Listen to this speech given by Ronald Reagan at the 1964 Republican National Convention.  Does anything in here sound familiar or remind you of today’s current events?  What Reagan said then has a lot of bearing of what is going on now.  He was right then, and is correct even now.

When are we going to quit allowing ourselves to be fooled by Liberals, or Progressive as they like to call themselves now, and their lies and so called compassion and start standing on our own feet?  When are we going to stop allowing government to take our liberties away for an imaginary safety net?  Are we so afraid of freedom that we would rather give up our God given America rights as specified within the Declaration of Independence?  Which will you choose: the safety and confines or government, or the risks and benefits of capitalism?  Slavery or freedom?

Earlier I wrote about Obama and his connections with SEIU.  Let us now look at the Apollo Alliance.

The Apollo Alliance came into existence soon after 9/11.  Though not a Union they are an environmental activist group with strong ties and influence on the federal government.  According to their website, the Apollo Alliance’s mission statement is:

“The Apollo Alliance is a coalition of labor, business, environmental, and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution that will put millions of Americans to work in a new generation of high-quality, green-collar jobs. Inspired by the Apollo space program, we promote investments in energy efficiency, clean power, mass transit, next-generation vehicles, and emerging technology, as well as in education and training. Working together, we will reduce carbon emissions and oil imports, spur domestic job growth, and position America to thrive in the 21st century economy.”

Basically, they want to do away with oil and coal energy and promote solar, wind, and anything that they deem environmentally safe. The problem is instead of finding a free market way to promote it, they chose to force taxpayers by influencing government regulation. They do so by organizing labor unions and activists for “social justice”. The Apollo Alliance, like SEIU and ACORN are using the federal government to accomplish their ends.

How is Obama connected to these people? Look at Van Jones, Obama’s former Green Jobs Czar. Jones is one of the founders and President of the group Green For All and a board member of Apollo Alliance.[i] Van Jones only resigned his post after it came out that he is an avowed communist. Van Jones is a radical Marxist whose statements brought a lot of heat on the Obama Administration. But the ties to Apollo do not end there.

There is John Podesta, co-chairman of the Obama-Biden Transition Project. Basically he is on Obama’s transition team and his helping to reshape the power structure in Washington. He is the President and CEO of the progressive group Center for American Progress. He is also on the board of directors for the Apollo Alliance.

On an interesting note, Gerald Hudson, who is the Executive Vice President of SEIU is also on Apollo’s board of directors. President Obama has close ties with SEIU and is in constant contact with Andy Stern. He has also given speeches at some of their conventions saying, “Your agenda has been my agenda.”

Then we have Wade Rathke who is also on the board of directors of the Apollo Alliance. He is the founder of ACORN, an organization that Obama worked for. Obama has kept close ties with ACORN. In fact, ACORN has received federal funding thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment ACT (AKA Stimulus Bill). ACORN also funds Apollo.[ii]

On another note, Jeff Jones, the director of the Apollo Alliance, was a domestic terrorist who managed to evade capture from the law for eleven years.  He also founded the Weather Underground with Bill Ayers, who happens to be in close relation with Barack Obama.

The Apollo Alliance is also helping to shape public policy. They brag about it on their website. They helped write the Stimulus Bill that Obama signed into law in January 2009. That bill promised federal money for renewable energy research, green jobs, and clean energy programs. The chairman of the Apollo Alliance said, “The recovery bill represents the focused work of labor, business, environmental and social justice organizations who developed a clear strategy about where the nation needed to go, and worked together to achieve it.”[iii] If they helped write the Stimulus Bill. What else are they trying to push through Congress?

Even Senator Harry Reid acknowledged the Apollo Alliance’s involvement with this bill. “We’ve talked about moving forward on these ideas for decades. The Apollo Alliance has been an important factor in helping us develop and execute a strategy that makes great progress on these goals and in motivating the public to support them.”[iv]

Congress is currently debating Cap and Trade, even though you will not hear about in the major news organizations. Cap and trade imposes a punitive tax on corporations and businesses for CO2 emissions. It will also be another green jobs bill, meaning that it will promote clean energy by funding and establishing green jobs. What really happens is that environmental groups get federal money and never see any jobs produced.  Who do you think will benefit from this bill? The Apollo Alliance. They have probably even helped write it. Many of their own people are a part of Obama’s administration and they continue to lobby Congress for money.

The health care bill that Obama has been promoting and demanding has been strongly influenced by SEIU. SEIU has helped write portions of it. They also have close ties to Apollo and ACORN. It is safe to assume that Apollo will be granted money in this bill along with SEIU and ACORN.

The Apollo Alliance is an organization that seems to have endless amounts of money and an incredible amount of influence on the federal government. The point is, Obama has too many ties to radical groups like Apollo Alliance, ACORN, Center for American Progress, and SEIU. Apparently all of his campaign promises about no lobbyists, no special interest groups were all a bunch of lies.

With all of the information coming out about ACORN, SEIU, and the Apollo Alliance and their connections to President Obama, one has to wonder, how deep do these connections go?  Who is really in charge of the United States?  Who is behind recent legislation being pushed through Congress?  We all know that ACORN received money from Obama’s stimulus bill, though it is not the first time they received federal funds.  SEIU has a large stake in the Health Care Bill being rammed through.  And then there is Cap and Trade which is speaking through with little to no attention from the press.  How much you want to bet that the Apollo Alliance is going to receive a tidy sum from Uncle Sam?  They promote “green” jobs.  Isn’t that what Cap and Trade is supposed to do?

First let’s explore SEIU (Service Employee’s International Union).  Andy Stern is the president of SEIU.  He is a Marxist.  SEIU’s policies fall within Marxism. (Click on the link below to watch Bill Moyers’ interview with Andy Stern.)

Bill Moyers\’ Interview with Andy Stern June 15, 2007

Notice the similarities between what Andy Stern says and what Obama says.  He talks about making government work for the unions.  Oh he speaks about individuals, but if Stern had his way everyone would be part of the union.  Stern mentioned redistributing wealth and how it mustn’t be in the hands of a few people.  Obama mentions the sam when trying to answer Joe the Plumber\’s question. Which he failed to answer.  Andy Stern wants to use political power to change the behavior of corporations like Bank of America.  Obama is using political power to force people to buy into an insurance program they do not want; to force insurance companies to provide coverage that they do not wish to provide and may be unable to provide.  Of course, this will take care of the universal health care coverage that SEIU wants.

Andy Stern has had at least 22 visits to the White House where he has talked personally with Obama in the first 6 months since the inauguration.  He has had the most visits with the president than anyone else.  That is a lot of meetings between the president of a union and the President of the United States.  Didn’t Obama pledge to end special interests?  Apparently he only wishes to end the special interests of evil corporations and their profit making.  But Obama has no qualms about SEIU, a labor union, making a profit through taxpayer money.

Watch these three videos below.  (Click on the link to access the video.)  The first two are from an SEIU conference in October 2007.  The third from the SEIU convention of 2008.  In both video Obama is addressing SEIU.  Now listen to what he says.  Listen to what he promises SEIU member.

Obama\’s SEIU Agenda is my Agenda

Does Obama Represent the Country of SEIU?

Barak Obama Adresses SEIU\’s 2008 Convention

Here Obama admits to working with SEIU members during his days as a community organizer.  Did you notice the phrase, “get everybody organized”?  Does that mean we will all be forced into a union?  Is this the setup for his civilian task force which he mentioned in another speech?  Notice he said “Your agenda is my agenda.”  That is a very clear sign that SEIU is a special interest in the Obama Administration.  His agenda is their agenda!  In the third video Obama claims, “You and I together-together you and I, we are going to change this country and we are going to change the world.”  Sounds like SEIU and its president, Andy Stern, have authority over what happens in this country and influence over Obama.  Obama is admitting right here that they will work together to change America.

It is no secret that SEIU spent at least $60 million on Obama’s campaign for the presidency.  (Do you still believe that Barak Obama has no connections to this organization?)  Obama’s political director is Patrick Gaspard.

Gaspard is a former lobbyist for SEIU. [i] He first joined SEIU in 1999 to help organize the local 1199 “March For Justice”.[ii] He remained with SEIU promoting their agenda in Congress until 2008. He only quit that job to join Obama’s campaign. That is a good seven years with the union. The fact that he went straight from SEIU to Obama, who is also well connected with the union, shows that it is unlikely that Gaspard became disillusioned with the union and quit because of such sentiments. Especially since President Obama is promoting SEIU’s agenda. Gaspard also has known ties with ACORN. It is interesting how ACORN keeps popping up in Obama’s circle of friends.

It is well documented that Obama and SEIU are connected.  Very much so.  Obama himself said that SEIU’s agenda is his agenda.  He has a former SEIU lobbyist in his administration.  Lobbyists do not change.  Even though this evidence is circumstantial, the circumstances are suspicious.

What form of government does America have? Anyone reading this will say, “A democracy.” But if that is your answer, then you are wrong. I know what the schools teach about our form of government. Many politicians insist that we are a democracy. But we are not. The United States is a Republic, more specifically a Representative Republic. Nowhere in our founding documents are we called a democracy.

Benjamin Franklin said: “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!”[i]

Democracies are majority rule and can easily lead to mob rule, which in turn either leads to a dictatorship or anarchy. In a true Democracy every citizen gets 1 vote on every issue. That’s all well and good, but what if you are the one person who decides to stand against everyone else? The needs of the minority go unnoticed in a Democracy. Votes are easily bought either by blackmail, or just naming the right price. This means that Democracies easily give way to corruption and mob rule, which later leads to anarchy proving Franklin’s above quote all too true. In a Democracy, the policy makers are not beholden to anyone. They do not answer to the populace for their stance on issues or their votes. Since, every citizen votes on every issue, they work for themselves and no one else.

In Ancient Greece, Athens is the best example of a Democracy. In Athens every male citizen was expected to serve in the government. Athens’ democracy worked for a time. The city-state became very prosperous and controlled the seas. It was the envy of Ancient Greece. But Athens became corrupt. The people cared more about their personal gain and used the majority vote to get it. Athens later found themselves conquered by the Spartans.

“Democracies have been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their death.”  James Madison

John Adams describes the nature of democracies clearly and concisely in his A Defense of the Constitution. Here he is referring to Montesquieu’s statements about democracy. In it he writes:

1. No democracy ever did or can exist

2. If however, it were admitted, for argument sake, that a democracy ever did or can exist, no such passion as a love of democracy, stronger than self-love, or superior to the love of private interest, ever did, or ever can prevail in the minds of the citizens in general, or of a majority of them, or in any party or individual of them.

3. That if the citizens, or a majority of them, or any party or individual of them, in action and practice, preferred the public to their private interest, as many undoubtedly would, it would not be from any such passion as love of democracy, but from reason, conscience, a regard to justice, and a sense of duty and moral obligation,; or else from a desire of fame, and the applause, gratitude, and rewards of the public.

4. That no love of equality, at least since Adam’s fall, ever existed in human nature, any otherwise than the desire of bringing others down to our own level, which implies a desire of raising ourselves above them, or depressing them below us. That the real friends of equality are such from reflection, judgment, and a sense of duty, not from any passion natural, or artificial.

5. That no love of frugality ever existed as a passion, but always as a virtue, approved by deep and long reflection, as useful to individuals as well as the democracy.

6.That, therefore, the democracy of Montesquieu, and its principal of virtue, equality, frugality, &c, according to his definitions of them, are all mere figments of the brain, and delusive imaginations.

7. That his love of the democracy would be, in the members of the majority, only a love of the majority; in those of the minority, only a love of the minority.

8. That his love of equality would not even be pretended towards the members of the minority; but the semblance of it would only be kept up among the members of the majority.

9. That the distinction between nature and philosophy is not enough attended to; that nations are actuated by their passions and prejudices; that very few in any nation, are enlightened by philosophy or religion enough to be at all times convinced that it is a duty to prefer the public to a private interest, and fewer still are moral, honorable, or religious enough to practice such self- denial.

10. Is not every one of these propositions proved beyond dispute, by all the histories in this and the preceding volumes, by all the other histories of the world, and by universal experience?

11. That, in reality, the word democracy signifies nothing more nor less than a nation of people without any government at all, and before any constitution is instituted.

12. That every attentive reader may perceive, that the notions of Montesquieu, concerning a democracy, are imaginations of his own, derived from the contemplation of the reveries of Xenophon and Plato, concerning equality of goods, and community of wives and children, in their delirious ideas of a perfect commonwealth.

13. That such reveries may well be called delirious, since, besides all the other arguments against them, they would not distinguish the family spirit, or produce the equality proposed, because, in such a state of things, one man would have twenty wives, while another would have none, and one woman twenty lovers, while others would languish in obscurity, solitude, and celibacy.[ii]

The point is, people, we are a Republic. This country was established as a republic. All of our founding documents call the United States a republic, not a democracy. In the last 100 years, though, the foundations of our republic have been stripped away and the government has increased far beyond the bounds and limitations of the Constitution.

When asked at the end of the Constitutional Convention what form of government they came up with, Franklin replied, “A republic, for as long as you can keep it.”

Our republic is similar, though not exactly like, to that of Ancient Rome, before the reign of the Caesar’s. While Rome was a republic they had assemblies, most notably the Senate whose members were chosen to represent the Patrician class.

Here is a layout of Rome’s Republican government[iii]:

Offices

Assemblies

The idea of representative government came from Rome’s republic. However, instead of having five assemblies, the drafters of the Constitution chose to have one, known as Congress. Congress has then been subdivided into two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The senate consists of two senators from each state chosen by the state legislatures, until the 17^th amendment allowed for a popular vote to choose senators. In the Senate each state receives two votes allowing equal representation. This gives the smaller states a chance to voice their concerns and stop the more populous states from overriding their rights. The House of Representative (the only essence of democracy if you will) allows for the majority vote. There representation is based on the population of each state. This was done to please both the big and small states, but also to cut down on the corruption that democracy brings.

In a way the House of Representatives represent the people’s interests while the Senate represents the State’s interests. And before any bill moves to the President’s desk (who is similar to the Roman Consul), both houses of Congress must reach an agreement. This arrangement was on purpose. It is meant to fully represent the people and States and to prevent bills from being rushed through Congress without any deliberation. Of course, judging from the last ten months you wouldn’t know it.

Our state governments are set up in much the same way: republican. Each individual state has a head (the Governor), and a legislature divided into two houses (the Senate and House of representatives). There are only a few exceptions to this. But is you examine American Republicanism, it is divided, subdivided, and divided some more so that no one individual or group of people are ever in control and elections take place every number of years so that there is a change in leadership from time to time.

“The way to have safe government is not to trust it all to the one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to everyone exactly the functions in which he is competent….To let the National Government be entrusted with the defense of the nation, and its foreign and federal relations…..  The State Governments with the Civil Rights, Laws, Police and administration of what concerns the State generally. The Counties with the local concerns, and each ward direct the interests within itself. It is by dividing and subdividing these Republics from the great national one down through all its subordinations until it ends in the administration of everyman’s farm by himself, by placing under everyone what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best.”  Thomas Jefferson

America’s republic does work. We have proven it time and again. However, in the last 100 years, since the rise of the progressives, we as a nation have moved away from republican government to a more Marxist state or dictatorship. The federal government has seized power it was never meant to have where they now dictate much of what we can and cannot do. It even dictates what individual states can do. For instance, in 2003 a display of the Ten Commandments was taken down from an Alabama courthouse. (It is very interesting how it is only Christianity that is not allowed to be displayed but anyone can display the Koran or wave and Islamic flag and be praised for their courage.) This past year when individual sates tried to give back stimulus money that the federal government forced them to take, they were told that they had to keep it. The States that chose to use Stimulus funds to pay down their debts had the Feds knocking on their door telling them that they were supposed to spend that money on government programs. The federal government mandates the minimal amount of coverage that States have to require health insurance companies to offer. There is a federal tax on everything, from a gasoline, phone service, mortgages, health insurance, utility bills, to your bank accounts. All consumer goods and services have a tax imposed on them by the federal government.

There is no true change in leadership either. We have career politicians and the development of a political class. Our current politicians believe that the people are here to work for them. (In a republican government the politicians work for the people.) Many of the same faces are always in Congress and they keep getting elected because they wrote laws to kill any opposition. What do you think McCain Feingold was all about? It prevents anyone from challenging the incumbent during election year.

Our modern government represents the Roman Empire, not the Roman Republic. The last days of the Roman Empire were full of corruption starting at the top with the Emperor all way down to the local regents. The Roman Empire suffered from massive bureaucracies and laws that were establish to solve every little problem, every crisis. The Roman Senate became well known for writing new laws to solve some problem ranging from business to health care, to retirement. They never repealed any of their old laws either. Rome eventually reached a point where they had so many laws no one knew what was legal and what wasn’t. They had so many bureaucracies that nothing ever gone done. All of Rome’s wealth was swallowed by their bureaucracies, when the Emperor or Senate didn’t waste it on some other “pressing” matter. As Rome became more bureaucratic its wealth disappeared until all it was left with was massive deficits and debts. Eventually Rome fell from its own corruption and stupidity. The Barbaric invasions put the empire out of its misery.

Rome was once a powerful empire that controlled the known world. Roman currency was the world currency. They brought law and order to distant lands. People lived well under the Roman Empire and had a quality of life that they never would have had otherwise. (Not counting slavery.) But Rome became decadent society. They had no standard of morality. Most Romans made their own morality believing that it was relative. Roman politicians cared more about their personal wealth and no longer concerned themselves with the well being of Rome or the people. The Roman Emperors worried more about their personal glory than the Roman people. The government became vast. The Roman Legions reached a point where they no longer felt any loyalty to Rome or the Emperor. They became loyal to themselves. This is why Rome fell.

Does any of this sound familiar?

The United States controls much of the world economy, for now. We have politicians who make a lot of money from their seats in government and always get re-elected. We have books of laws that establish one bureaucracy after another and no one knows what is legal or not anymore. Laws established over a hundred years ago are still in effect today even though they are not needed and have proven to be disastrous. We have a president that keeps pushing legislation through Congress on the basis of necessity and a mounting crisis. (First it was the economy, which still hasn’t recovered. Then it was health care. Soon it will be global warming and we will have a cap and trade bill. Next will be the lack of education among our youth and we will be forced to send our kids to school at age three and keep them there year round. And Obama’s latest, using the fear of a cyber attack to push for legislation that would give him control of the internet.)

But what has he, or our Congress, accomplished other than establishing another bureaucracy? They have yet to solve the problems that they created. We have an increasing deficit and our government continues to add to it while promising us that they will reduce it. For instance, Obama insists that we have a crisis in this country: people are uninsured. Therefore it is necessary for the government to step in and ensure that every American has health insurance.[iv] The end result is the passage of the House Health Care bill which will force everyone into a program they do not want and it will cost $1.055 trillion. And we are supposed to believe that this will not add to the deficit, or that it’s good for us?

Remember these words:

“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves.”  William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783

If we, the United States, are not careful, and refuse to return to our republican principles, we will suffer the same fate as Rome.

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.”

Patrick Henry

This is a copy of an article at CNN.com.  You can read the original at: http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/24/news/economy/health_care_reform_obama.fortune/index.htm

5 freedoms you’d lose in health care reform

If you read the fine print in the Congressional plans, you’ll find that a lot of cherished aspects of the current system would disappear.

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FIXING HEALTH CARE

• White House hits watchdog on Medicare plan
• Little savings seen from Medicare panel
• Obama plays up small biz health care pain
• The ‘new’ new tax on the rich
• 5 freedoms you’d lose in health care reform
• Health care’s future may already exist

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NEW YORK (Fortune) — In promoting his health-care agenda, President Obama has repeatedly reassured Americans that they can keep their existing health plans — and that the benefits and access they prize will be enhanced through reform.

A close reading of the two main bills, one backed by Democrats in the House and the other issued by Sen. Edward Kennedy’s Health committee, contradict the President’s assurances. To be sure, it isn’t easy to comb through their 2,000 pages of tortured legal language. But page by page, the bills reveal a web of restrictions, fines, and mandates that would radically change your health-care coverage.

If you prize choosing your own cardiologist or urologist under your company’s Preferred Provider Organization plan (PPO), if your employer rewards your non-smoking, healthy lifestyle with reduced premiums, if you love the bargain Health Savings Account (HSA) that insures you just for the essentials, or if you simply take comfort in the freedom to spend your own money for a policy that covers the newest drugs and diagnostic tests — you may be shocked to learn that you could lose all of those good things under the rules proposed in the two bills that herald a health-care revolution.

In short, the Obama platform would mandate extremely full, expensive, and highly subsidized coverage — including a lot of benefits people would never pay for with their own money — but deliver it through a highly restrictive, HMO-style plan that will determine what care and tests you can and can’t have. It’s a revolution, all right, but in the wrong direction.

Let’s explore the five freedoms that Americans would lose under Obamacare:

1. Freedom to choose what’s in your plan

The bills in both houses require that Americans purchase insurance through “qualified” plans offered by health-care “exchanges” that would be set up in each state. The rub is that the plans can’t really compete based on what they offer. The reason: The federal government will impose a minimum list of benefits that each plan is required to offer.

Today, many states require these “standard benefits packages” — and they’re a major cause for the rise in health-care costs. Every group, from chiropractors to alcohol-abuse counselors, do lobbying to get included. Connecticut, for example, requires reimbursement for hair transplants, hearing aids, and in vitro fertilization.

The Senate bill would require coverage for prescription drugs, mental-health benefits, and substance-abuse services. It also requires policies to insure “children” until the age of 26. That’s just the starting list. The bills would allow the Department of Health and Human Services to add to the list of required benefits, based on recommendations from a committee of experts. Americans, therefore, wouldn’t even know what’s in their plans and what they’re required to pay for, directly or indirectly, until after the bills become law.

2. Freedom to be rewarded for healthy living, or pay your real costs

As with the previous example, the Obama plan enshrines into federal law one of the worst features of state legislation: community rating. Eleven states, ranging from New York to Oregon, have some form of community rating. In its purest form, community rating requires that all patients pay the same rates for their level of coverage regardless of their age or medical condition.

Americans with pre-existing conditions need subsidies under any plan, but community rating is a dubious way to bring fairness to health care. The reason is twofold: First, it forces young people, who typically have lower incomes than older workers, to pay far more than their actual cost, and gives older workers, who can afford to pay more, a big discount. The state laws gouging the young are a major reason so many of them have joined the ranks of uninsured.

Under the Senate plan, insurers would be barred from charging any more than twice as much for one patient vs. any other patient with the same coverage. So if a 20-year-old who costs just $800 a year to insure is forced to pay $2,500, a 62-year-old who costs $7,500 would pay no more than $5,000.

Second, the bills would ban insurers from charging differing premiums based on the health of their customers. Again, that’s understandable for folks with diabetes or cancer. But the bills would bar rewarding people who pursue a healthy lifestyle of exercise or a cholesterol-conscious diet. That’s hardly a formula for lower costs. It’s as if car insurers had to charge the same rates to safe drivers as to chronic speeders with a history of accidents.

3. Freedom to choose high-deductible coverage

The bills threaten to eliminate the one part of the market truly driven by consumers spending their own money. That’s what makes a market, and health care needs more of it, not less.

Hundreds of companies now offer Health Savings Accounts to about 5 million employees. Those workers deposit tax-free money in the accounts and get a matching contribution from their employer. They can use the funds to buy a high-deductible plan — say for major medical costs over $12,000. Preventive care is reimbursed, but patients pay all other routine doctor visits and tests with their own money from the HSA account. As a result, HSA users are far more cost-conscious than customers who are reimbursed for the majority of their care.

The bills seriously endanger the trend toward consumer-driven care in general. By requiring minimum packages, they would prevent patients from choosing stripped-down plans that cover only major medical expenses. “The government could set extremely low deductibles that would eliminate HSAs,” says John Goodman of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a free-market research group. “And they could do it after the bills are passed.”

4. Freedom to keep your existing plan

This is the freedom that the President keeps emphasizing. Yet the bills appear to say otherwise. It’s worth diving into the weeds — the territory where most pundits and politicians don’t seem to have ventured.

The legislation divides the insured into two main groups, and those two groups are treated differently with respect to their current plans. The first are employees covered by the Employee Retirement Security Act of 1974. ERISA regulates companies that are self-insured, meaning they pay claims out of their cash flow, and don’t have real insurance. Those are the GEs (GE, Fortune 500) and Time Warners (TWX, Fortune 500) and most other big companies.

The House bill states that employees covered by ERISA plans are “grandfathered.” Under ERISA, the plans can do pretty much what they want — they’re exempt from standard packages and community rating and can reward employees for healthy lifestyles even in restrictive states.

But read on.

The bill gives ERISA employers a five-year grace period when they can keep offering plans free from the restrictions of the “qualified” policies offered on the exchanges. But after five years, they would have to offer only approved plans, with the myriad rules we’ve already discussed. So for Americans in large corporations, “keeping your own plan” has a strict deadline. In five years, like it or not, you’ll get dumped into the exchange. As we’ll see, it could happen a lot earlier.

The outlook is worse for the second group. It encompasses employees who aren’t under ERISA but get actual insurance either on their own or through small businesses. After the legislation passes, all insurers that offer a wide range of plans to these employees will be forced to offer only “qualified” plans to new customers, via the exchanges.

The employees who got their coverage before the law goes into effect can keep their plans, but once again, there’s a catch. If the plan changes in any way — by altering co-pays, deductibles, or even switching coverage for this or that drug — the employee must drop out and shop through the exchange. Since these plans generally change their policies every year, it’s likely that millions of employees will lose their plans in 12 months.

5. Freedom to choose your doctors

The Senate bill requires that Americans buying through the exchanges — and as we’ve seen, that will soon be most Americans — must get their care through something called “medical home.” Medical home is similar to an HMO. You’re assigned a primary care doctor, and the doctor controls your access to specialists. The primary care physicians will decide which services, like MRIs and other diagnostic scans, are best for you, and will decide when you really need to see a cardiologists or orthopedists.

Under the proposals, the gatekeepers would theoretically guide patients to tests and treatments that have proved most cost-effective. The danger is that doctors will be financially rewarded for denying care, as were HMO physicians more than a decade ago. It was consumer outrage over despotic gatekeepers that made the HMOs so unpopular, and killed what was billed as the solution to America’s health-care cost explosion.

The bills do not specifically rule out fee-for-service plans as options to be offered through the exchanges. But remember, those plans — if they exist — would be barred from charging sick or elderly patients more than young and healthy ones. So patients would be inclined to game the system, staying in the HMO while they’re healthy and switching to fee-for-service when they become seriously ill. “That would kill fee-for-service in a hurry,” says Goodman.

In reality, the flexible, employer-based plans that now dominate the landscape, and that Americans so cherish, could disappear far faster than the 5 year “grace period” that’s barely being discussed.

Companies would have the option of paying an 8% payroll tax into a fund that pays for coverage for Americans who aren’t covered by their employers. It won’t happen right away — large companies must wait a couple of years before they opt out. But it will happen, since it’s likely that the tax will rise a lot more slowly than corporate health-care costs, especially since they’ll be lobbying Washington to keep the tax under control in the righteous name of job creation.

The best solution is to move to a let-freedom-ring regime of high deductibles, no community rating, no standard benefits, and cross-state shopping for bargains (another market-based reform that’s strictly taboo in the bills). I’ll propose my own solution in another piece soon on Fortune.com. For now, we suffer with a flawed health-care system, but we still have our Five Freedoms. Call them the Five Endangered Freedoms. 

7/26/2009

Dear Mr. President,

I want to thank you for doing in six months what many liberals failed to do in 70 years. You have successfully turned us into a socialist nation.   (note the sarcasm)

You rushed through the stimulus bill saying that it was imperative in order to stop the recession. You promised us jobs, a tax cut, and a decrease in the cost of living. You told us that the stimulus bill would do all these things. You told us that this bill would keep the unemployment rate from exceeding 8%. It now sits at 9.7% and is well on its way to being 10%. Where are all the jobs you promised us? And do not tell me about the teacher that was spared the pink slip or all of the state and federal jobs that exist to contend with the bureaucracy your bill created. Where are the jobs for the manual laborers? What about the small businesses that have closed their doors? Those are the jobs we need. It appears that the only people that have benefitted from this bill are state and federal employees. The number one beneficiary is the Federal Government.

You promised us fiscal responsibility. In the last six months where have you or your administration demonstrated fiscal responsibility? That Stimulus Bill cost $787 billion dollars. You had to borrow money from China to help pay for it. Clearly, the United States is bankrupt if you are borrowing money to pay for a bill that is supposed to stimulate the economy. How is that being fiscally responsible? What was in that 1,600 page bill? Did you even read it? I think not, considering you rushed it through during your first week as president. You promised no more pork, but how can a bill that it over a 1,000 pages long not have any pork?

In a recent address of yours, you said that the stimulus package was doing exactly what it was designed to do. I thought it was supposed to promote economic growth. Instead we are getting an economic collapse. So if your statement is true, then that means this bill was designed to destroy the economy, create unemployment, and bring fear to the American people.

And now you want us to accept your health care reform bill. You are adamant about getting it passed before the end of the year. Why the rush? What is in this bill that you do not want people to know about? Could it be that you know within a year’s time you will not have the majority you need to pass your agenda? This bill has the pungent smell of dead fish. It can’t be about reform. You are just expanding an already broken system and shoving everyone into it. We have already proven in this country that government run health care does not work. Medicare and Medicaid are two government run health care programs on a limited scale and they are both bankrupt. The people on these programs do not get the care they need because they have to wait for approval from the government.

Why are we following the model of Europe or even Canada when it comes to health care? Their government run systems are failing. People leave those countries and come to the United States for medical care. Are you so arrogant that you believe you can do it better? Are you so stupid that you refuse to learn from the mistakes of others? Do you truly care about the best interest of America, or are you only concerned about what helps Barack Obama? But most importantly, will be subject the very system that you want to put the American people on?

This health care reform bill is too conveniently timed. Most people without health insurance are unemployed. The unemployment rate is dangerously close to 10%. People are frightened that if something happened they won’t get to see a doctor much less be able to pay for it. And here you step in to save the day with another expansive government program. Very, very convenient.

And why so silent on Cap and Trade? I know the bill is being pushed through Congress. Please explain why we need to tax the hell out of businesses in order to offset global warming. The passage of this bill will prove disastrous for this country, especially since we are in a recession. Cap and Trade has never worked in the past in reducing carbon emissions. It did destroy businesses. You passed a stimulus bill to stimulate the economy. Now you want to pass Cap and Trade which is known for destroying the economy. Don’t the two cancel each other out?

Your foreign policy is no better than what you have done domestically. You routinely call America an arrogant nation. You insult your own country overseas mentioning it with disdain. Not once have you defended America. Do you hate your own country so much that you are incapable of talking about the very things that make America great? Not once have you mentioned what we have given the world. The United States feeds most of the world’s population. We are always there to help those that desire freedom from tyranny and oppression. We have defeated some of the worst tyrants in history for the sake of the world.

You are the President of the United States. It is your duty to protect and defend the American people. You have failed to perform such a task. When North Korea vowed to wipe the United States off the map, you said nothing. When Somali pirates took Americans hostage, you waited over a week to finally do something. It was only when people started asking questions that you finally sent in the Navy Seals to free the hostages. You won’t even address the atrocities that are happening in Iran. You have snubbed Israel, our only ally in the Middle East. Instead you shake hands and act all chummy with the likes of Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, and Raul Castro. You derided the Honduran people for defending their country and constitution from a man who tried to declare himself a president for life. Why do you like dictators so much?

You promised us hope and change. Instead of change you brought us more of the same. Instead of hope we have despair. You lied to us, Mr. President. You sold us a bill of goods. You conned the American people into voting for you. You have demonstrated that you are unfit to be the President of the United States.

You are a sniveling little weasel. A man who slithered his way into the Oval Office on false promises and false hope. You have systematically taken over elements of this country that were once in the hands of the private sector, the people. You have systematically usurped the Constitution. You have betrayed the trust of the American people. You have betrayed the U.S. Constitution. You, Sir, are a traitor.

Signed,

Lady Liberty

I just found this at Fox News.  This is very interesting, considering it concerns the future of health care in the United States.  This also points out why government should never be allowed to run anything.

1. Why was a stimulus bill passed when we had to borrow money from China to pay for it?

2. Since all revenue generated by the government is already spent and our country is basically bankrupt, why does Congress and the president continue to pass spending bills?  Wouldn’t the sensible thing to do be to cut spending?

3. Universal health care, in all its forms, has failed everywhere it has been tried. Medicare and Medicaid are bankrupt and do not provide quality care to its recipients. Why, then, is President Obama and Congress pushing for a Universal Health Care plan? Since the U.S. is bankrupt and is forced to borrow money to meet its spending, how do they expect to pay for it?

4. Cap and Trade failed during the Clinton administration and slowed economic growth. Knowing this, why is the federal government passing it again?

5. We are in a recession and well on our way into a depression, so why is Congress and President Obama passing more legislation that increases spending and our taxes? Such measures prevent economic prosperity and prolong economic downturn.

6. We were told that the Stimulus Bill would stop the rising unemployment rate and create more jobs. Why then, since its passage, the unemployment rate has dramatically increased? Where are all the jobs Obama promised us?

7. In the six months since the Stimulus Bill was passed, over 2 million jobs have been lost, costs are going up, taxes are increasing, and the unemployment rate has almost doubled, sitting at 9.5%. Why is Obama not taking responsibility for this? Why does he continue to blame Bush for the bad economy, especially since the past 6-7 months is the consequence of his bill?

8. Why do we constantly have the same people, the same faces in Congress?

9. Why do former Democrat Presidents keep showing up on the public stage giving speeches or running for another office, while former Republican Presidents tend to just go home?

10. Why do presidents have czars when they are unconstitutional?

11. Why does our government continue to whine the rich do not pay enough in taxes? The wealthy in this country already pay the majority of our taxes. They always have.

12. How much does an individual have to pay in taxes before it is considered enough?

13. Why does the federal government control almost every aspect of our lives? They control the schools, health care, businesses (through various regulations), food and drug, banks, car companies, industry, and agriculture to name a few.

14. Why do people jump for joy when the government says they will give them something for free, knowing all along that it’s never free? (i.e. universal health care or free health care)

15. Why is we are told the less government and deregulation is what caused this current economic mess when for the past 70 years we have steadily moved toward more government regulations and more government programs? (Despite efforts by some Republicans, we have yet to enact massive deregulation and massive, permanent tax cuts.)

16. Why do we have Affirmative Action? In a time when we are supposed to ignore the color of someone’s skin, doesn’t Affirmative Action make look at race first?

17. Why can’t people admit that the only reason Barak Obama was elected, and that they voted for him, was because he is black?

And why can’t the media just admit that they are in love with this idiot, who has the same IQ as TOTUS? (TOTUS is the president’s teleprompter that seems to have been breaking down an awful lot lately.  Good Job TOTUS!  Keep up the good work.)

18. The time when Countries, especially the United States, experienced the most economic growth and prosperity was when the federal government left people alone and did not micromanage everything. Why is it we have not learned from that? Why do we increase the size of government and spending when the economy is failing?

19. Why are liberals incapable of telling people who they really are and what they stand for? (They always run as moderates or semi-conservative to get elected and then show their true colors.)

20. If the state of California is bankrupt from all of their spending on welfare/entitlement programs and are now forced to hand out IOUs, why is Congress and President Obama following their example? Shouldn’t they be learning from their mistakes and not duplicating California? (New York and Massachusetts are also going bankrupt with their big government policies.)

21. Where is the tax cut that Obama promised 95% of Americans? Or is that the extra ten dollars in everyone’s paycheck? (Wow. We can now go to Starbucks to prevent them from going into bankruptcy.)

22. Why is President of Obama, leader of the FREE world, shaking hands and being chummy with dictators who force their people to live in poverty?

23. Manuel Zelaya, former president of Honduras, was overthrown by the Honduran military when he tried to remain in office even though his term was up and the people had voted for a new president. According to the Honduran constitution, Zelaya had to leave, but he tried to usurp the constitution and declare himself president for life. The Honduran military upheld their constitution, their laws. It was not a coup. Obama condemned the actions of the Honduran people and military demanding that they return Manuel Zelaya to power. Could this be an insight into Obama’s true intentions? Is he planning to remain president even when his term ends and the American people elect another to take his place?

President Obama swore an oath the uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Since then he has systematically violated it and has taken over industries that were one in the hands of the private sector. Nowhere in the Constitution is our government (the Presidency, Congress, and the Supreme Court) given the authority to take over businesses, mange health care, dole out welfare/entitlement funds to anyone, to buy crops from farmers.  Why is he not up for impeachment? (Many member of Congress should be impeached as well.)

Why is Obama concerning himself with universal healthcare, cap and trade, and another stimulus bill when we are being threatened by foreign powers?  North Korea vowed to wipe the United States off the map.  Why has Obama not addressed this?

Why is Obama cutting our military defenses?  Does he want the U.S. to be attacked?

How could the Obama administration “misread the economy” when he spent his entire campaign telling us that we “are in the worst economy since the Great Depression”?

Did anyone ever bother to consider that perhaps the 46 million people in this country who do not have health insurance, do not want it? (Everyone in this country has access to health care, even if they do not carry health insurance.  This will change under Obama’s health care plan.)

Did it ever occur to people, especially the government, that the reason the health care system in the U.S. is broken is because the of all the rules/regulations imposed on it by the government and the bureaucracy that always accompanies said regulations?

Why do people turn to the government to fix the economy when it was the government that caused the economic downturn?

Why is it that those who are for universal health care and praise Canada’s health care system, go to privately run hospital in the U.S. and stay far away from countries that have socialized medicine?  Also, if government run health care is so great, why do people who live in countries such as Canada, England, Sweden, etc. come to the United States for medical care? Look at Micheal Moore.  He constantly praises countries like Canada and Cuba for their great health care.  Yet when he needed medical help in losing weight, he went to a privately run hospital in Florida.  Hypocrite!

The U.S. Constitution is no more than 3-4 pages in length.  Why are all the bills passed by Congress more than a 1,000 pages?  Can we say, “pork barrel spending?”

Why is it that lately Congess has passed legislation without even reading or debating the bill?  Isn’t it important to know exactly what you are voting on and enacting into law?

Why would anyone want the federal government to run the health care system, or any system in this country when they destroy everything they touch? Look at the education system.  Since the formation of the Department of Education and the feds took control of education, the quality of education in this country has decreased every year.  High Schools are turning out kids who can barely read or do basic math, much less actually think.  Colleges routinely turn out graduates who know less than they did before they registered with classes.  Very few graduates understand history, basic economics, common sense, or that the gray matter between their ears is for thinking.  Analytical thinking.  It is not for listing to your ipod or watching the latest music video on you tube.

What ever happened to the American Spirit and America’s rugged individualism?

Why are liberals always angry at a bunch of dead, white males? THose dead, white males made this country that they live in and prospered in.

Everyday we are told that we need health care reform. Obama claims that the nation’s health care system needs to be overhauled and that he is the one to do it. Obama, Liberals and Democrats, the major media, and nearly every American believes that the health care system in this country is broken. People are told every day that if nothing is done, if the government doesn’t do something, then health care in America will vanish. People will not have access to medicine. The country will go bankrupt.

The truth, however, is that all of this is nothing more than fear mongering. Obama and his liberal friends want you to be frightened of losing your current health care coverage so that you will go along with their solution. The thing is, the solution being offered is the cause of the problem.

Obama claims that about 46 million Americans are not insured. No one bothers to ask why they have no insurance. It is assumed that these people want insurance but are unable to afford it or get it from an employer. The fact is that approximately 17.6 million of these 46 earn $50,000 or more a year and about 10 million earn more than $75,000 a year. People who earn this much tend to pay for their health care out of pocket. Therefore, they do not need insurance. Basically about 38% of these 46 million who are uninsured earn enough money to afford it, but choose not to have it. This 46 million uninsured is a number thrown around by politicians, Obama, and the media to gain sympathy from you.

The population of the United States is roughly 300 billion. The fact that 46 million people might not have health insurance is the least of our problems. The majority of Americans have health insurance whether it is through their employer, a private insurance company, or the government. There are a variety of reasons for why individuals do not have insurance. Affordability is at the bottom of the list. Most people do not carry health insurance for two reasons: they do not want it, or they don’t need it.

But here is a fact no one bothers to mention. Every American has access to health care. A person is never denied access to a doctor or a medical procedure because they don’t have insurance. The difference is, they pay for it directly out of their own pocket instead of waiting for a third party to cover the cost from money that they sent in over a period of time.

Whenever we purchase items from a store we pay for it directly right then and there. Why should medical care be any different? When you pay for medical care directly, you only pay for what you use and pay less than what you would through an insurance company or if you relied on the government. You are ultimately responsible for paying for your health care. It is your responsibility to go to the doctor when needed and then pay for it. It has never been the government’s responsibility to cover your medical costs. Such measures violate the U.S. Constitution and degrade individuals. It also robs us of you of your liberty.

Obama claims that universal health care will bring competitiveness to private insurance companies. This is a blatant lie. In every country that has had socialized medicine the private sector was destroyed, leaving people with only one option: the government’s program. The private sector has never been able to compete with the government. The private sector depends upon profit to stay in business. When the government steps in and says “free” the private sector disappears.

Obama claims that rising health care costs caused the deficit. Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows that this is absurd. What about the $700 billion stimulus bill that he passed back in January? How about the amount of spending that the government does every year with no regard for the fact that they do not have the money? How about all of the pork barrel spending that is snuck through on every bill that goes through Congress? All of this caused and adds to the deficit. If Congress and our current president cannot control their spending, the deficit will never get paid off, despite current health care costs.

The fact is, our nation is bankrupt. We have no money. The value of the dollar continues to fall. As a nation we continue to borrow more from China to pay for all of Congress’ spending. The two government run health insurance plans in this country are bankrupt. How can we as a nation afford a single payer system like what Canada has? We can’t.

People believe that Obama is pushing health care reform because he cares about them. Obama, like all politicians, does not care about anyone but himself. He doesn’t care about you or the fact that people are without health insurance. Obama sees this as an opportunity to seize more power and he is using it. If our Congress, and if Obama really cared about the people’s access and ability to pay for health care, they would be pushing for less government involvement. They would be pushing for an end to Medicare, an end to Medicaid, and for deregulation of the health care sector.

Here is another question: why are we moving towards universal health care when the countries that already have it are moving towards privatized medicine? We have had Medicare and Medicaid for about forty years. In that time they proved that government run health care does not work. Why is our government expanding these programs instead of getting rid of them?

In short there are five reason to ditch Universal healthcare in all of its forms:

1. Government run health care is unconstitutional

2. Government run health care does not work.

3. Government run health care drives up the cost of medicine and limits access

4. Countries with it are moving away from it.

5. This is the United States of America not Europe. It is time that we quit emulating Europe and be Americans with American innovations and American solutions.

This country was built by people who were fiercely independent, did not rely on the government for anything, solved their own problems, and did not bitch, whine or complain when things were not fair. They told the government where to stick. It’s time we do it again.