Washington tried to prevent some extremist group in the future from nefariously purloining the tea party brand

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Digging up some 'history'

Little-known 'milestones' of the commerce law

By Philip R. O'Connor

7:31 PM CDT, October 1, 2010

Twenty states are suing to invalidate the law that levies a tax penalty on individuals and businesses failing to buy health insurance policies. Department of Justice lawyers defend the mandate as constitutionally permissible under Congress' authority to regulate interstate commerce. Surprisingly, the DOJ lawyers seem to rely mainly on obscure New Deal-era cases involving kosher chickens and grain that a farmer grew for personal use rather than selling.

However, old newspaper stories show American history is replete with examples of Congress using the commerce clause to solve big problems.

Boston Pilgrim Register — 1791:

President George Washington signed the Tea Enhancement Act (TEA) requiring all Americans over the age of 12 to partake weekly of the stimulating beverage at a tea shoppe or pay a tax penalty. Penalty funds will be used to buy tea for low-income citizens and small businesses. "Regularly taking tea together will honor the brave men who carried out the Boston Tea Party, even though in their enthusiasm they insensitively impersonated Native Americans and polluted Boston Harbor," said the president. "Tea kept us warm at Valley Forge and I believe that tea, rather than foul-tasting coffee, should be our national drink." A New York senator supported the law, saying that "making tea parties mandatory will prevent some extremist group in the future from nefariously purloining the tea party brand."

Cumberland Gap News — 1815:

The Personal Ownership of Weapons Act (POW), signed by President James Madison, gives every American household one year to acquire a musket or face a tax penalty. "If POW had been on the book a few years earlier, Dolley and I and the fine people of Washington could have shot it out with the redcoats rather than hightailing it and letting the lobster-backs party in the executive mansion before torching it," said the president. Buck Moffat, spokesman for the National Flintlock Association, praised the law, saying, "the Second Amendment right to bear arms is nice but thank goodness for the commerce clause so that Congress can direct all homes to have a firearm." Mr. Moffat noted that penalty funds would be used to buy ammo for low-income people and small businesses.

Wine and Spirits Gazette – 1934:

The centerpiece of President Franklin Roosevelt's post-Prohibition stimulus package became law today with his signature. "We need to get two great American industries, brewing and distilling, back on their feet after the failed policies of the Coolidge and Hoover administrations," said the president. "The Beer and Bourbon Utilization, Reparations and Protection Act (BBURP) will require all Americans over 21 to buy a quart of domestic beer and a fifth of quality booze each week," said FDR as he puffed from an elegant cigarette holder. "Teetotalers can have friends over who do drink or can pay a tax penalty that will fund alcohol for the third of our countrymen who are ill-liquored," he said. Commenting from his prison cell, Mr. Alphonse Capone said simply, "I wish I had thought of this."

Variety – 1953:

President Dwight Eisenhower, citing the threat from television, has signed the Radio Underwriting, Sustainability and Hollywood Act (RUSH) mandating that every American household buy a new radio set every two years and attend a movie at least weekly or pay a tax penalty to fund retraining of displaced actors and studio personnel. "We simply cannot run the risk of television stealing audience from radio and films," he said. "What would people do for news, music, drama and comedy if radio and Hollywood are destroyed by that boob tube? No more Jack Benny, Lone Ranger or Dragnet on radio and no newsreels before a movie!" The measure has received bipartisan support, including from well-known Hollywood Democrats such as Mr. Ronald Reagan, who congratulated the president. "Ike has done the right thing here by reaching across the aisle."

Philip R. O'Connor is a Chicago energy executive and a former chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission.

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