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July 30th, 2009Dear Liberty Activist,
Yesterday, Blue Dog Democrats reportedly reached a compromise with House leadership that on the positive side will delay consideration of the legislation until after recess, but on the negative side would still create a government-run public "option" designed to take away your private health options and will only bury the nation in mounds of debt. In other words, it's not a good compromise. Instead, it is merely cosmetic surgery to legislation that should be instead be scrapped altogether. The "compromise" would reportedly only cut $100 billion out of a bill that Kaiser Health News reports would cost more than $1.5 trillion. Which is kind of like removing 6.6 percent of a tumor that is destroying a body. The tumor still remains, slowly poisoning the body. While the Blue Dogs deserve credit for creating an opportunity for you to meet with your representatives over recess before there is a vote that does not justify a vote in favor of this abomination. So, now is the time for you to voice your critical concerns over this government takeover—in person while your Congressman is home! Tomorrow is the last day the House will be in session before it leaves for its August recess, and the first thing on the agenda when they come back will be ObamaCare. That means the first thing on our agenda is meeting with them until they pledge up-and-down on the record that they are voting "no." What members need to know is that this is not a good compromise because it creates another entitlement while nation's other entitlements—Social Security and Medicare—together are already face insolvency with $104 trillion in unfunded liabilities. We need entitlement reform that surgically removes government's role in health care and retirements before the costs complete bankrupt the nation—not an expansion of entitlements that will throw us into a bottomless precipice of debt. Currently, there are 52 members of the Blue Dog Democrats in the House of Representatives, more than enough votes to defeat the proposal should they vote with the 178 member House Republican caucus. And over the coming days, it is they who must be pressured to vote against the bill in spite of the so-called "compromise." Blue Dog Congressman Walter Minnick (ID-CD3) said, "The majority of the Blue Dogs don't think this is the best bill we can get. We want to keep talking to our constituents." He's right, since the best bill in this case would be no bill. Because, in the end, this is not about
helping Blue Dogs and House leadership to reach a compromise, it's
about defeating this legislation. In the end, no government-run health
care is acceptable. And that's the message to the Blue Dogs and to all
members. Click
here for a list of 40 Blue Dogs who signed a letter
against ObamaCare earlier this month, promising not to support a
proposal that was not deficit-neutral. Tell them that expanding a
health care entitlement to tens of millions of Americans will be
unsustainable. The costs of entitlements cannot be
controlled once the marker is set down for who is "entitled" to receive
it. As time goes on, more and more individuals will be added to the
rolls, leaving American taxpayers with a bill that only grows.
Costs will only increase. Therefore, now's the time to turn up heat on your own representatives in the House and in the Senate. Tell them that when they return home, they had better not ignore their constituents! The switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. In today's Liberty Action Report, ObamaCare will simply be a state-run monopoly that cannot possibly keep costs down, a Red Tide is rising in Latin America, and the Fleming Resolution calls for Congress to enroll in the so-called public "option" if they think it's so great. Plus, the Telegraph's Gerald Warner notes that "Barack Obama discovers socialist projects at home and a pro-Marxist foreign policy are making him unpopular." Please send your letters to the editor at Robert@getliberty.org. We publish all points of view! Today, Michael Gibbs writes in part, "Why does no one seem to care that the United States government has no Constitutional authority to implement Obama-care? We argue about whether or not it will work and how much it will cost without pointing out (repeatedly!) that it is illegal. The rule of law in this country begins with the United States Constitution. The Constitution is quite clear about what authority the federal government has and what the source of that authority is." You're absolutely right, Michael. Congress possesses no authority on its face to administer any health care programs, and that should be the end of the discussion. Unfortunately, it clearly has been doing so for decades and nobody challenges it. As the Federal Constitution is the only document that limits the powers of federal government in this country, to extent that Congress exceeds those limits it wrecks the rule of law. Clearly constitutional compliance is a serious issue that extends beyond just the health care debate. It affects monetary policy, entitlements generally, and all sorts of expenditures and regulations. I believe that those compliance issues must be addressed by constructionist judges, and by further limits on the powers of government. We will get there one day. Keep the faith. Limits on the powers of government are the only things standing between our Republic and tyranny. For Liberty, Robert Romano P.S. Believe in constitutional limited
government? Help
us out with a small donation today! Open Source & Copyright Free Obamacare:
Prelude to 'Public Option' When
the Red Tide is Rising and Love is in the Air Editorial:
For Healthcare, Do as They Say, Not as They Do Too
Hot Not To Note: Barack Obama Discovers Socialist Projects at Home and
a Pro-Marxist Foreign Policy are Making Him Unpopular Obamacare: Prelude to 'Public Option'By Howard Rich President Barack Obama says that his health care program will cut costs and give Americans better coverage and more choices. Obviously, these are concepts which should sell extremely well in a country where we place a premium on savings and selection. Of course, the actual substance of Obama's $1.5 trillion socialized medicine plan stands in stark contrast to the capitalist-sounding, fiscally-responsible rhetoric that's being used to promote it - which is probably why Obama is encountering such serious resistance in selling even members of his own party on the plan. Far from expanding individual choices, Obama's proposal is designed specifically to eliminate competition and put one provider in charge of health care – the government. And instead of cutting costs, Obama's plan would force millions of Americans to use the same low-quality government health care options that have spawned the unsustainable growth rates that we're now supposed to be "reducing." In other words, if "Obamacare" passes, costs would go up, choice would be eliminated and coverage would diminish – which is ironically the opposite of everything Obama claims his plan would accomplish. Sadly, Obama and his supporters are ignoring literally dozens of common sense reforms in their effort to impose government's flawed, demonstrably ineffective philosophy on the rest of the health care industry. Rather than pushing for private, portable health savings accounts (while simultaneously combating fraud, cutting administrative costs and reforming eligibility in Medicaid), Obama instead wants to put the failed government model of high costs, zero accountability and rampant administrative inefficiency in control of everything. Of course, Obama is much too politically astute to simply hand over the nation's health care system to government bureaucrats, which is why his plan creates an intermediate step – a so-called "exchange" system where consumers are driven to lower-quality government care by artificially-established premiums at both ends of the spectrum. All this does, however, is delay the inevitable, as government simply manipulates the market to create artificially-high premiums for private plans and artificially-low premiums for its own offerings. The end result of all this so-called "choice?" According to a recent study by the Cato Institute, Obama's plan would "reduce competition by driving lower-cost private health plans out of business." "President Obama's vision of a health insurance exchange is not a market, but a prelude to a government takeover of the health care sector," the report continues. "In the process, millions of Americans would be ousted from their existing health plans." Additionally, the tax hike that is supposed to pay for $540 billion of Obama's "cost-saving" plan will itself cost an estimated 4.7 million jobs, according to a recent report by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB). How, exactly, would these massive layoffs reduce the cost of coverage, to say nothing of assisting in our nation's "economic recovery?" Ask yourself honestly - when was the last time a monopoly wound up cutting costs? Or producing a better product or service? And when was the last time you can remember government running a business better or more efficiently than the private sector? Given these concerns, the "socialized medicine" stigma is one that Obamacare backers are desperately seeking to avoid. In fact, just last week a Texas Congressman was prohibited from using the term "government-run health care" as he attempted to advise his constituents of a telephone town hall meeting on the proposal. Congressional leaders informed him that "public option health plan" was the term he must use. Far from creating options, though, "Obamacare" is truly socialized medicine at its worst – a manipulative effort to get rid of choice in the marketplace and exert government control over yet another facet of our daily lives. Passing it will only make our nation's health care problems exponentially worse. Howie Rich is the Chairman of Americans for Limited Government. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1419 When the Red Tide is Rising and Love is in the AirBy Carter Clews Make no mistake about it: Barack Obama is a doctrinaire Marxist. Always has been. Is now. Will be until the day he dies. And, now, he is absolutely determined to defend at all costs – including the Monroe Doctrine, the Kennedy Corollary, and the most basic freedoms of the Latin American people – the few remaining Marxists worldwide who still share his zeal for flying the red flag of that discredited dogma. Hence, just yesterday, the Obama State Department revoked the diplomatic visas of "individuals who are members of the de facto regime in Honduras." To the rest of the world, that "de facto regime" is the courts, legislature, and 70% of the Honduran people. They're the ones who invoked Section 239 of the Honduran Constitution to remove Marxist despot Manuel Zelaya from the presidency he was seeking to turn into a Chavez-style dictatorship. But, apparently, abiding by such constitutional safeguards is "above the pay grade" of the former law-school-instructor-turned-president who spent his days behind the podium extolling the virtues of Communist Party member W.E.B DuBois. Here's how the highly respected author, broadcaster, and columnist for the London Telegraph summed up the situation in Honduras – and Barack Obama's love affair with Marxist crackpots: "Zelaya's return is being demanded by Chavez, Nicaraguan Sandinista president Daniel Ortega and Evo Morales, president of Bolivia. These hoods are the Latin American chapter of the Axis of Evil, but Washington loves them". Now, lest anyone doubt that Barack Obama's ultimate goal is a total Marxist takeover throughout Latin America, let's look at the record since he brought his Red Tide Rising act to the Oval Office:
So, is there anywhere in Latin America where Barack Obama is actually opposing a Big Government power grab? Well, yes, in Colombia. At the White House on June 30, Mr. Obama told Colombia's Alvaro Uribe point blank not to gut that country's term limits law and run for re-election. Of course, Mr. Uribe, perhaps not so coincidentally, is adamantly anti-communist. So, there we have it: throughout Latin America, a Red Tide is rising. And on the banks of the Potomac, where, in the words of the London Telegraph headline, "Barack Obama discovers socialist projects at home and a pro-Marxist foreign policy," red-starry-eyed love is in the air. Carter Clews is the Executive Director of ALG News. http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=1418 Editorial:
For Healthcare, Do as They Say, Not as They Do
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It's going to be a long summer for the House
of Representatives.
