Decline of the Republic

The House passage of the "comprehensive" health care bill is being hailed by Democrats, liberals and the media (there I go, repeating myself again) as an historic event in American history.  They are right, but not quite in the sense they mean it.  It is an historic event alright, but only because we have just witnessed the shredding of our Constitution, the imposition of authoritarian rule and the beginning of the decline of the Republic.

Silly me.  I thought that the powers of the federal government were supposed to be "few and defined" and that any powers not specifically enumerated in the Constitution as belonging to the federal government were to be reserved to the states.  Now admittedly, this has not stopped either Democrats or Republicans in the past from imposing  unconstitutional legislation on the nation, but never in our history has congress expanded the reach of government into the lives of its citizens to this extent against the clear will of those citizens.  The arrogance of a government takeover of  health care,which is opposed by 75% of the electorate who had let congress know in no uncertain terms that they wanted no part of this legislation, is just beyond comprehension.  I guess Rep. Alcee Hastings summed it up when he said, " There are no rules, we make them up as we go along".

That there is something wrong here is evident in the fact that it took tremendous pressure, maneuvering, and deal making  by Obama, Reid and Pelosi  in order to convince members of their own party to vote for this monstrosity.   No one in congress, the administration or the media knows all of the specifics that this 2000+ page monstrosity contains because they haven't read the thing.  As Nancy Pelosi pleaded, "We must pass this in order to find out what is in it".  Say what?

We do know some of what is in it and it is not good.  For the first time in the history, the government will have the power to tax someone for not buying a product, in this case health insurance.  The Dems are calling it a fine, but it is really a tax, because this regulation will be enforced by our friendly IRS and can result in taxes up to 2.5% of a persons income for failure to comply.  If a citizen goes without health care for a month, he will be forced to pay a one twelfth of the tax.  Imagine that the government told you that you had to own an automobile and imposed a tax on you if you refused to do so.

Regardless of how Obama tries to spin it, this bill is going to drive up insurance premiums, require an increase of $570 million in taxes  (and those taxes won't just be on the "rich"), transfer the millions of private doctor/patient decisions in to the hands of government bureaucrats and lower the quality of health care for everyone.  All this without lowering the cost of health care one cent. 

The provision that those with pre-existing conditions are entitled to purchase health care on the open market and not from a high risk pool is madness.  (Why can't I wait until I have a wreck to buy auto insurance?)  The inevitable result of the "pre-existing" provision  will be to drive insurance companies out of business and force everyone into a government run health plan which has been the end game all along.  Once under government control, the only outcome will be  longer waits for treatment and  rationing of health care by government panels.  Exactly what the Canadians have now.  Which brings up the question, "Now where are they going to go for medical care"?

There is no way that the country can afford this.  We are already $1.5 trillion dollars in debt and now we are going to add another $940 billion to that?  China is already balking at further lending and if they refuse to buy any more of our debt, the only solution is to print money, which the government is already doing.  This will lead to hyper inflation, driving up the cost of goods and services and once again putting health care out of the reach of those phantom 33 millions Americans who can't afford it now.  Folks, we are headed straight for third world nation status. 

One thing is certain, Americans should not be surprised at this.  Obama promised change and this is the type of change he was talking about.  Anyone who looked beyond the manner of speech to the actual content in his campaign would have known that he is a socialist.  When he told "Joe the plumber" that he was going to spread the wealth, that should have sent off alarms nationwide, but all it did was produce a collective yawn from the media and Americans.

I have to give the Democrats credit.  They were smart enough to ensure that the pain this bill is going to cause will not take effect until after the November elections with most of it not kicking in until after the elections in 2012.  What they are hoping is that it will have been the law of the land long enough with no adverse consequences and have become so entrenched that citizens will  view government provided universal health care as a right.

The bottom line is that we have now wrecked what was the best health care system in the world for 90% of the population in order to accommodate the other 10%.  The Democrats don't really care, because this whole deal isn't really about health care, it is about expanding the power of the federal government and basically changing our form of government.  Obama has gone on record as saying that he thinks the Constitution limits government too much and that the Founders never intended to lock us into one form of government.

I can see only two solutions to this.  First, remember who voted for this in November, vote them out and try to repeal this mess.  Secondly, don't get sick after this legislation takes affect.