The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act represents a frightening abuse of federal power that has never been granted by the people.

The lawsuit filed against the federal government by 14 states' attorneys general, including Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania, correctly asserts that "the Act represents an unprecedented encroachment on the liberty of individuals living in the Plaintiffs' respective states, by mandating that all citizens and legal residents of the United States have qualifying health care coverage or pay a tax penalty ..." At no time in American history has Congress attempted to exert such power over states or individual rights.

The American public should avoid the temptation to accept "something rather than nothing" in response to the need for health care reform. While portions of this law are well-intentioned, Americans need to be aware of the dire consequences that will likely follow if it is unchallenged.

Never before has the federal government penalized citizens for doing nothing — much less required them to purchase a product such as health insurance. If such an edict is constitutional, then it would be difficult to imagine any limitation on federal power. What's next? Government-required diets? Blood tests? Medical examinations? The intrusion of federal authority into our lives would be shocking.

This law may be the cornerstone of the Obama administration's plan to transform our market economy into a planned economy, managed by a centralized government -- perhaps to "redistribute wealth" -- as foreshadowed by the president's own words during his campaign.

John Adams once wrote, "They define a republic to be a government of laws, and not of men." While the president and Congress may change policy, neither may change the Constitution nor expand their respective powers that arise from it. It is apparent that the drafters of this legislation have either forgotten that fact or have simply chosen to ignore it. This law must be struck down by the branch of the government charged with the final authority to interpret the very document through which Americans authorized the federal government to exist in the first place and to govern only within its limitations.

The importance of this issue cannot be overstated. The future of our republic and American federalism are at stake. If this law is not invalidated by the Supreme Court or repealed by a future Congress, Americans will suffer from an unprecedented infringement of rights against arbitrary exercises of federal power, which I fear, most Americans do not see coming.

CHRISTOPHER GERBER

Chester Springs