THE DEBATE

"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."

That is the 10th Amendment which was referred to frequently during Saturday night's Republican candidates debate. This came up in the discussion about the national health care laws; AKA by the Republicans as Obama Care. The issue is of course not only the costs of the programs but specifically to buy the mandated health insurance or be fined.

I have discussed my feelings on this matter for over the past few years. Suffice to say I believe I that although society as responsibility for the health and welfare of its members, it is not the function of an American democracy to mandate under threat of penalty insurance coverage by everyone

For clarification; those who lack insurance because of inability to pay for coverage should have funded health care available. However, those who chose not to spend the money have made their choice and should not become the responsibility of all.

This is a subject of great discussion which I shall go back to another time. I will make one more statement I feel that by the government setting reimbursement under penalty of the law for all providers of health care and arbitrarily lowering payments because of financial shortfall him to be a violation of the 13th Amendment.

This debate was probably the most fascinating of those that I have watched. I think that Newt Gingrich was by far the winner with Romney failing to cut into Gingrich's lead. I

However, many of the commentators have made much to do in a negative manner of Romney's challenge to Perry of a $10,000 bet ; a remark considered to be Romney ‘s boo-boo. The problem apparently is not the bet but the large amount of $10,000 which according to the commentators represented three months pay for the average Iowan. This apparently makes Romney appear to be a rich SOB.

Briefly, regarding the other candidates: Bachmann is a one issue candidate; everything revolves about Obama care. She got back to this issue when talking about foreign affairs.

Ron Paul has a large and vocal following in Iowa. As a libertarian he may be quite knowledgeable about the country’s economics; however he has been completely off base in his foreign policy of isolationism.

I cannot envision Perry being a heavyweight. We have had one President who was a former governor of Texas; that should be sufficient. Perry continues to make quotes that are not 100% correct. We have enough politicians of that nature in Washington.

There is just something about the final candidate Rick Santorum which is hard to pin point. He has really not had much of a chance in the debates. He and Bachmann are always placed at opposit ends of the candidate line. They are usually the recipients of fewer questions than the top liners. Never the less he seems to be just a career politician and I fail to see him as the leader of the Republican.

The other issues; Gingrich’s marital affairs and his position on the Israel Palestine question deserve a sperate blog.