When George W. Bush was president, this country experienced the disturbing emergence of the Patriot Act, which people rightfully labeled as a direct assault on the Constitution.Outraged citizens wondered how this could have happened and took matters into their own hands, casting a vote for change with the election of a Democratic president.After surviving eight years of that hot mess called the Bush administration, I never thought that I would be able to see eye-to-eye on anything again with the Republican Party. Then the new health care reform proposal reared its ugly head. Senators Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and John Ensign, R-Nev., are two GOP members who are doing the right thing. Both are speaking out against the reform, which would require all uninsured citizens to buy coverage or face an annual penalty.”This is not liberty,” DeMint said in an online statement in December. “It is tyranny of good intentions by elites in Washington who think they can plan our lives better than we can.”I completely agree – health care coverage for every citizen is a noble idea. However, forcing every American to purchase insurance seems to contradict the principles of our Constitution.It is wrong for our government to use its power to force us to pay for services that some of us just may not want. I had no say in whether I was born in America, and now I am being punished for it by having to pay a life tax to the insurance industry?Robert Waste, professor and former chair of the department of Public Policy and Administration, said the government is allowed to force people to get health care. He compared it to Social Security.”Requiring mandatory health insurance is constitutional,” said Waste. “If (Social Security) with a required tax is constitutional … then so is a national health insurance program.”But Social Security is supported by people who work. The homeless or unemployed do not support Social Security because they can’t pay any taxes into the system without a job.Under this reform, anyone who does not have health care will be fined.So all uninsured citizens would suddenly become lawbreakers under the new reform. This is akin to a mandatory tax on the working class, who would be most affected.When will the moral imperative to defend our rights override our urge to provide for everyone? History has shown that a government effort to make sure we’re all “safe” tends to result in everyone waiting in line for their monthly toilet paper and potato rations instead.And our government needs a better solution to rising health costs than some draconian mandate that seems to have dragged its remains over from the Soviet Union.Mandatory insurance creates an unsettling foundation for future government interference in our lives. Even if you do not ever go to the doctor, get a prescription or have surgery, you will still have to pay for health insurance or face a fine.I do not claim to have a solution for health care, but I know for certain that this proposed reform is not the right way.Yes, we are facing mounting health care costs and the burden of debt. But principles are always more valuable than the value of a dollar bill.And no matter how deep in debt, a country where you are free to decide your own destiny is priceless.Julia Baum can be reached at [email protected]