The Constitution's Common Sense Clause

A comment to the op-ed piece in the New York Times on the constitutionality of the individual mandate to buy health insurance:

"It seems silly to me that some would argue that it is unconstitutional to force people to buy health insurance (my state forces me to buy auto insurance). After all, our government can and has drafted people to fight wars that can be detrimental to their health, indeed kill them by the thousands. If the government can legally force you to do something that may kill you, surely it can do something that might preserve your health, whether it's under the necessary and proper clause, the promote the general welfare clause, the commerce clause, or the common sense clause."