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Op-ed: Don’t Know Much About History

by David Crocker

Where would we be without the mainstream media? You know, the folks who claim “multiple layers of checks and balances” and the right to determine what is or is not a “news organization”. One would expect that when the editors of a major newspaper opine, they do so based on fact because an editorial is, after all, the august pronouncement of the newspaper itself, bearing the imprimatur of authority.

But if you assume that, you would be mistaken.

Take the editors of the Lewiston Sun-Journal, for instance. In their editorial from last Sunday, “Founders Began the First National Health-Care Plan”, they make some interesting historical assertions in support of ObamaCare’s individual mandate.

The editors state that Congress’ 1798 passage of “An Act for the Relief of Sick and Disabled Seamen” is a forerunner of the individual mandate and, indeed, provides proof positive that the “founders” thought socialized medicine was constitutional. This notion became a hot topic in the blogosphere after it was mentioned by Rick Ungar in Forbes magazine (“Congress Passes Socialized Medicine and Mandates Health Insurance in 1798”). The problem with the Sun-Journal’s (and Ungar’s) assertion is that it simply isn’t true.

And the rest of the story is here.