Jacob Sullum drives home a couple points on SCHIP:

As "a conservative who wants to help restore the limited federal government envisioned in the Constitution," Rep. Roscoe Bartlett said, he could not in good conscience vote to override President Bush's veto of a bill boosting federal spending on children's health insurance. But the Maryland Republican also said he was "proud" to have supported the creation of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and promised he would "work to ensure a safety net of health insurance for the children of the working poor."

The Framers would have insisted on nothing less, as reflected in the Constitution's Health Care Clause. Oh, wait. The Constitution has no Health Care Clause. Nor does it include any other provision that authorizes Congress to spend taxpayers' money on health insurance for the children of the working poor, the grandparents of the middle class, the nephews of the super-rich, or the kin of any other socioeconomic group.
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Instead of trying to resolve such issues at the national level, why not let each state go its own way, with results that vary depending on local values, the local cost of living, and the local health care situation? No federal money would mean that one state's legislators could no longer force another state's taxpayers to subsidize their generous impulses, but it would also mean no federal restrictions.

Permitting a wide range of policy experiments in areas where the federal government has no license to act is not just the law. It's a good idea.