The Ohio Healthcare freedom amendment petition

The subject of healthcare is a sore topic, not only with the current healthcare law now on the books, but also for the way it was created and passed and because of the costs, which have widely been in the news in recent days. The response of the states has also been in the news. As of July 6, 2011 the Secretary of State received petitions with 546,000 signatures to place an amendment to the Ohio constitution related to the federal healthcare reform legislation. These signatures were validated and this amendment to the Ohio Constitution will be on the election ballot in November 2011.

Some individuals may not fully understand what this amendment represents, given the amount of news coverage or lack of it on the subject. This amendment has two basic objectives. According to a press release the primary objectives include providing Ohioans with the best case for challenging the constitutionality of the individual mandate in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The second objective is to provide Ohioans with constitutional protections from any state based mandate that could be passed in the future by Ohio legislators. In support of this amendment, the House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner has his name as part of the petition given to the Secretary of State.

This amendment, along with the subject of deciding to accept or repeal Ohio Senate Bill 5, will undoubtedly bring many voters to the polls. Both are critical issues for Ohio, and the voters, not the politicians, will decide their outcome. One of the contributing organizations in the drive to put this amendment on the ballot is the Ohio Liberty Council. Many individuals, even those in Ohio, may not have heard of this organization, but it is one which should receive recognition for the principles and objectives they have in place. It is a nonpartisan coalition of like-minded grassroots organizations throughout Ohio. This organization strives to achieve five objectives which are important not only to Ohio but are ones that are important for any state.

The Ohio Liberty Council was initiated by members of local Tea Party groups, 912 groups, and the Ohio Freedom Alliance in June 09. It was conceived as a way to get all liberty minded groups and individuals in Ohio connected and communicating on issues and activities. More importantly, they seek to create concerted action among all these groups in Ohio. The Ohio Liberty Council believes that by working together, they can be more successful and achieve real results to protect and promote liberty in Ohio.

The first basic objective is to foster accountability of elected officials and government. This principle in and of itself is important and one that any individual in any elected office should exhibit. Another is to grow awareness of the movement along with promoting state sovereignty. State sovereignty is an important principle which seems to have been lost in actions by Congress, or at least the appearance of being lost. Two other objectives of this organization are to educate citizens and to affect elections.

A prime example of how this organization affected elections involved an Ohio Supreme Court case about this amendment. Before the effort by this organization and others could begin collecting signatures on petitions to place the issue on the ballot, they were faced with an issue of the then Secretary of State in 2010 blocking this effort. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the Secretary of State and the Ohio Ballot Board abused their position when they blocked this citizen’s initiative and ordered them to certify the petition as drafted. The decision was a vote for the freedom of Ohioans to place issues on the ballot without interference. No politician should be able to block the will of the people to get issues on the ballot, and the decision of the Ohio Supreme Court supports this principle.

Another organization in support of this amendment that provides and provided support for the movement is the Center for Constitutional Law. It is a non-profit, non-partisan legal center dedicated to protecting the Constitutional rights of Ohioans. It litigates constitutional issues related to property rights, voting rights, regulation, taxation, and search and seizures.

The two organizations discussed above are important not only for the principles involved, but for their support of all Ohioans to exercise their constitutional rights. These organizations together help to ensure that Ohio citizens do not have their rights violated by any government official whether it is in the state of Ohio or by Congress. Organizations like these need to be established, if not already in place, for every state in the United States. It is clear without their support, the healthcare freedom amendment might never have made it to the election ballot for voters to decide its fate. Between now and November there may be other issues on the ballot. The ballots in November should provide voters with the opportunity to voice their opinions on matters placed before them. The decisions made by the voters will be impacted by the information which is presented to them before voting day. Let us hope that the information provided will be both complete and accurate. Let’s strive to be a part of disseminating complete and accurate information.