Should the legislature “implement the public will”?
August 5th, 2008 | by Brian Schwartz |
Dear Senator Morse,
According to a recent Denver Post article about health care reform, you would answer that “yes,” the legislature should “implement the pubic will”:
State Sen. John Morse, a Colorado Springs Democrat who attended the forum, said the chicken-and-egg problem of the debate is that lawmakers are unlikely to be able to pass sweeping health care changes without community sentiment massed behind a specific proposal.
“The legislature does a pretty good job of implementing public will,” Morse said. “But right now, there is no consensus in the public will.”
I am interested to know more about this point of view, and would appreciate your consideration of the following questions, which I have also posted on the blog PatientPowerNow.org.
Does this “public will” have any limits? Do the individual rights of each Coloradan place a check on what government can do in the name of “the public will”?
If “the public will” is for single-payer health care, then is it proper for the state government to become a monopolistic insurer in the state, make it a crime for insurance companies to do business (they’d be competing “payers”), and force all Coloradans do be a “customer” of the states insurance program?
Or if “the public will” is for mandatory insurance, can the state legislators make it a crime for people not to buy insurance, as defined by politicians? The “the public wills it,” can state legislators authorize law enforcement to incarcerate people who peacefully refuse to cooperate with this law?
Thank you for considering my questions,
Brian T. Schwartz, Ph.D.
tags: Colorado health care, John Morse, right to health care
