Arizona or Oklahoma…Arizona or Oklahoma? Let’s go Arizona first.
Only the Arizona Legislature introduced an initiative (HCR2014), which if passed, would amend the state constitution to codify that no resident would be required to participate in any public health care option. Arizonans will vote on the initiative in November 2010.
“HCR2014 is proactive and will protect patients’ fundamental rights,” Arizona State Rep. Nancy Barto, a Republican, said in a statement. “We are a front-line battle state to stop the momentum of this powerful government takeover of your health care decisions. Health care by lobbyists thwarts your rights and can be stopped here.”[...]
Vukmir said that the Obama proposal could be unconstitutional, under the Tenth Amendment, which states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
“I’m a strong believer in the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment,” Vukmir told CNSNews.com. “The Tenth Amendment has been eroded by Congress and the Supreme Court for decades. We have to ask, does the Tenth Amendment have any meaning? We are supposed to have strong state governments and a weak central government. That has eroded away.”
First, there’s a sublime irony in the idea that “health care by lobbyists” is something that, to this point, has not existed in America. I’m not entirely sure which thrust of Capitalist Jesus’ loins HMOs sprung from, but I’m guess the honorable Rep. Barto can tell me where to look. Second, this goes back to Mark Sanford’s attempts to block the stimulus spending for South Carolina - Arizona is in the middle of the pack when it comes to the age of their population, but they still have a substantial elderly population, each and every member of which is already eligible for Medicare. Having watched the joys of broadly reaching partisan state legislation in action, I can pretty much guarantee you that some bit of the language in the proposed bill will imperil Medicare and Medicaid benefits for Arizona residents, because nobody this dumb couldn’t fuck this up.
Next up, Oklahoma:
Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern has finally answered that question: our sins. Kern has drafted a resolution that puts the current economic crisis squarely on the backs of libertines and godless people who have produced a moral crisis. This includes Obama’s refusal to “uphold the long held tradition of past presidents in recognition of our National Day of Prayer.”
The full text of this not-at-all-insane document is below the fold.