We have laws because "please" doesn't work.

I left off my last post with a question: Who was the first U.S. president to sign a law requiring the purchase of health insurance? We will get to the answer in due course, but first a word about tyranny.

The dictionary definition is "Cruel or oppressive government or rule." To listen to some of our fellow citizens, a fresh steaming load of tyranny is delivered daily from Washington or Albany or some other seat of government in the form of new laws which interfere with our freedom.

We have laws because saying "please" doesn't work. Sure, we could post signs on the Thruway saying "For the safety of all, please drive on the right side of the roadway." Unfortunately, some of our fellow citizens never got over their "You're not the boss of me" tantrums from their formative years. Saying "please" doesn't work for some so we pass a law and enforce it with a fine.

Most of us would never dream of raising pigs in our backyard and installing a manure lagoon in the side yard. Unfortunately, there are a few who would take the "It's my property and I'll do what I damn well please with it!" approach. "Please" doesn't work, so we pass a law.

Anybody remember the great seatbelt tyranny of the 70's? Headlines were full of references to the tyrannical government insisting that we not only buy something (seatbelts) but be forced to use the seatbelts we were forced to purchase in our cars!

The same could be said for the great motorcycle helmet tyranny. You were required to wear one which meant--unless you received it as a gift--you were forced to buy a product.

Why did we care? Because lots of those who were injured or killed left medical bills to be paid by the rest of us in the form of higher costs to hospitals leading to higher premiums for our health insurance. Leave a family behind? The "safety net" services required by that family were paid by the rest of us in the form of higher taxes.

When advertising campaigns and saying "please do the responsible thing and buckle up" didn't work, we passed a law.

Much mileage has been generated during the health care debate concerning whether the government could force us to buy broccoli.

Many readers of this blog are retirees who can remember the Vietnam era and the military draft. There was no argument that the government had the power to take a young person from their home and family, drop them into a jungle half a world away and order them to kill--or to die.

Given the power to do that, it seems rather silly to be arguing about whether the government has the power to make someone do the responsible thing and purchase health insurance.

Yet there are those who tell us that they "know the minds" of the framers of the Constitution. Very often this seems to be the same group who tells us that they "know the mind" of God. I must have missed those courses in school.

The framers, they say never imagined the tyrannical depths to which the government would sink. They never imagined that the Constitution would allow the government to force citizens to buy a product.

You know how they write stuff down in books about what people do. They call it history. Some people actually keep track of those events. One such person is Einer Elhauge, who teaches law at Harvard. Elhauge wrote an article titled "The Irrelevance of the Broccoli Argument against the Insurance Mandate" for the New England Journal of Medicine.

Elhauge brought some interesting history to light in that article: "In 1790, the first Congress, which was packed with framers, required all ship owners to provide medical insurance for seamen; in 1798, Congress also required seamen to buy hospital insurance for themselves."

"In 1792, Congress enacted a law mandating that all able-bodied citizens obtain a firearm. This history negates any claim that forcing the purchase of insurance or other products is unprecedented or contrary to any possible intention of the framers."

And now for our quiz answer. The first president to sign a law requiring the purchase of health insurance was, in fact, our first president George Washington. He also signed the 1792 law requiring the purchase of a firearm--if one was not already in your possession. The 1798 law--also requiring the purchase of health insurance--was signed by John Adams.

Poor men. I guess they just didn't understand the meaning of the Constitution that they had just written. Thankfully, we have great minds--such as Joe the Plumber-- some 200+ years later who understand what they REALLY meant.