Q & A – Constitutional?

Q: Larry,
On Kentucky Tonight, you said a mandate to buy something was unconstitutional. This shows that the founding fathers thought otherwise.

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/joe_conason/2010/03/25/militia

Establishing state militias and a national standard for their operation, the Militia Act explicitly required every “free able-bodied white male citizen” between the ages of 18 and 45, with a few occupational exceptions, to “provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch with a box therein to contain not less than twenty-four cartridges, suited to the bore of his musket or firelock, each cartridge to contain a proper quantity of powder and ball; or with a good rifle, knapsack, shot-pouch and powder horn, twenty balls suited to the bore of his rifle, and a quarter of a pound of powder..”

A: John,

I believe the Constitution gives the Federal government the right and obligation to raise an army for our defense. This is how it was done in those days. It is completely Constitutional and I support it. I am against the federal government taxing the people for things they have no authority to spend upon and for compelling the people to purchase health insurance.

Larry