An issue not being looked at closely by the media is a brief filed by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., and 39 other House members in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, claiming Obamacare is an illegal tax.

The brief contends the U.S. Constitution requires that revenue-raising measures originate in the U.S. House, and Obamacare was created in the Senate, thus the law is unconstitutional. The case is headed toward the Supreme Court.

According to the brief, in principle, behind the Origination Clause — sometimes phrased as “No Taxation Without Representation” was the moral justification for our War of Independence.

With the premise that the war for freedom was the goal, the brief states that the Origination Clause was at the core of the “Great Compromise of 1787,” which inevitably led to ratification of the Constitution. The brief said the Origination Clause was an important principle in the Constitution that was designed to ensure representatives of American citizens make tax decisions. It also said the Constitution makes it clear that the power to tax lies with the House.

What gives this brief legs is that the Supreme Court deemed that the financing of Obamacare is a tax, thus making it constitutionally sound. Obamacare includes more than $500 billion in new taxation; therefor, the brief claims, the law should have initiated in the House, to keep the taxing power close to the people.

In defiance of this constitutional requirement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid launched the law in the Senate by taking an entirely unrelated House bill on housing for veterans, stripping it, and inserting the language that became Obamacare.

I agree that all Americans should have access to and deserve medical care, but to use a law to force others to pay for it or face reprisal is on my mind a breach of our freedoms and liberties.

A far better approach would be targeted legislation that enhances an already competitive free system where the costs are distributed according to each individual’s health care needs not what the government thinks we need. Each state should sit own with their health providers, their businesses and their elected officials and mold a health care system that best serves their citizens. Even a glorified Medicare system targeted toward financially strapped Americans would be far better than this Obamacare fiasco. Our health care system is a good one and needs to be modified, but to force individuals and families to pay additional huge deductibles, premiums and new taxes is ethically reprehensible.