On Friday, August 12, 2011 the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the individual mandate that requires all Americans to buy health insurance under ObamaCare. What I found interesting was this statement:

"The Justice Department countered that Congress had the power to require most people to buy health insurance or face tax penalties because Congress has the authority to regulate interstate business. It said the legislative branch was exercising its 'quintessential' rights when it adopted the new law."

Since when does the government have rights?  A right is defined as  "a moral principle defining and sanctioning a man's freedom of action in a social context.  There is only one fundamental right (all the others are its consequences or corollaries): a man's right to his own life." Ayn Rand

The government has one purpose and one purpose only and that is to protect our rights, not to jam laws down our throats for the "common good."  The only thing that is good is what is good for the individual and what is good for the individual is to protect his right to his life, his liberty and his pursuit of his own happiness.

Charlotte Cushman is a Montessori educator at Minnesota Renaissance School, Anoka, Minnesota. She has been involved in the study of Ayn Rand's philosophy since 1970.