Health care "reform" is on the ropes

The chances of unconstitutional Obamacare remaining the law of the land aren't looking too good these days:

"Judges on a federal appeals court panel on Wednesday repeatedly raised questions about President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, expressing unease with the requirement that virtually all Americans carry health insurance or face penalties."

Dear Leader's choice to defend the case once again isn't helping matters any, either:

"Acting U.S. Solicitor Neal Katyal sought to ease their concerns by saying the legislative branch can only exercise its powers to regulate commerce if it will have a substantial effect on the economy and solve a national, not local, problem."

First of all, it's not "regulating" free commerce if you make people buy something they don't want to own.  That would be "forcing" government-mandated commerce.

Secondly, who would get to decide what constitutes a "national problem?  Congress, of course, the very same body that would then supposedly solve those dire issues by requiring that people purchase something.  Nope, no conflict of interest there. 

Thirdly, Mr. Katyal's overbroad argument could be stretched in any number of ways to justify forcing Americans to do any number of things they don't wish.  How about solving a "national problem" of an overabundance of orange juice, for example, by making people buy a certain quantity every month, thus avoiding a price plunge and keeping a multi-billion dollar industry in business?  Especially if, you know, some of the growers, producers and distributors are big donors to whatever party happened to be in control at the time. 

In the same vein, maybe Congress could require that every household buy one Government General Motors car every two years, which would make GM profitable and protect the taxpayers' current (forced) investment in the company. 

What about making people buy $500 or so worth of U.S. made electronic devices every year to stimulate the economy and help harden that industry against cheap foreign competition?  Such a mandate would certainly have a "substantial effect on the economy".

The possibilities for abusing this kind of unlimited and unchecked power are endless, which is precisely why the Founders expressly limited the authority of the Federal government in the first place.  The health care law needs to be overturned for lots of reasons, but protecting the citizens from a predatory Congress intent on arbitrarily picking their pockets "for your own good" by making them purchase whatever that body wishes to is the most critical one.