Paul Following months of heated public debate and aggressive closed-door negotiations, Congress finally cast a vote on health-care reform.

It was truly a sad weekend on the House floor as we witnessed further dismantling of the Constitution, disregard of the will of the people, explosive expan- sion of the reach of government, unprec- edented corporate favorit- ism, and the impending end of quality health care.

Those in favor of this bill touted their good intentions of ensuring quality healthcare for all Americans, as if those of us against the bill are against medical care.

They cite fanciful statistics of deficit reduction, while simultaneously planning to expand the already struggling medical welfare programs. They somehow think health care in this country will be improved by swelling our welfare rolls and cutting reimbursement payments to doctors who are already losing money.

It is estimated that thousands of doctors will be economically forced out of the profession should this government fuzzy math actually try to become healthcare reality. No one has thought to ask what good mandatory health insurance will be if people can’t find doctors.

Legislative hopes and dreams don’t always stand up well against economic realities.

Frustratingly, this legislation does not deal at all with the real reasons access to health care is a struggle for so many — the astronomical costs. If tort reform was seriously discussed, if the massive regulatory burden on health care was reduced and reformed, if the free market was allowed to function and apply downward pressure on health-care costs as it does with everything else, perhaps people wouldn’t be so beholden to insurance companies.

If costs were lowered, more people could simply pay for what they need out of pocket, as they were able to do before government got so involved. Instead, in the name of going after greedy insurance companies, the federal government is going to make people even more beholden to them by mandating that everyone buy their product!

Hefty fines are due from anyone found to have committed the heinous crime of not being a customer of a health-insurance company. We will need to hire 16,500 IRS agents to police compliance with all these new mandates and administer various fines. So in government terms, this is also a jobs bill. Nevermind that this program is also likely to cost the private sector 5 million jobs.

Of course, the most troubling aspect of this bill is that it is so blatantly unconstitutional and contrary to the ideals of liberty. Nowhere in the constitution does anything appear approaching authority for the government to do this.

Thirty-eight states are said to already be preparing legal and constitutional challenges to this legislation, and if the courts stand by their oaths, they’ll win.

Ron Paul represents the 14th Congressional district of Texas.