A few law professors have been arguing that it’s constitutional to force people to buy health insurance, because the Constitution gives Congress power to “regulate Commerce among the several States.”

Under the very broad formulation of the federal Commerce Power issued by the modern Supreme Court, Congress can regulate not just interstate commerce and certain related activities (as the Founders intended) but also any “economic activities” that “substantially affect interstate Commerce.” This, the new argument goes, includes a power to punish non-activity (i.e., failure to buy insurance).

Let’s examine some of the implications of this novel argument:

* The Constitution grants Congress authority to “provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting. . . ” By the same reasoning, Congress enjoys power to punish anyone who doesn’t counterfeit.

* The Constitution grants Congress authority to “define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations.” Hence, Congress may punish anyone who does not commit those crimes.

* The Constitution grants Congress’ authority to “declare the Punishment of Treason.” Hence, Congress may “declare the Punishment” for people who do not commit treason.

These examples show how ridiculous such “reasoning” is. Ridiculous, but also dangerous, because it can be used to obliterate meaning from the constitutional language, and, thereby, all constitutional limits on government.

Some of the Founders warned us that unscrupulous advocates would try to subvert the Constitution in this way — by arguments those Founders called “sophistry.”

Sophistry is defined by Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (11th ed.) as “subtly deceptive reasoning or argumentation.” The term comes from the practice of professional mouth-pieces in ancient Greece, who to demonstrate their rhetorical prowess would construct clever arguments for a proposition, and then just as slyly tear it down.