar programs just like this… hum.. Social Security is one that just kinda pops into my mind, oh and it’s broke!
I have to give the Dems some credit… when it comes to knuckle dragging strong arm tactics they are in fact the best at bullying the general population into submission by hook or by crook. They will in fact take over our healthcare and the BILLIONS they will gain in confiscatory mandated funds to go along with it. Never ever trust a government official that says… Hey I only want to help you!
ActinUpinTexas on March 22, 2012 at 4:24 PM
Basically she’s saying that pursuit of happiness means you have the right to loot someone else’s property for your needs.
Is there any way we could start a petition to have her adjudged certifiably insane?
Chip on March 22, 2012 at 4:25 PM
OhEssYouCowboys on March 22, 2012 at 4:20 PM
One, I’m not making fun of lawyers, it just that a lawyer should be able to make a better argument for O-care than this. This is weak.
Second, Thomas Jefferson was a lawyer at a time when being a lawyer actually meant something. Today, they’re a dime a dozen and some are cheaper than that.
Buckshot Bill on March 22, 2012 at 4:25 PM
Exactly. It’s a blueprint for tyranny.
VinceOfDoom on March 22, 2012 at 4:25 PM
The slaves were free, because it freed them of the need to look for a job and housing. Freedom!
lorien1973 on March 22, 2012 at 4:25 PM
She is utterly delusional.
Levin is going to absolutely tee off on her tonight. Cannot wait for that one.
Rixon on March 22, 2012 at 4:25 PM
Ewww. “Pelosi” and “erect” in the same sentence.
infidel4life on March 22, 2012 at 4:26 PM
I like how she was recognized for one (1) minute, and was still yammering when the video faded out three (3) minutes and eighteen (18) seconds later.
Defend tyranny it all you want, Nancy. Just, please, don’t make a mockery of our founding document in the process, ‘kay?
Tuning Spork on March 22, 2012 at 4:26 PM
“..Pursuit of Happiness.” Pelosi has NO concept of what it really means… or worse and frighteningly more accurate, she’s all too aware of what it really means and what the govt is supposed to have the power to do but she doesn’t give a damn.
Yakko77 on March 22, 2012 at 4:27 PM
In essence, give up your Liberty, and you’ll all be happy.
Pure insanity and slavery.
Chip on March 22, 2012 at 4:27 PM
GEEEZ don’t you wish George Washington or Samuel Adams could step up to the podium after a loon like this speaks?
Speakup on March 22, 2012 at 4:28 PM
It’s amazing that this bimbo, Piglosi’s career has lasted more than five minutes. Who the hell was keeping time on her? She was given one minute and rambled for almost three.
De Oppresso Liber on March 22, 2012 at 4:28 PM
The Constitution is sort of like an Etch-a-Sketch.
MTF on March 22, 2012 at 4:28 PM
I say both. Better than half of America knows more about Snooki than they do about any of the Constitution.
hawkeye54 on March 22, 2012 at 4:28 PM
“I’ll get you, my pretty! And your little private health insurance policies, too!”
PatriotGal2257 on March 22, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Pelosi is dangerously stupid.
Thanks again, San Francisco.
AZCoyote on March 22, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Stupid, ignorant, dimwit. This old hag needs to be put to pasture.
rjulio on March 22, 2012 at 4:28 PM
absolutley amazing women, who is so clueless growing up in that democrat family in Baltimore she just leaves me completely speechless!
losarkos on March 22, 2012 at 4:29 PM
Dim bulb.
Too bad they didn’t outlaw her.
BacaDog on March 22, 2012 at 4:30 PM
One – She’s a marxist, and it only follows that her ideology trumps any academic efforts on her part.
Two – I graduated from law school and passed the Bar in ’83. My father was a lawyer, my two brothers and my sister-in-law are lawyers. While we might be a “dime-a-dozen,” we are also Conservatives who, more than most, know the danger of warping the Constitution – so that it will conform to one’s political ideology.
Three – I’ve found, in many of the people who hold lawyers in contempt, a rather profound inability to do well on the LSAT, or pass the Bar.
OhEssYouCowboys on March 22, 2012 at 4:30 PM
Most leftists such as Pelosi think that is all its really good for.
hawkeye54 on March 22, 2012 at 4:30 PM
Thank you, Resist We Much.
Proof that the Founding Fathers understood more about government and the nature of man and power than most of us can fathom. Madison was a brilliant man.
I often wonder why no one sits in front of someone like Congressman Clyburn (famous for the “good and proper” comment that is so much derided by us) or Nancy Pelosi and confronts them with Madison’s or Jefferson’s words when they spout nonsense about the Declaration or Constitution. Who would know better the intent behind those documents than the very men who wrote them?
And why has no Congressman stood up when Pelosi has said something so inane as this and reminded her before the entire Congress that the Declaration is not a binding document of how the government should operate? And that doesnt even address her complete misrepresentation of Jefferson’s intent in refering to “life, liberty, and happiness”. I bet she doesn’t even know why Jefferson chose the words “pursuit of happiness” instead of “property”.
gravityman on March 22, 2012 at 4:30 PM
Hmmm…
Declaration of Independence is not the “Law of the Land” … that is the Constitution.
But hey, we know that to Dems, all things are fungible.
ProfShadow on March 22, 2012 at 4:30 PM
Remember, if the Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives in November, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is likely to win back her position as Speaker of the House.
We all need to start working hard NOW to make sure the Republicans at least maintain and preferably increase the Republican majority in the House.
Step 1) Find out who the Congressional Candidates are in your district.
Step 2) Select the best Candidate in your District.
Step 3) Contact your Candidate to ask how you can help them win in the Primary and General election.
Keep Nancy Pelosi away from the Speaker’s gavel!
wren on March 22, 2012 at 4:31 PM
Generally I try to shy away from language like “dangerous” to describe those with whom I disagree but… Pelosi and Co. ARE dangerous to our individual liberties, period.
Yakko77 on March 22, 2012 at 4:31 PM
How do people vote for this fossil?
Deano1952 on March 22, 2012 at 4:32 PM
But, then dangerously stupid also describes most of her constituency. They continue to re-elect her.
hawkeye54 on March 22, 2012 at 4:32 PM
Oops… mistype… should have read “life, liberty, and the pursuitof happiness”. Brainfade!
gravityman on March 22, 2012 at 4:32 PM
WTF? Can’t some panel force her to get help?
KOOLAID2 on March 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Baroque said that Jesus voted for the Affordable Care Act. That should be good enough.
CorporatePiggy on March 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Is there a video of the next congress person standing up and explaining that she’s a complete idiot and a disgrace to the founding documents?
LoganSix on March 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Do you remember how long it took her to turn over the gavel to John Boehner when he was elected Speaker after the 2010 midterms? Her excessively long-winded speech rambled on so long that I wished with all my might that there would have been one of those long hooks coming out of stage left to drag her away from the podium.
PatriotGal2257 on March 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Likely has not happened in the same room in a long time.
CW on March 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM
“We must vote for it to know what is in it!”
-SanFran Nan, (D) Obamistahn
portlandon on March 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM
By absentee ballots from the graveyard.
NapaConservative on March 22, 2012 at 4:33 PM
Promises of “free stuff” coupled with stupidity.
hawkeye54 on March 22, 2012 at 4:34 PM
Demonstrably false, Nancy Pelosi absolutely supports the extinguishing of life through unfettered abortions.
RJL on March 22, 2012 at 4:36 PM
So religion and politics do mix….
///
Only when Dems speak of it.
CW on March 22, 2012 at 4:36 PM
Does she really want to go there?
malclave on March 22, 2012 at 4:36 PM
Bishop on March 22, 2012 at 4:15 PM
:)
Schadenfreude on March 22, 2012 at 4:38 PM
Any Republican that doesn’t mercilessly mock this doesn’t deserve reelection.
MNHawk on March 22, 2012 at 4:38 PM
I got 45 seconds into the clip and couldn’t listen to anymore of the stupidity spewing from her mouth. The woman’s voice is worse than nails on a chalkboard.
JennM111 on March 22, 2012 at 4:41 PM
“Nutrition is not a private matter!”
- Hitler Youth Manual
“You have a duty to be healthy!”
“Your body belongs to the Führer!”
- Nazi propaganda slogans
Resist We Much on March 22, 2012 at 4:43 PM
You’ll have to pardon Nancy-poo. She lives in an alternate reality.
GarandFan on March 22, 2012 at 4:43 PM
Comment pages: 1 2 3 Next »