There is still time...but not much... to remind key Senate Democrats that the will of the People should trump the corruption and deal making that history will characterize this awful bill.
Please take 10 minutes and contact these key Senators. Do not provide your consent by remaining silent. Let the John Galt within all of us find his voice.
Saturday December 19th, 2009 could someday be regarded as one of the most profound inflection points in American history. Against a back-drop of an equally larger-than-life blizzard, the Senate Liberals basked in the hubris of the moment as the risk of a filibuster against the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA) evaporated with the purchase of Senator Ben Nelson's consent.
The Rushmorian cabal of Reid, Dodd, Baucus and Harkins took to the microphone and started telling the history that they have so craved to read. The comments by Christopher Dodd were particularly illustrative: "Today, we stand ready to pass into law a bill that finally makes access to quality health care a right for every American, not a privilege for the fortunate few."
Senator Dodd has redefined the definition of a "right".
Thomas Jefferson and our Founders recognized rights as "unalienable". Rights can not be taken away or given away by the possessor of those rights. Rights are NOT privileges that the government bestows upon the People. However, Senator Dodd states that the health care legislation that the Senate is cramming down the throats of Americans, against the will of most Americans, bestows a "right" upon Americans that were not there before.
Senator Dodd believes that he and his Senate colleagues have created "rights" for Americans. Given that our Declaration of Independence stated that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.", how does Senator Dodd reconcile his belief as to the origin of rights with that of our Founders?
In his 1954 book, The Income Tax: The Root of all Evil, Frank Chodorov wrote, "The axiom of socialism is that the individual has no inherent rights. The privileges and prerogatives that the individual enjoys are grants from society, acting through its management committee, the government. That is the condition the individual must accept for the benefit of being a member of society. Hence, the socialists (including many who do not so name themselves) reject the statement of rights in the Declaration of Independence, calling it a fiction of the eighteenth century"
Given that the Liberal Senator from Connecticut presumes to be providing Americans a new "right" and that a "right", according to Jefferson, is endowed by one's Creator, what conclusion might one reasonably reach regarding Senator Dodd's opinion of himself? Correct! He and his colleagues are on the same plane as our Creator... or that "rights" are to be bestowed by government upon the people (and not the other way around, as the Founders intended).
The madness of Dodd's assertion that the cost to recover one's health is to be borne by another is a "right" is furthered by an understanding as to why our Founders documented the Bill of Rights. Every right listed in the Bill of Rights was a defense of individual freedom against the abuse of power by the government. Senator Dodd would have us believe that rogue health insurers are the villains in this story - a classic example of cynical projection. The only risk to any person's freedom is the government. Our Founders had a much healthier fear of the risk to our freedoms by government than do Americans of the 21st century. This is unfortunate and dangerous.
A "right" is not and never has been a legal claim on another person...until Senator Dodd so ordained it. Senator Dodd says, "This bill frees Americans from the fear that if they lose their job, they’ll never find insurance coverage again. This bill frees Americans from the fear that if they get sick they won’t be able to afford the treatment they need. This bill frees Americans from the fear that one illness, one accident, could cost them everything – their home, their life savings, everything."
What he means is, Americans now have a right to claim the product / service produced by other Americans ...as much as often as one wants...regardless of the decisions that one makes that influence the cost of that product / service...and to have somebody else pay for it. Dodd has redefined a "right" as a claim on another human being.
In this Dodd model, two people have their inalienable right to their pursuit of happiness impaired - the health care provider who will be paid less for his / her services than a free market would allow and the taxpayer who will now need to pay not for not only his / her own health insurance but for the health insurance of someone who now has a "right" to it. Upon what moral principle does Dodd make this unconscionable assertion?
None. There is no moral principle underpinning the assertion by Senator Dodd that any human being has a right, enforceable by the unrestrained power of the government, to put a claim on the services of another. Such a condition is rightfully to be regarded as the 21st century version of slavery. Already, those of us who actually pay Federal Income taxes (a shrinking minority) labor until April - May of each year just in order to pay the menu of taxes thrust upon us. With this new "right" we will work longer and longer into the year before we can claim that which we have earned.
It is illustrative to re-read the short essay by William Graham Sumner, The Forgotten Man, which was the basis of Amity Shales' best seller of the same name.
The type and formula of most schemes of philanthropy or humanitarianism is this: A and B put their heads together to decide what C shall be made to do for D. The radical vice of all these schemes, from a sociological point of view, is that C is not allowed a voice in the matter, and his position, character, and interests, as well as the ultimate effects on society through C's interests, are entirely overlooked. I call C the Forgotten Man.
For once let us look him up and consider his case, for the characteristic of all social doctors is, that they fix their minds on some man or group of men whose case appeals to the sympathies and the imagination, and they plan remedies addressed to the particular trouble; they do not understand that all the parts of society hold together, and that forces which are set in action act and react throughout the whole organism, until an equilibrium is produced by a re-adjustment of all interests and rights.
They therefore ignore entirely the source from which they must draw all the energy which they employ in their remedies, and they ignore all the effects on other members of society than the ones they have in view.
They are always under the dominion of the superstition of government, and, forgetting that a government produces nothing at all, they leave out of sight the first fact to be remembered in all social discussion - that the State cannot get a cent for any man without taking it from some other man, and this latter must be a man who has produced and saved it. This latter is the Forgotten Man.
It is tragic that bad things happen to good people every single day in the world. People lose their job, then their health insurance, then a medical calamity befalls them and they are ruined. What heartless villian would stand in the way of remedying such a condition?
The fact is, at its root, this scenario is possible only because of the over-reach of government into our lives. Rationale people, operating in a free market, would never face the kind of disasters highlighted by the Democrats as the reason for further over-reach of the government. The intentions of government officials are often good, but government is utterly incapable of righting the ills of the world without creating greater ills by so doing. Government has never understood the Law of Unintended Consequences.
Why is health insurance tied to one's job? Government policy dating back to WWII.
Why are health insurance premiums so expensive? Because the government forbids the sale of health insurance across state lines and demands "cadillac" plans regardless of what the insured wishes to buy.
Why do doctors run so many tests that are now vilified by the Left as 'wasteful'? Because doctors are afraid of being sued, due to inadequate tort laws.
The root of our health care problems in this nation IS the government.
Once we accept that "rights" are privileges to be bestowed by our public servants upon those whom our servants favor, then there is no limit to the risk to our freedom.
Just when Americans thought the political corruption attending the power grab by radical liberals, enabled by their useful idiots, could not become more blatant and offensive to our Founding principles following the Louisiana Purchase of Senator Mary Landrieu, Senator Harry Reid showed yesterday that there is no limit to the fraud that liberals will perpetrate to seize and hold power.
Reid bought off Senator Landrieu with a $300 million bribe on November 20th, enabling the Senate health care bill to stay alive. Yesterday, he bought off, writ large, Senator Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska), in, perhaps, the most blatant and transparent display of public bribery.
Senator Nelson had made a presumably principled-stand against the liberal bill by refusing to provide his consent to a bill that provided federal funding for abortion. Given his previous position in the highly-charged abortion issue, on the surface, this push-back appeared reasonable. Unless the language in the bill was strengthened to prohibit federal funding for abortion, Senator Reid would not get the 60th vote he needed for cloture from Senator Nelson. Or so the narrative read...
In reality, what was really happening was classic back-room corruption but on a level never seen before. Harry Reid bought off Senator Nelson’s vote, not with the stronger language against federal funding of abortion that Senator Nelson claimed as the foundation of his principled opposition, but with a Medicaid bribe for the state of Nebraska that makes the $300 million bribery of Senator Landrieu look small-time. In return for his nod, Senator Nelson will have taxpayers in every other state pay Nebraska's share of Medicaid expenses... forever.
What makes the bribery of Senator Nelson so transparent is that the language regarding federal funding in the most recent bill is weaker than before Nelson made his “principled” stand. The hypocrisy and vile corruption is so utterly transparent.
As House Minority Leader Boehner writes in a 12/19 posting, "...the Senate democrats' health care bill would require a monthly abortion fee paid by all tax-paying Americans. "... there is no prohibition on abortion coverage in federally subsidized plans participating in the Exchange. Instead the amendment includes layers of accounting gimmicks that demand that plans participating in the Exchange or the new government-run plan that will be managed by the Office of Personnel Management must establish “allocation accounts” when elective abortion is a covered benefit (p. 41). Everyone enrolled in these plans must pay a monthly abortion premium (p. 41, lines 5-8), and these funds will be used to pay for the elective abortion services. The Reid amendment directs insurance companies to assess the cost of elective abortion coverage (p. 43), and charge a minimum of $1 per enrollee per month (p. 43, lines 20-22). In short, the Reid bill continues to defy the will of the American people and contradict longstanding federal policy by providing federal subsidies to private health plans that cover elective abortions. The new language does include a “state opt-out” provision if a state passes a law to prohibit insurance coverage of abortion, but it’s a sham because it does nothing to prevent one state’s tax dollars from paying for elective abortions in other states.
President Obama has promised transparency. We have it. President Obama has promised that the Health Care reform he has pushed will not raise taxes on the middle class or increase the deficit by "one dime". He is correct, It will raise taxes on the middle class and increase the deficit by a gazillion dimes.
Thank you very much for your e-mail wishing me, and my family, a Happy Thanksgiving. I would like to extend the same wish to you and your family.
Many families across our Granite State are struggling this Thanksgiving. As we sit with family and friends to give thanks for all of the good things in our lives and to remember the sacrifices of all of our countrymen serving our great nation, it is fitting that we reflect on the reasons for the suffering felt across New Hampshire and the country in general. More importantly, it is fitting that we reflect on what we can do, together, to reduce the damage being done to many American lives and livelihoods.
The policies pushed by the current administration (and those of the previous administration, too, in fairness) have done damage to America and I respectfully request you to consider your contribution to that damage.
We sent you to Washington, not to solve our problems, but to protect our freedoms. Respectfully, in this regard you have failed the people of the Granite State’s 2nd District by supporting a radical agenda of government growth that threatens the very viability of our great nation. More taxes means less freedom. Government mandates mean less freedom.
• We have seen a $787 billion “stimulus” package that has not, cannot and will not create sustainable private-sector jobs because the “stimulus” is based on the flawed premise that the government can create jobs. The Democrat leadership has vilified the proven strategy of trickle-down wealth creation and chosen a policy of trickle-up poverty by using the force of law to remove capital from our most productive Americans to give to our least productive Americans. Such a policy of “wealth spreading” is not sustainable.
• We have seen an unemployment rate reach 10.2%. We are suffering this waste of the productive brilliance of Americans because of the uncertainty that this government has created in the minds of our small business owners, who, we all know, are the engine of sustainable job growth. Small business owners don’t know what the future holds because of the uncertainty caused by the government’s inexorably relentless crusade in social engineering (cap & trade taxes, health care taxes and mandates, expiring Bush tax rates, Cash for Clunkers, Homebuyers’ tax credit and on and on). Until this uncertainty is reduced, businesses won’t risk hiring. Ask your constituents, as they will tell you.
• We have seen a Cap & Trade bill pass the House that would further erode America’s competitive position in the international marketplace for no apparent gain. The revelation this past week of a system of corruption among the “scientists” pushing the radical climate change agenda should cause all rational thinkers to give pause to any legislation along these lines.
• We have seen a president unhesitatingly apologize for America in front of world leaders only to return from Asia, scolded in disbelief by the Chinese who, appear to have a better understanding of capitalism and its virtues, than does our president.
Please, at this time of Thanksgiving, give pause to what you wish your legacy to be among your fellow Granite Staters.
I would ask that you advocate:
1. Return of unspent “stimulus” money to the Treasury. No more slush fund for pet projects. That’s not how our government is supposed to work.
2. Reject the current Health Care bills in all forms and incarnations and start over. Frame the solution by the principles of a just and proper government (one that protects freedom) rather than the wealth-spreading colossus the deliberations upon which we Americans are watching in horror. No one will blame you if you change your position. No one will call you a “flip-flopper”. Reject the current Health Care approach of Reid & Pelosi and your NH constituents will elect you year after year.
3. Help create the environment for sustainable job growth by adding stability to the political landscape. Stop tinkering. Lower payroll taxes and personal income taxes and sit back and watch what unfettered Americans can do.
4. Support an investigation into the fraudulent “data” that is the lynchpin of the climate change crusade and the self-destructive Cap & Trade bill. Send an email to your constituents stating that in light of the new evidence, that you can no longer support Cap & Trade until a full investigation has been conducted.
5. Stop the spending. Please. For the sake of all Americans, please stop the spending, even if you think the cause is worthy. Please.
6. Support the audit of the Federal Reserve. The dollars you allow the Fed to print on a 24-7 basis aren’t real to politicians, but they are real to us. A dollar used to represent a claim on the BEST that any of us could produce. Currency was once our sacred bond to each other as a store of the value that we created through our hard work and risk taking. Congress has devalued that sacred bond by turning the greenback into the laughingstock of the world. No country has ever devalued its way to prosperity, yet this seems to be the course set by this Administration, the pathetic claims to the contrary by Secretary Geithner notwithstanding.
I understand your request that we all give of ourselves during this holiday season to help those in need. But sir, respectfully, this government has already established the framework to take, at the point of a gun, a larger portion of what I have earned and give to whomever our public servants have deemed in “need” than ever before in modern history. High taxes and government mandates are inconsistent with Freedom. You’ll forgive me if reject your plea for further sacrificial offerings until such time as you address the concerns that I have presented to you.
Again, I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving; I look forward to hearing from you soon. I would enjoy an opportunity to speak with you for a few minutes the next time you are in the Nashua area.
President Obama's weekly address to the nation today focused on creating the link between reducing health care cost and growing jobs in small businesses.
"I hear about it from small business owners who want to grow their companies and hire more people, but they can't, because they can barely afford to insure the employees they have."
If this is the problem - that is, it's costing too much for small businesses to provide health insurance to their employees - then is not the solution the de-linking of health insurance from the employment process? I don't buy my auto insurance from my employer so why should I continue buying my health insurance from my employer? Why doesn't President Obama and the Democrat leadership come out and say, "Effective Jan 1, 2012, all tax breaks to companies based on the cost to ensure their employees will expire; States are forbidden to add any mandates to health insurance policies that infringe upon every American's right to buy the right health insurance, across all state lines, in accordance with Article I Section 8; Meaningful tort reform will be enacted."
Imagine that glorious day when we are unfettered in our ability to buy the health insurance that is right for each of us; to take it with us as we change jobs; to be an active participant in the market-based process for reducing cost; for seeing billions and billions of our tax dollars returned to us as we shrink the Health and Human Services department; when we realize that we are free, in this one important part of our lives, from the meddling and corruption of government; when we taste freedom again.
Unless WE THE PEOPLE demand the de-linking of health insurance from the terms of employment we will never get this millstone of rising health costs from around our necks. However, liberal democrats don't want to touch the third rail of employer-provided health care because union members typically have the best health insurance in the country.
Employers don't want to lose this tax break because more of the compensation they provide to their employees will be in direct pay as opposed to indirect health care (fringe) benefits. Because future pension payments at many companies are based on direct compensation, businesses would face higher pension costs if they were forced to stop providing tax-deductible health insurance to their employees. Also, businesses know that employees are willing to suffer more in a dead-end job that has health insurance than make the jump to a new venture that may not have health insurance. In this way, many people feel trapped in their current jobs and employers would just as soon not see a higher turn-over rate at their companies.
So, who wins if we move to transportable, individual-purchased, "right sized", boundary-less health insurance? Well, WE THE PEOPLE, do.
We will get government out of our lives; we will be able to buy a policy that fits where we are in our lives; we won't be chained to a dead-end job for fear of losing our health insurance; we will eliminate a raging river of corruption by getting government bureaucrats out of the health care delivery system; we will regain our sovereignty.
Below is the letter I wrote to President Obama asking him to consider an alternative solution to the problems he discussed in this week's address:
Dear President Obama,
I listened to your weekly address today (10/3) and share your concern about the impact of rising health insurance cost to the prime generator of jobs in this country - our small businesses.
The solution to the problems that you so clearly articulated is right before us, if we are willing to compromise with a spirit of civility and seriousness of purpose. If the cost to small businesses is too high to ensure their employees' health, then de-link health insurance from business and make the purchase of health insurance similar to the purchase of auto insurance or home owners insurance.
Eliminate all federal laws that give business tax breaks to ensure their employees and establish, instead, an environment in which all Americans can buy the health insurance policy that is best for them.
Encourage Congress to employee the Commerce clause to rid the process of purchasing health insurance by individuals of cost-driving mandates that vary state-by-state. Just as our Founders recognized the benefits of having interstate commerce unfettered by the whims of the several States, we see clearly that the local mandates have made the purchase of health insurance far more difficult and costly than it needs to be.
Establish an environment in which a young, healthy American is not required to pay for ridiculous coverage that he /she does not want. Establish an environment in which a person’s health insurance is as transportable as their auto insurance as people change jobs and pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. Create an environment in which small businesses can focus on growing their business and not shopping for health insurance in the arcane labyrinth that our government has created with simple health insurance.
This vision can be realized and your place in history as one of our greatest presidents can be guaranteed if only you see this obvious solution - to de-link health insurance from businesses - and act with the boldness and passion that is within you. De-linking health insurance from business, implementing meaningful tort reform and creating a safety net for those among us who can’t pay for the maintenance of their own health – simple acts, really, will guarantee you re-election in 2012.
Allow Americans the choice - without government mandates or even "nudges" - and marvel at our ability to create wealth for the benefit of all Americans. However, should you cling to the notion that a bigger government involvement in health insurance will unleash America's great capacity, then you are, respectfully, quite mistaken and the damage in Nov 2010 and Nov 2012 will be monumental. I fear you will be regarded by history as the victim of the tyranny of circumstances.
We have given you the power to lead America, but not to ruin us. Please, reflect on my words in the civil manner in which they are presented. I look forward to hearing from you.
Best Regards -
Craig Powers Hudson, New Hampshire
PS – Thomas Jefferson suffered the same “tyranny of circumstances” that you face now. He rose to the challenges of the office, set aside the bitter acrimony of the partisanship that characterized the election of 1800, and laid the foundation of America’s future greatness. Please, President Obama, put aside the partisan jabs at those of us who see a different solution to our common problem and listen to us as you have asked us to listen to you.
Well, I'm gearing-up for the historic march on DC on Saturday 9/12 by hundreds of thousands of freedom loving Americans. We are going to show our public servants that they have abused the power that we, the Sovereign People, have loaned them, and that we intend to recall that power. We intend to concentrate an overwhelming force of informed, educated Americans on the front lawn of our amazing nation and let those rogue servants who sit upon the hill and arrogantly gaze down upon us that their time is up.
I implore all informed patriots to put aside the events of the day - moving the lawn, going to Becky's soccer game, doing the grocery shopping.... and get in your car and drive. Drive to Washington and be part of history.
I am leaving Hudson, NH around 8:00 pm on 9/11 and will drive all night, park my car at the Largo Town Center station on the Metro line Blue Line and will be on the mall by 7:45 am.
Honestly, for one day, is there anything more important than our freedom and that of our children? If you don't think that our very freedom is in the dock right now, put away the iPod, tune out American Idol and wake up.
The prescience and wisdom of President Ronald Reagan unfolds anew in our current time of self-inflicted crisis. What I would give to see Obama and his clan sitting at the dinner table with the vibrant Ronald Reagan as seen and heard below taking them to task. "America is Freedom..."
This is a "must listen" from Ronald Reagan back in 1961...
What else do you need to hear from Obama to know that he and his clan are lying to Americans about health care. Just remember, a National Health Care plan is a means, not an end in Obama's mind. His goal is to use the weapon of health care to further emasculate this good country's producers and make all of us wards of the state, grateful for the table scraps that our "servants" toss our way.
Only in the twisted, immoral mind of a socialist does any of this make sense...
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 29% of the nation's voters now Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty percent (40%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11. That’s the first time his ratings have reached double digits in negative territory (see trends).
Interesting.... 29% of voters strongly approve of the way that President Obama is performing his role as President and, coincidentally, 29% of voters trust President Obama's judgement on economic issues more than their own. Imagine that - 29% of voters trust big Government more regarding economic issues than they do their own judgement. However alarming as these numbers are, the good news for freedom-loving Americans is that this trend is moving inexorably against Obama. 10% of voters changed there mind since February and now trust their own economic judgement more than that of Obama. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Washington’s got another bright idea that most Americans don’t like.
Just 18% of adults think it’s the government’s job to tell Americans what kind of light bulb they use, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Seventy-two percent (72%) say it’s none of the government’s business, and 10% are not sure. [Read that again...18% think it is the government's business to tell Americans what kind of light bulbs to use and 10% aren't sure if light bulb selection and regulation is a proper role of government...28%... hmmm...another trend]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Kedrosky reported on 7/24 "According to the latest data, the number of vacant U.S. homes touched 18.7-million in the second quarter. That is a daunting figure, of course, but it is more fun to put it in context. Assuming four people per household, the U.S. currently has enough surplus housing to put the entire population of the U.K., with room left over for Israel." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The day after our Orator-in-Chief took to the teleprompter to address America in prime time, presumably to convince Americans, with the use of nothing more than broad-brush, campaign-stump, class-warfare-based generalities, that we NEED to push forward his radical change to our health care delivery system, the Senate Majority leader announced that the Senate would not vote on a health care bill prior to the August Congressional recess, the arbitrary date set by Obama.
The coalition of House Blue Dog Democrats, not Republicans, is standing in the way of Pelosi's effort to cram through H.R. 3200 before the break. Democrats standing in the way of Democrats. Republicans are saying, "So you don't want our help crafting an acceptable bill? OK, then put your idea to a vote. Democrats own a 79 seat advantage in the House, right?"
Advertised as one of three-pillars (Education, Energy and Health Care) of his liberal agenda, reducing the cost of health care was a "must win" for the Obamaniacs. Unfortunately for the liberals, when the non-Kool-Aid drinking adult supervision of the CBO was asked to report to the American people what the cost impact of H.R. 3200 would be, well, let's just say the result was a little deflating for Team Socialism.
As Peggy Noonan stated in her "Common Sense May Sink Obama Care" piece in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, "Resistance to the Democrat health-care plans is in the air, showing up more on YouTube than in the polls, but it will be in the polls soon enough." Obama cares mightily about his polls numbers...no wonder he's cramming every piece of the Liberal agenda from the last 30 years through Congress during his honey-moon period. When his numbers at the polls begin to tank (which is already happening) his political capital will vaporize before his eyes.
Supposedly our post-racial President is anything but that and he knows this week that he is being called on that claim by the American people. During the press conference on Wednesday, Obama stated, "Well, I should say at the outset that 'Skip' Gates is a friend so I may be a little biased here. I don't know all the facts....Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that, but I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge Police acted stupidly...number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionally." The fall-out has been deliciously direct and unambiguous from the American people. We're not buying it the racial BS. When the audio tapes are released showing how disrespectful and disruptive Mr. Gates was to the public servants who were trying to do nothing but protect him and his property, Obama's comments are going to be seen as those of a complete racist jack-ass, the "beer-summit" notwithstanding.
So. now, Our Blessed Leader finds himself with a terrible Health Care Bill found in the toxic waste dump called H.R. 3200 and everyday common Americans (unlike Congressmen) are putting aside the other demands of the day to read this awful and dangerous bill to measure the chains that we will all wear should this bill be passed site-unseen (like the $787 billion second stimulus package in February)
If you view this bill on OpenCongress, you'll see the bill has been viewed 18,995 times (and counting fast) with 90% of people "casting a vote" on this bill voting "thumbs down". The message here is that people who take the time to read the bill hate it. But this is as we would expect. Liberals view the world as they would have it and don't bother reading the bill. Conservatives view the world as it is and pore over ever word. Liberals cannot be bothered with details when they prefer platitudes. Conservatives view ANY 1,017 page bill as a potential risk to our freedom. --------------------------------------------------------- So, what can you find in this bill?
While tort reform is soooo desperately needed, if the goal is, truly, to drive cost out of the health care delivery system, the words "tort" and "lawyer" appear nowhere in the 1,017 page bill. In fact, the word "malpractice" appears as often (once - page 263) as does the phrase "mentally retarded" (page 389). [Note: The term "mentally retarded" has not been in used in serious health care discussion in a generation. Care to guess how old the working papers are from which the monstrosity called H.R. 3200 are?]
The word "minority" appears on 11 different pages, like on pages 883 - 884, where we read "In awarding grants and contracts... the Secretary shall give preference to entities that have a demonstrated record of training...individuals who are from underrepresented minority groups or disadvantaged backgrounds..." Yup. H.R. 3200 perpetuates the picking and choosing of winners and losers based on race.
The words "insure" or "insurance" appear on 146 pages. Under Title I "Protections and Standards for Qualified Health Benefits Plans" (starts on page 14), we read "On or after the first day of Y1, a health benefits plan shall not be a qualified health benefits plan under this division unless the plan meets the applicable requirements of the following subtitles for the type of plan and plan year involved..." On page 19 we read, "A qualified health benefits plan may not impose any pre-existing condition exclusion or otherwise impose any limit or condition on the coverage under the plan with respect to an individual or dependent based on any health status related factors..."
So, if you like the health care package you have, then you can keep it? Right? Wrong. If your current health care package doesn't meet the new standards to be set by H.R. 3200 then that policy will no longer be adequate. The government will continue to ratchet-up the requirements for private health insurance coverage so as to drive private health insurance from the market. Furthermore, the price that a health care insurer charges for premiums must be the same for a 40-year old, overweight, smoker and drinker as it is for a 25 year old healthy person. On its face, does this make sense? Who do you think picks up the difference? The government's moral standard here is to punish people who make good decisions about their health.
The word "regulation" appears on 71 pages. For example, on page 651 we read, "Effective on January 1, 20011...the provisions of this section shall preempt any law or regulation of a State..."
The words "freedom" and "liberty" appear nowhere in the bill.
On page 936, we read "The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, shall establish a permanent task force to be known as the Task Force on Clinical Preventive Services". Among the far reaching power of this unelected Task Force include "review the scientific evidence related to the benefits, effectiveness, appropriateness, and costs of clinical preventative services identified...for the purpose of developing, updating, publishing, and disseminating evidence-based recommendations on the use of such services."
Among the many chilling aspects of this Bill, the creation of this Task Force, scares me the most. Our personal health history information will be shared with the government through this board and this data will serve as the Potemkin village when the government implements its utilitarian, eugenics-based policy of "cost reduction".
Not surprisingly, the word "abortion" appears on no page of H.R. 3200. However, just as the U.S. Constitution never mentioned the word "slavery", the context of H.R. 3200 is as supportive of abortion as the Constitution was of slavery while neither ever mentions the unspeakable by name. The National Right to Life, in a piece published July 16, 2009, states:
H.R. 3200 will result in federally mandated coverage of abortion on demand in virtually all of America's health plans.
Abortion advocacy groups and Barack Obama view "basic" health care as including abortion, and the health care reform bill as the vehicle for expanding access to abortion.
--------------------------------- Summary:
H.R. 3200 is a terrible bill based on a moral standard offensive to most Americans.
Health care is a commodity that first needs to be produced and then delivered. H.R. 3200 pre-supposes an adequate supply of this commodity, though it presumably increases the demand for this commodity by 18% (47 million increase on a base of 253 million people currently covered). Rather than stimulating the creation of this commodity, H.R. 3200, by its overt policy of price-fixing and service refusal, will reduce the quantity of this commodity as current and future doctors and nurses remove their consent to this extortion by exiting the field, refusing to provide care in exchange for anything but cash, or never entering the field to begin with.
"Universal healthcare coverage" does not create access to healthcare as the Liberals would have you believe. Think of the lines at the most popular rides at an amusement park. What would happen to those lines if the amusement park did not charge an admission fee? Now, to add to the analogy, what if the park reduced the time that the ride was operating, to simulate the reduction in the number of qualified doctors and nurses that government-mandated price-fixing will create, by shutting down the ride for 10 minutes every hour? The only way to reduce lines, given the premise of universal access (i.e no admission price to get into the park) is either to deny access to the ride (only people between the ages of 20 and 40 can ride) , reduce the quality of the service (shorten the ride) or ban the ride entirely. Common sense shows that for the reasons universal access doesn't work in amusement parks it won't work in health care.
The government will, under the Trojan Horse of "efficiency", have an unprecedented access to personal medical history of all Americans with or without their permission. Nowhere in the Constitution is such power granted. A law requiring the mandatory disclosure of private medical information to the US Government is inconsistent with the "necessary and proper" clause of Article I Section 8. As such, H.R. 3200 is unconstitutional and should be rejected by Congress, the President and / or the Supreme Court.
Our taxpayers will be required to fund abortions, a condition that is morally unacceptable to a large percentage of Americans. This element of H.R 3200 is so offensive and unforgivable to such a large percentage of voters, that when this aspect of the bill is picked-up in the media and in town halls across the country, every representative voting for this bill will be thrown-out of office in 2010.
For those of you looking for a summer thriller, I encourage you to grab your favorite beach chair, some SP30, a case of Bud and the 1,017 pages of H.R. 3200 which drew its first breath on 7/14/2009 and will hopefully expire before the only permanent damage done is to Obama and his thugs.
Call your Congressman today and tell him / her that, while we need to make some improvements to our health insurance system - improvements that provide less government involvement and more free choice - H.R. 3200 will be the most destructive policy ever enacted in the history of this country...and those that vote for its passage will face a hurricane of opposition in the 2010 elections. It will be an "eye for an aye" in no uncertain terms. Americans from across the country will organize and act and throw-out every representative who chooses to do the bidding of Obama and Pelosi rather than that of the men and woman who sent them to Washington to serve them.
This weekend we will break down Obama's press conference from 7/22 into a "What he said" and "What he meant" analysis... should be fun!
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. Abraham Lincoln
Here's a lovely piece from San Fran Nan from January of this year... the face and sound of the inherent contradiction in the liberal mind. She blames deficits during the Bush years on the 2003 tax cuts... I guess she forgot to look at the data (what liberal ever does? It just gets in the way of their perception of the world as they would have it.)
Deficits are created when spending exceeds income (slow me down if this is too much "Inside Baseball" stuff). So, when Congress goes on a spending spree during the Bush years, the reason for the deficit has NOTHING to do with spending, soooo, it must have been those Bad Bush Tax Cuts.
But what kind of "take" did the Feds grab in terms of taxes following the Bush tax cuts? Well, according to the IRS' "SOI Tax Stats - Internal Revenue Collections and Refunds...Table I" between 2003 and 2007, Federal receipts (corporate income taxes, individual income taxes, employment taxes [OASDHI, FICA, SEICA, etc], Estate and gift taxes and excise taxes) increased by 45% from a post-9/11 low of $1.65 trillion in FY03 to $2.40 trillion in FY07.
So, imagine in 2003 you found yourself making $85K... four years later, you were making $124K...but were up to your arse in debt. Income problem or a spending problem? Exactly. Put the credit card away and start minding your ass(ets).
The deficit problem, Madame Speaker, finds its root in the amount of spending, not in the amount of tax revenue. But because this inconvenient truth contradicts the liberals view of a world that doesn't respond to incentives, liberals spin TBL ("the Big Lie") and blame tax cuts for the deficit wracked up during the 2003 - 2007 Bush years. (As an aside, don't the Bush deficits look, well, bush league, compared to a REAL spending, uhm, "investing" machine like Pelosi, Reid and Obama?)
By the way, for those of you keeping score, if you really, really, really want to soak the rich and get "them" to pay even MORE money in taxes (by creating wealth, creating jobs from which employment taxes can be generated, and growing the economy)then Washington (and states) should lower tax rates, including capital gains taxes, and make a promise not to mess with the tax code for the next two years... and then watch the gusher of cash generated as tax receipts as we grow our country out of this socialist swamp in which we have been dumped...All we ask from our government is to get the hell out of our way and stay out of our way.
Enjoy the twisted, tortured, contradiction-laced lunacy of the women two heart beats from the presidency...
"You have heard it said that this is an age of moral crisis. You have said it yourself, half in fear, half in hope that the words had no meaning. You have cried that man's sins are destroying the world and you have cursed human nature for its unwillingness to practice the virtues you demanded.
"Since virtue, to you, consists of sacrifice, you have demanded more sacrifices at every successive disaster. In the name of a return to morality, you have sacrificed all those evils which you held as the cause of your plight. You have sacrificed justice to mercy. You have sacrificed independence to unity. You have sacrificed reason to faith. You have sacrificed wealth to need. You have sacrificed self-esteem to self-denial. You have sacrificed happiness to duty.
"You have destroyed all that which you held to be evil and achieved all that which you held to be good. Why, then, do you shrink in horror from the sight of the world around you? That world is not the product of your sins, it is the product and the image of your virtues. It is your moral ideal brought into reality in its full and final perfection. You have fought for it, you have dreamed of it, and you wished it..."
-- John Galt in Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
While many of us warned before the 2008 election that our very way of life would come under an irresistible attack should Obama win with control of the Congress, few of us every imagined the sheer audacity of his power grab. As many of us slog our way through the dog days of summer, wondering if the 7.3% run-up in the DJIA this week is a harbinger of good times to come, Obama looks to slice the hamstrings of America with his Health Care Evisceration Act. Should enough Americans fail to act; should enough Americans sit on the sidelines blissfully ignorant of the peril we face; should enough Americans cede the liberty of themselves and their posterity to a smooth-talking liar and to his thugs; should enough Americans not care enough to make a phone call or write a letter or stand in the streets, then no one should shrink in horror at the site that will be America in 2010. It will be nothing more than that which we allowed the Great Charlatan to steal from us.
I found this great video from The Gulch Dispatch. It should come as no surprise that Obama is waging class warfare and will increase the rhetoric of class warfare as his policies fail, as any sane, rational person knows they will. He will blame the "greedy rich" (aka "producers") for all of the ills that his socialist policies have unleashed on Americans. A dispassionate analysis of Obama's policies can only reach the conclusion that Obama is working 24/7 to create a voting majority that pays no taxes, has "no skin in the game", becomes increasing dependent on government hand-outs and is willing to carry the torch and bricks to hurl into the "shop window" of America.
It’s time to take the tea party movement directly to Washington, D.C. Please join thousands of local organizers and grassroots Americans from across the country as we gather in our nation’s capital to deliver a message to the politicians: Enough!
Thursday, 9-10 Morning: Liberty Summit with limited government advocates Afternoon: Grassroots lobbying visits on Capitol Hill Evening: Free time to tour Washington
Friday, 9-11 Morning: September 11th Never Forget Memorial Afternoon: Grassroots leadership training seminars Evening: Dinner Event
Saturday, 9-12 8:00am Set up for stages and volunteers 10:00am Event begins at West Front of the U.S. Capitol 2:00pm March on Washington Begins (details to come)
Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano gave a press conference today that told Americans everything they needed to know about the competence and agenda of the Obamacrats. A stunning display of a person in over her head... excerpts below... here's the link to the full transcript for the regular patrons at Hugh Akston's Diner...
"As President Obama said this morning, swine flu is a cause for concern, but not a cause for alarm." So, let's see if I have this right. Spending gazillions of my money, my children's money and their unborn children's money, to pay off the liberal base, cripple another generation of Americans and turn America into a Commonwealth of Mediocrity is a cause for concern, but not a cause for alarm. Got it. "As I said yesterday, I issued a public health emergency declaration." Wait a minute. Hold on. OK. I've got it. You issued an emergency declaration for which I should be concerned but not alarmed. Damn, this stuff is starting to sound like the opening scene of the next Patton-like movie. Can't ya see it? A big American flag with 51 stars (one for Mexico, of course), our hero, the Secretary of Homeland Security steps forward in her flats, salutes the teleprompter and begins her inspiring speech... "Now, I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by issuing health emergency declarations. And I don't want to get any messages about being alarmed. Leave that to the Mexicans. We are not alarmed - we are concerned. We will scan THEIR heat signatures, ask them how THEY'RE feeling, ask THEM if they need any help cutting through our barbed wire."
Q & A from today's press conference with Secretary Sieve:
Q: "So, how many inbound people have been referred to authorities."
Napolitano: "Don't know yet."
Q: "How does that work? Someone comes to the border inspection person and is coughing or displays some sort of symptom, is there a health professional right there to see them?"
Napolitano: "It depends on which port you are entering.... Generally speaking, they're referred to or put in another room. I don't want to use the word "quarantine" because, technically, it's not a quarantine, but they're put in a separate room.... if it's ascertained that they may, indeed, have the flu, they'll make a decision about whether they can go ahead and enter the country and go to a place to get taken care of or whether they need to go back home."
Yea, right.
Q: "I think, at the next level, at level four, that there are possible....parts of the border could be closed or increased border surveillance of people coming across. Is that something that has been discussed at this point?"
Napolitano: "Well, as I said yesterday, we're already doing passive surveillance at the border. [Editor's note: Probably some of the most passive surveillance in the history of surveillance...] And with respect to closing the border, again, you would close the border if you thought you could contain disease, the spread of disease, but the disease already is in a number of states within the United States, so the containment issues doesn't really pay out."
Q: "You say that it takes about three to four days for the symptoms to show up. So people could come in by air, not know they have it because symptoms haven't shown up, and they'll be able to walk right in? I mean, is there any - any contingency plans for dealing with that? How - you know, how would you - how would you deal with - with something like that?"
Napolitano: "Well, if people are sick and if you have the flu, you believe you have the flu, you have a fever, you have a heavy cough, we're asking people..."
Folks - the liberals keep harping about giving this administration a chance, but how many Americans will die needlessly because Secretary Bumblefutz can't act... she probably spent more time parsing, from the Bill Clinton school of "Is", the arcane subtleties of the difference between 'concern' and 'alarm' and between 'quarantine' and that friggin room over there into which people go in and never come out, than actually clamping down the border and keeping Typhoid Miguel from bringing his whole infected family into our neighborhoods.
Madam Secretary - do the job your are being paid to do. Put the political correctness on the shelf for the week and act. Uphold the Constitution that you swore to defend. Protect the People who have provided you a sliver of our sovereignty to act on our behalf. Do what's right, or get out of the way.
I stumbled onto this one on YouTube.... an absolute riot...
Monday, April 20, 2009
On 1/9/09, Stephen Moore published a piece in the Wall Street Journal entitled, 'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years. I enjoyed Mr. Moore's piece and submitted the following to The Wall Street Journal:
During his 22 November radio broadcast, John Galt states:
“Drifters and physical laborers live and plan by the range of a day. The better the mind, the longer the range. A man whose vision extends to a shanty, might continue to build on your quicksands, to grab a fast profit and run. A man who envisions skyscrapers, will not. Nor will he give ten years of unswerving devotion to the task of inventing a new product, when he knows that gangs of entrenched mediocrity are juggling the laws against him, to tie him, restrict him and force him to fail…”
First the immediate crisis of liquidity in September that required emergency measures to get us through this “temporary” crisis… then the immediate crisis of the viability of the Big Three auto makers that required emergency measures to get us through this “temporary” crisis. Yesterday President-Elect Obama stated :
"I don’t believe it’s too late to change course, but it will be if we don’t take dramatic action as soon as possible… We won’t get out of it by…relying on the worn-out dogmas of the past.
"That is why I have moved quickly to work with my economic team and leaders of both parties on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will immediately jumpstart job creation and long-term growth. It’s a plan that represents not just new policy, but a whole new approach to meeting our most urgent challenges… It is time to finally change the ways of Washington so that we can set a new and better course for America."
Following this prelude, President Elect Obama proceeded to list the “new” spending plans with a promise that this “new” spending plan will be different in that it will “invest in what works”. An utter denial of reality. We are being extorted to deny what we think and know to be true and to believe the unreal. We are being extorted to suspend our reason and have mystic faith in “change”. We are being extorted to trust our lives to the new government.
Imagine, instead, if we heard the following yesterday:
“Stability and consistency of government policy being critical to the establishment of the trust necessary for every American to regain the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the following policies shall be implemented by the incoming Administration:
• “The current tax system, including payroll taxes, and the IRS will be eliminated effective 1 January 2011, replaced by the Fair Tax Act. This act will eliminate the gross distortion in the market caused by the government and will reward production instead of consumption;
• “The sale of Health Insurance will be disconnected from employers and shall be sold in an open market similar to auto insurance, homeowners and life insurance;
• “Pet projects / pork-barrel spending shall be outlawed. No longer will people from Montana have to pay for construction of water slides in Florida.
• “Effective 1 January 2012, the United States will return to the Gold Standard”
Too much of the blame for the current state of economic affairs finds its roots in Washington policy to suggest that more of the same will prove effective. It is a denial of reality that we can “fix” the pain with another dose of government spending morphine in the short term to get us through this “temporary” rough patch. How many more “temporary emergencies”, typically created by government intervention, must we suffer before we realize that we need to take the long view? Or, are we simply incapable or unwilling to take the long view? Are we no longer capable of building skyscrapers?
I wrote the following piece back on 10/26/08, admittedly from a dark vantage, and of course the Nashua Telegraph refused to run it...
Crossing the Rubicon (10/26/08)
In a chilling video I remember seeing several years ago, three young Bosnian men were being summarily executed by Serbians. As the first young man is shot, the correspondent narrates, “Note the equanimity and peace of mind of the boy on the left. He is already dead – and knows it – it’s just that the bullets haven’t passed through his body yet.”
I feel like that young man must have felt as we approach the coming election. Just as the young Bosnian knew his immediate fate, so do I. The election is already over, it’s just that the votes haven’t been cast yet. (Full disclosure – I am a republican, fiscal conservative and was a Romney supporter during the primaries).
On November 5th we will awaken to the realization that the Democrats will be in possession of the White House, the House of Representatives and a filibuster-proof Senate. Within two years it will have a Supreme Court that aligns with the liberal agenda. This unprecedented concentration of unchecked power will have profound and lasting impact on all Americans.
In an email entitled “Reaching 60” on 10/21, Hillary Clinton writes, “Sixty is the magic number. If we reach 60 Democrats in the Senate, then the days of Republican obstruction are over. With Barrack Obama and Joe Biden in the White House and a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish.”
She is correct. There will be no limits on the power of the Federal government until the election of ’10. Not since 1800, when the discredited Federalists were thrown out of office (with the exception of the Judiciary of John Marshall) will we have seen such a sweeping seizure of power in America.
Future historians will regard the Election of ’08 as an inflection point in American history. If, since FDR, we have been on an inexorable journey from one side of the river (capitalism, rugged individualism, personal accountability, upward mobility) to the other (re-allocation of earned wealth based on need), and we find ourselves already on the far side of the river, the Election of ’08 will signal the demolition of the bridges that could have brought us back to the America fought and died for by legions of our ancestors.
Americans will awaken on November 5th having crossed the Rubicon.
The rationale for every policy from November 5th onward will be based on “need”. Those that have a “need” (and can provide support to those in power – quid pro quo) shall be rewarded by the systemic taking and re-allocation from those who have earned this country’s wealth. Hard work and innovation will be rewarded with confiscation and vilification.
The targets in the first year will be the obvious “villains” of the liberals – Wall Street, Big Oil, Big Pharm, Big (fill in the blank). But what Americans have not thought through is what the Government will do when it has wreaked havoc on the biggest producers among us and “still” can’t understand why the country is dysfunctional. It will go after each of us. It will try to make us all into the cripples that are dependent on the government.
When “need” becomes the basis of claims against what we each earn, so long as there is a person who makes $1 less than you, your income is not safe. When Americans realize that THEY are the targets of the government’s next re-allocation scheme, it will be too late. After all, whom do we think will determine “need”? Within four years we will reach the goal of “fairness” that the current mob demands and that Obama seeks (it’s a good thing to spread the wealth around) – we will all be equally miserable and poor (except, of course, for those in Washington).
Yes, we are dead; it’s just that the bullets haven’t passed through us yet… unless we do not provide our consent on Election Day to our very extinction.
One of the reasons I started this blog was the frustration I felt see letter after letter rejected by the local newspapers. So, while some of the next few posts may be dated by a few months, I think there messages are as timely today as the day I pecked them out on my keyboard. Enjoy...
Atlas Shrugged - The Prequel (12/6/08)
For those of you grasping for an understanding of the tumultuous and seemingly contradictory times in which we live as 2008 draws to an end, the answer is much closer than you may be willing to admit.
We are writing the unwritten story that is the prequel to Ayn Rand’s 51-year old apocalyptic epic Atlas Shrugged.
As Rand taught in Atlas Shrugged, contradictions cannot exist. As Rand writes, “A is A”, “A cannot be not-A”. We can claim that ‘A is not-A’ but saying so does not make it true. To claim “A is not-A” is simply a lie – the language of idiots, brutes and tyrants – not the language of free, honest men and women.
The government tells us that if we take money from those who produce the most and give the money to those who produce the least (in other words, the “Stimulus Package” of 2008) then our problems will go away. Of course, as we know, the “Stimulus Package” did not “work”, because of the moral contradiction inherent, but unchallenged, in its premise.
A society does not create wealth through consumption; it creates wealth through production. Our government fed us the unchallenged lie that we can consume our way into prosperity. When in the history of the planet has a society ever consumed its way into prosperity?
The other contradiction in the original stimulus package is the definition of what defines “success”. What was the desired effect of the “Stimulus Package”? To consume our way into prosperity? We know that to be false. No, the true purpose of the “Stimulus Package” was for those in power to take money from a group of people that has few votes and give that ill-taken loot to a group of people that has more votes.
When viewed within this context, there is no contradiction. Our politicians took, at the point of a gun, earned money from those who produce most and gave this unearned loot to those who produce least (or not at all) to buy their votes. There is no other explanation that does not contain a contradiction.
The initial “Stimulus Package” is all the more sinister due to its secondary and tertiary effects. First, the precedent is set that the government possesses the power and moral right to take (at the point of a gun) earned income from one American and give it to another. Obama said, “it’s a good thing to spread the wealth around”.
Less than a year after the first “Stimulus Package” our politicians are tripping over each other to give the money earned by one to anyone with a tin cup (the bigger the tin cup, the better).
Secondly, the government looters demand the fruit of production but vilify those who produce it. Who are the greatest “villains” in the eyes of the government, media, and, I dare say, Americans under the age of 25? Big Oil and Big Pharmacy. We demand oil products and miracle drugs like crack addicts and then crucify the CEO’s of the companies that produce the products we demand most in sham kangaroo courts called Congressional hearings. Do we not see the contradiction here?
The Big Three auto manufactures, with their $34B tin cup, make good cars (and to argue otherwise is immaterial) but do so at a price that Americans have been unwilling to pay.
Congress, this week, entertained placing further demands, at the point of a gun, upon my money to force a purchase of automobiles from Detroit that I refused to buy in the free market. Upon what legal or moral basis do we allow this?
Pelosi, Reid et al will claim that the Big 3 situation represents a potential calamity for all Americans if the Big 3 are allowed to fail. It is a lie. The political class is willing to give my money to the Big 3 in order to pander to the unions and to provide a quid pro quo for political contributions. There is no other conclusion that does not contain a contradiction.
18 months from now, the failed economic policy of wealth re-distribution that we are witnessing today will have only accelerated the destruction of the freedom of honest Americans.
Pockets of violence will crop-up as frustration devolves into despair. A new special police force will be established due to the “temporary emergency conditions” and firearms will be banned “for the public good during these trying times.” High profile cases of “greed” will be brought, not before rump Congressional Hearings but in front of Federal District Courts.
Production levels will drop precipitously as we continue the policy of consumption vs production and continue to vilify those who produce most. We will tax the biggest producers at unheard of levels “due to these temporary emergency conditions” and because the highest producers “don’t need” money nearly as much as the useless.
At least 52% of Americans believe that they are entitled to that which they have not earned. Until we have at least 50% of voting Americans stand up and say, “I am entitled to no more than that which I can produce as valued by those who would pay money for my products”, then there should be no mystery as to where America is headed. Ayn Rand documented that journey in 1957.
Today I mailed a copy of Atlas Shrugged to President Obama, in the hopes that he will realize that we know what he is doing and that he will be held accountable. There is a nationwide campaign (click on the link to the left) to mail copies of Atlas Shrugged to our dear political leaders to let them know that their days in power are numbered if they continue on the perverse, disingenuous course they have set.
The "leaders" of our national government, and many of our state and local governments, are frantically working to cripple America and Americans as soon as possible. After all, cripples will forever be dependent on the table scraps from the national government and will forever be less inclined to vote for any candidate who speaks about individual responsibility, property rights, hard work, fiscal prudence, freedom and liberty.
Just as Ayn Rand taught that there can be no contradictions, it is only within the paradigm of "how can we cripple America before it catches on?" do the actions of the Obamacrats not produce a contradiction.
Spending our way to prosperity... increasing our taxes to stimulate us... respecting private property by taking ownership of private companies...by forcing companies to take federal "assistance" and then telling the companies how to run their businesses...
I am reminded of the wonderful line from Atlas Shrugged utter by Wesley Mouch, but words that very easily could come from the mouths of any Obamacrat: "The (Obama) Plan will reconcile all conflicts. It will protect the property of the rich and give a greater share to the poor. It will cut down the burden of your taxes and provide you with more government benefits. It will lower prices and raise wages. It will give more freedom to the individual and strengthen the bonds of collective obligations. It will combine the efficiency of free enterprise with the generosity of a planned economy."
Ayn Rand wrote those words 52 years ago but we are now hearing them, in some form, everyday from this cynically, corrupt and dangerous administration.
It's time for all us of to Go-Galt.
Below is my letter to President Obama
Dear President Obama:
As a US citizen, I am extremely concerned about the direction in which you and the Congress are leading this country.
The contradictions in your policies with both your campaign promises and with the principles that have made this country so great are deeply disturbing. Many of my constituents here in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, many of whom voted for you last November, have experienced a similar pattern of emotional response to your socialist policies. Hope gave way to wonder which gave way to rationalization, which gave way to disbelief which gave way to anger which has now, finally, given way to action. We will not be enslaved by your ambitious agenda.
The utter disregard you have displayed for private property, the proper role of government and the importance of job creation has not been missed by this nation’s voters. You have not only implemented policies that look to seize the fruits or production (higher taxes on the country’s most productive elements) but, now, with your takeover of AIG and GM (Government Motors) you are seizing the means of production.
Your disregard for the right of the individual to set the direction for his or her own life, and to retain the products of his or her own efforts, is generating a rising tide of resentment among the more productive members of society, which is fermenting into deep discontent, as witnessed by the recent flurry of Tea Party protests across the nation and by the outcry of numerous political commentators.
Banks across the country are desperately trying to give back the TARP money it wants off its books because of the demands your gang are placing upon them – yet you refuse to accept the taxpayer money back. Both Secretary Clinton and Mr. Emanuel displayed “the consciousness of the king” when they stated that they didn’t want to “waste” the opportunity of the current economic crisis. I need no other data to understand your true, socialist, motivations and will actively work to educate my fellow-countrymen to the risk your policies pose to our country.
The nature of our current problems and the consequences of these problems were identified by Ayn Rand in her novel, Atlas Shrugged, and that prophetic novel foretells a bleak future for us all should we continue along our current path. I am enclosing a copy of that book with this letter in the hopes that you will read it, take its message to heart, and that you will ultimately stop the damage that is being done to our country. Should you not “get out of our way” you will forever be known as President “Thompson”.
Today, Our Dear Leader nominated Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius to serve as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
I spent some time crawling around the grand website for the largest-among-large Federal bureaucracies to see what kind of empire she is inheriting.
Some facts that I pulled off of this website:
The mission of the HHS is: To protect the health of all Americans and provide essentialhuman services, especially to those with the greatest need. The Department of Health and Human Services sponsors medical and social science research, approves the use of new drugs and medical devices, manages infectious disease prevention and response programs, administers Medicare, Medicaid and other programs that provide financial assistance and services to low-income families.
The FY2008 budget of $716 billion represented almost a quarter of ALL Federal expenditures. HHS administers more grant dollars than ALL other Federal agencies combined!
The Department of HHS was selected as the 18th best place to work in the US Government in 2007 and employed 52,799 persons in 2006. Assuming that this number did not grow between 2006 and 2008 (haa haa haaah haaa) this means that each highly trained member of the HHS team oversaw over $13 million in hand-outs. No possibility for corruption, graft, waste, fraud with these kinds of numbers...
On the GovBenefits.gov link with the HHS website we find all sorts of quick-links for the growing population of Americans who are living the dream of becoming wards of the state. Let's see..
"GovBenefits.gov is the official benefits website of the U.S. government, with information on over 1,000 benefit and assistance programs." (are you kidding me? Over 1,000? And the site is boasting about this?)
"There's truly something for everyone!" (everyone is entitled to the wealth earned by someone else)
There is a questionnaire that contains the request to document the number of times you have been married (a number 0 - 10). I wonder how many people type "9"?
On question 14, the questionnaire asks to identify your profession and "manufacturing" is not listed, but "practicing artist", "published writer / poet", "federal employee" and "aquaculture operator" do make the list.
Question 39 is a classic: "How much do you earn each month from working?" [I'm sorry, is this to differentiate the money I've made robbing liquor stores or the money I've gotten from other handouts? Apparently this question seeks to understand how much of one's income was actually earned the only way wealth can be earned - through work]
So, I filled out the questionnaire and was presented with a menu of 24 different hand-outs for which I may be qualified. Going on the dole, has never been easier...
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."
--- James Madison, Father of the US Constitution, 1792, in disapproval of Congress appropriating $15,000 to assist some French refugees
As the Obamacrats look to wage no-quarter class warfare on the production of wealth, we read today that Hillary has pledged $300 million in "humanitarian aid" to rebuild the hot-bed of America-haters known as the Gaza Strip and another $600 million to pay-off the Palestinian Authority ($200M of which is to shore up its "budget shortfall!" Budget Shortfall? Yea, the Palestinian Authority is worried about a "budget shortfall". Maybe they will hold a bake sale in one of their rocket manufacturing sites to bridge the gap...)
Given that only half of Americans pay Federal income taxes, those families-of-four, that actually pay taxes, just had their wallets raided for another $24. With all due respect, how in the hell is this kind of commitment consistent with any moral principle?
Message: Work hard, American-suckers, and we're going to take your money and give it to terrorists. How cool is it to be able to take as much money from Person A and give to it to person B and no one can stop you! Note: Despite the fact that $900 million was committed the AP headline mentioned only the $300 million in "humanitarian" aid... I guess the other $600 million wasn't worthy of mention in the headline... love that liberal bias in the press.
Does anyone want to bet against the probability that President Obama will commits hundreds and hundreds of millions dollars to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bail out Eastern Europe (which, it appears Western Europe would just as soon let twist in the wind)? Afterall, the folks from Eastern Europe are in need (the primary justification for confiscating wealth) and none of them are Republicans! :-)
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