Richmond's detour over health care

Congress is clearly capable of mucking up efforts to reform the country's health care system without assistance from state legislators in Virginia.

Nevertheless, some Virginia lawmakers feel they have a certain expertise in such fiascoes, if not in constitutional law, and they are compelled to share their talents with the rest of the nation.

It's no great shock to see the theatrically inclined Del. Bob Marshall sponsoring legislation that purports to exempt Virginians from any future federal requirement that they purchase health insurance. But it's a disappointment to see that reliably contemplative legislators have joined his effort, including Sen. Fred Quayle and Del. Harvey Morgan.

The measure has already passed a Senate committee with backing from two Democrats.

That initial success is encouraging similar states' rights rabble-rousing, including a bill to ban federal regulation of guns made and sold in Virginia.

The legislators pushing such measures have yet to pinpoint the section of the U.S. Constitution granting Americans the inalienable right to be violently ill, uninsured and armed to the teeth, but they are apparently certain it exists, and they're prepared to waste the entire winter session of the General Assembly defending it.

Perhaps while they're at it they'll waive existing requirements that motorists carry car insurance and pass a resolution encouraging parents to send their children to school with the whooping cough.

If Congress ever manages to pass a health care bill, court challenges are guaranteed.

Decades of jurisprudence have broadly construed the federal government's power to regulate interstate commerce, including the ability to impose mandatory minimum standards for health programs for the poor.

More recent actions by sitting justices on the U.S. Supreme Court suggest a desire to narrow that authority somewhat, but it's not at all clear that they would dramatically roll back federal rules for Medicaid, education or farming, for example.

Beyond that, the high court will eventually provide certain guidance. Virginia lawmakers will not resolve the matter, regardless of how long they pontificate or how many dubious laws they pass.

Every Virginian has reason to be concerned about the feckless manner in which health care reform has been handled on Capitol Hill. But state legislators who feel they could do a better job should run for Congress.

In the meantime, they've been sent to Richmond to repair a $4 billion gap in the state budget and pass economic policies that will create jobs in Virginia. If they can't handle the assignment at hand, they shouldn't expect a promotion.