“A government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth.” Ronald Reagan said these words in his 1964 speech at the Republican National Convention.

Never before have these words been more true. Can anyone name a government program that was repealed? Probably not. But I am certain that you can name government programs that are still in effect and are bankrupting this nation. And yet, Congress continues to fund them and pass more.

For those of you who hate conservatives, have we ever been wrong concerning the growth of government? In a 1961 address, Ronald Reagan warned that medicine was a way for the government to inch its way into our lives. Ask yourself this: after the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965, did the government ever stop meddling in medicine? Since 1965 Congress routinely passed amendments to Medicare and Medicaid, or established new programs altogether. Funding for both programs increases each year because as always happens, the government underestimated the cost. In 1965, when Medicare was signed into law, the public was promised that funding for Medicare would not reach $9 billion until 1990. In 1990, the U.S. government spent more than $66 billion on Medicare alone.

In 1997 SCHIP—health insurance for children—(also known as CHIP) was passed. In 2009 President Obama expanded the program. Those who stood against it were labeled as insensitive and uncaring. Isn’t it uncaring for a government to force people into dependency? No decent human being desires to harm children; that is why progressives use them as a means to expand their big government agenda. But why is the government needed to provide health insurance to children? What happened to the economy to make it where parents can no longer afford medical care for their kids? The answer is simple. The government overtaxes, overspends, and over regulates thus weakening the economy by destroying the value of the dollar, lessening consumer buying power, and destroying our liberty.

In March of 2010 Congress passed the Health Care reform Bill. President Obama giddily signed it into law.  Even now Congress is discussing amendments to this bill.  This bill was supposed to solve all of our woes concerning health care.  If that is the case, then why is Congress drafting amendments for it before it has even gone into effect?

Do not let the name of the bill fool you. This health care bill will do nothing to reform the health care industry, but it will destroy it by complicating it. This bill expanded government well beyond the confines of the constitution. For the first time Congress has mandated the purchase of a commodity. This bill introduces new taxes and regulations that will further limit the freedom of patients to choose their doctors and the care they receive. It also limits the freedom of doctors to choose their patients.

The bill sets the stage for a single payer system by mandating the purchase and provision of health insurance. The exchanges that the bill establishes will kill competition and force insurance companies out of business. The government sets the rules for these exchanges. Insurance companies are to provide the same benefits at roughly the same cost. People will end up with the same benefits packages regardless of their needs: whether sick or healthy, single or married, young or old, man or woman. Insurance companies will be banned from denying coverage and dropping coverage. Being forced to provide a set standard of benefits for everyone will result in higher costs. Insurance companies will be hard pressed to meet these costs forcing them to close their business. This will make it difficult for people to comply with the insurance mandate, thus leaving the door open for the government to step in as our “savior”. The federal government will do one of three things:

1. Bailing out insurance companies, thereby indirectly taking them over and giving us the illusion that they are still independent.

2. Step in with a Public Option and slowly choke out insurance companies.

3. Declaring a National Emergency where the government proclaims that they must take over health insurance companies for the public good.

Whatever course of action the federal government chooses will ultimately close insurance companies permanently leaving us with what Washington offers. After all, what business can compete with an entity that has the power to support itself with taxes?

Reagan warned of government’s slow encroachment upon our lives. The health care sector is just one area that the government has seized control. With the passage of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act the feds took over the auto industry and the banks. They even tried taking over the individual states with the bailouts that were listed in the bill. The Financial Reform Bill of 2010 allows the government to control the financial industry. This is all done for our protection, or so they claim. But who protects the people from a government that insists on owning everything within the economy? When will we the people stop listening to the politicians in Washington and starting listening to common sense?

It is time for us, the American people, to stop looking to the government for solutions to our problems. Government is never a solution. But it is always a problem. The Founders understood this. That is why they wrote the Constitution in a way that limits the federal government’s power. These “negative rights”, as President Obama put it, are to prevent the government from becoming tyrannical. But one thing is certain: the day we stopped abiding by the U.S. Constitution was the day we signed the death warrant for the Republic. When the American people allowed progressives to step in with government programs so as to “save” them, they were inviting government to run their lives.

After a few weeks I finally got the Health Care Bill (HR4872) read. Not the “Fix It” bill. This is my breakdown of what is in the bill. The bill is over 2300 pages and very repetitive. In the instances where it repeated itself, almost word for word, I skimmed. The stuff in italics are my thoughts.

The last 300 pages of the bill deal with education. These pages concerning Pell Grants, Federal Stafford Loans, and Unsubsidized Stafford Loans lead me to conclude that the federal government will control the student loan industry.

Feel free to let me know if I missed anything in the bill. Just make sure to point out where (i.e. page number and line) in the bill it is.

· pp. 28-29: Annual Limitations

· pp. 29-30: Health Benefits Advisory Committee established. The members are to be appointed by the President of the United States.

· pp.37: “Uniform Marketing Standards” (Sounds like price fixing.)

· pp. 41: Independent agency created within the executive branch of the federal government called the Health choices Administration, which will be headed by the Health Choices Commissioner who is to be appointed by the President.

· pp. 102: Automatic enrollment of individuals into Medicaid.

· pp. 107: Special Inspector General appointed by the President

· pp. 109: Set up of a trust fund—There are several of these throughout the bill

· pp. 110: Tax on individuals who do not have adequate health insurance—The Secretary of Health & Human Services determines what adequate insurance is.

o Tax on businesses that do not provide adequate coverage

o Excise tax on those who fail to meet certain health coverage requirements

· pp. 111: States wishing to have their own insurance exchanges need approval from the Commissioner, who can also rescind his approval at any time.

· pp. 116: First mention of the Public Health Option.—Basically this is the government run insurance option.

· pp. 141: reporting significant changes in income

· pp.143: Employer responsibility—Must provide or contribute to health coverage

· pp. 162: Enforcement of Health Coverage participation requirements—Civil penalties on those who do not comply

· pp. 164 line 23: Coordination with excise tax

· pp. 167: tax on Individuals without acceptable healthcare coverage

· pp.197: Surcharge on high income individuals.

· pp. 289 line 11: Reducing Medicare payments to hospitals with readmissions.

· pp. 338: Secretary (of Health & Human Services) allowed to use audits to ensire compliance from hospitals

· pp.339 line 16-24: “INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE STUDY OF GEOGRAPHIC ADJUSTMENT FACTORS UNDER MEDICARE. IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall enter into a contract with the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Science to conduct a comprehensive empirical study, and provide recommendations as appropriate, on the accuracy of the geographic adjustment factors established under sections”

· pp. 343 line 15: study on geographic variation in per capita health care spending among medicare & privately insured populations

· pp. 415 line 9: Grants to Medicare providers and communities with racial & ethnic minorities

o pp. 417 line 13: Community organizers seem to get priority

· pp. 434-440: Advanced Care Planning for all individuals is mandatory. And, yes, the Death Panels are still there. It is called “end of life counseling”, but the fact that this counseling is required concerns me.

· pp. 509 line 19: Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices established. This is a bureaucracy where the members will be chosen by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (always referred to as “the secretary” in the bill).

· pp. 512 line 20: Establishment of Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research—to research how illnesses can be prevented. (read pp.513 lines 8-14)

· pp. 514 line 3: Establishment of Electronic Monitoring of health records & surveillance.

· pp. 519: Civil money penalties imposed on nursing facilities who do not comply with the new federal regulations. (To know all of the new regulations read the part about nursing facilities in the bill.)

· pp. 618: The secretary, Inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services given authority to set of a “pilot program” to implement an independent monitoring system to oversee interstate & large interstate chains of nursing facilities.

· pp. 631: another bureaucracy set up. The National Priorities Concerning Nursing facilities.

· pp. 646-647: Physicians who receive payment from “applicable manufacturer or distributer” has to submit to the Secretary a form with “respect to the covered recipient,the recipient’s name, business address, physician specialty, and national provider identifier…” and the list goes on.

· pp. 650 line 21: “REPORTING OF OWNERSHIP INTEREST BY PHYSICIANS IN HOSPITALS AND OTHER ENTITIES THAT BILL MEDICARE.”

· pp. 654: Special rules concerning things that are not made public.

· pp. 665: reporting of health care associated infections in hospitals & ambulatory services. (Why does the federal government need to be in charge of this?)

· pp. 671: Distribution of unused residency positions regarding Medicare Graduate Medical Education. The Secretary of Health and Human Services seems to be granted the authority to decide how many residents train at hospitals even for primary care.

· pp. 740: Billing Agents, Clearing House, or other “alternate players” required to register under Medicare

· pp. 840: Fees imposed on insured and self-insured health plans.

· pp. 846: taxes imposed on certain insurance policies.

· pp. 849: Voluntary home visitation for families with young children or expecting children. (Why is the government even talking about home visitations and what is to keep it from becoming mandatory later on?)

· pp. 868: Public Health and Workforce Development (Not sure what this is supposed to be other than another Bureacracy.)

· pp. 894: Awarding of grants to medical students. Preferences is to be given to those in primary care who are minorities, or those serving in areas experiencing “health disparities”, supporting teaching programs that address health care needs of “vulnerable populations”.

· pp. 911: Establishment of a Public Health Workforce Corps. that is supposed to ensure the adequate supply of public health professionals throughout the nation.

· pp. 926: Adapting Workforce to Addressing Health System Needs

o Part 1 is about health professions training for diversity

· pp. 932: Another bureaucracy is set up. The Advisory Committee on Health Workforce Evaluation & Assessment

· pp. 949: Task force on Clinical Prevention Services established

· pp. 956: task Force on Community Prevention Services

· pp. 977: Quality & Surveillance—supposed to ensure quality of medical care

· pp. 985: the Assistant Secretary for Health Information is required to collect data and report on the nation’s health and health care.

· pp. 993: Drug discount for rural and other hospitals. (How we are to pay for that doesn’t seem to be mentioned.)

· pp. 1005: School Based Health Clinics set up.

· pp. 1034 line 19: Public option created to compete with private plans in the Health Insurance Exchange.

o pp. 1036 line 3-6: “shared responsibility among workers, employers, and the government; so that all Americans have coverage of essential health benefits.”

· pp. 1047: Get to keep current plan as long as no changes are made in it & that it was in effect before the bill is in full effect.

· pg 1092: The Secretary will conduct a study to encourage the use of electronic health records.

· pp. 1106: reinsurance program for retirees

· pp.1136: A commissioner specifies benefits to be made available under the insurance exchange.

· pp. 1156: Appointment of a special inspector general for the health insurance exchange.

o this inspector is to be made by the President of the United States without the consent of the Senate.

· pp. 1162: Individual states can apply to the Commissioner to have their own insurance exchange that is separate from the federal one, but they have to have approval from the federal government.

· pp. 1167: Another mention of the Public Health Insurance Option to compete with private plans in these insurance exchanges.

· pp. 1174: Prescription drug rates are to be negotiated with the Secretary of Health and Human Services that are not paid for under Medicare. (This sounds a bit like price controls to keep drug prices artificially low.)

· pp. 1176 line 16-24: The authority of the Secretary of Health and Human Services to set payment rates for physicians not under Medicare cannot be challenged by Judicial or Administrative review.

· pp. 1193 line 1-25: Individuals and families who receive credits for insurance must report to the government any changes in income

· pp. 1199: This is where the section of “Shared responsibility” starts. It appears that under this section employers and individuals are to share the responsibility of making certain that the individual has adequate and affordable health insurance.

· pp. 1212: Civil penalties for employers who fail to meet requirements in providing health care to employees. (This basically makes it mandatory that all employers, whether from big or small businesses, must provide some sort of health insurance to their employees, even if they cannot afford to.)

· pp.1215 line 20-21: Employee tax imposed on employers who do not comply with health coverage requirements. This pertains to the National Health requirements.

· pp.1216 line 4-7: Excise tax on employers who do not comply. This also pertains to the National Health Requirements that are in the bill.

· pp.1224: Tax of 2.5% imposed on individuals without acceptable coverage.

· pp. 1232: Reporting your insurance on tax returns.

· pp. 1237 line 4-13: Penalty of $100 a day for each day an employers fails to meet Health Coverage Requirements.

· pp. 1240 lines 1-8: An excise tax is to imposed on employers who choose not to participate in the Health Coverage Requirements.

· pp. 1253: Surcharge on high income individuals

o 1% on those making between $350,000-$500,000

o 1.5% on those making between $500,000-$1,000,000

o 5.4% on those making $1,000,000 or more

o Taxpayers not filing a joint return will pay:

§ 50% of each dollar amount if married and filing separately

§ 80% of dollar amount in any other case.

· pp. 1369 line 17: Physician Identification Numbers

· pp. 1447: Begins Medicare & language studies & provisions for non-English speakers.

· pp. 1476: Extended months of coverage of drugs for kidney patients. (It is interesting that there is a provision in the bill to extend coverage of drugs for kidney patients. If everything in this bill is supposed to be affordable, then why must there be a provision in here to ensure drug coverage. And not just ensure it, but extend it. Could this be the beginning of rationing.)

· pp. 1480: Another mention of Advanced Care Planning and it’s mandatory participation including the “end of life” counseling.

· pp. 1484: The frequency of individual participation in Advanced Care Planning increases as health changes.

· pp.1488: Secretary of Health and Human Services determines the quality measures for end of life care and Advanced Care Planning (referred to as ACP).

· pp.1491: Provision for the Secretary of Defense to devise a method of identifying individuals who are eligible for enrollment for Tricare, but have not enrolled and informing them of their eligibility. (If they are doing this for Tricare, what is to stop them from doing the same for other health insurance programs?)

· pp. 1499-1510: Authority given to the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a program to promote primary care, mental health services,& coordinated care without judicial review or any challenge. (This is the second instance where the Secretary is allowed complete control over something and cannot be challenged. Sounds more like a power grab than anything else.)

· pp. 1545: Provision for Coverage for Marriage and Family Therapist Services. (Apparently the government want to make sure that beside physical health, we are also provided with mental health. However, All of the provisions for counseling can easily be used to control people.)

· pp. 1885: Fee imposed on specified insurance policies.

· pp. 1886: Fee imposed on self-insured health plans

· pp. 1893 lines 13-22: States can apply to the Secretary of Health & Human Services for a grant to provide home visitations for children and families expecting children.

· pp. 1902 line 20-24: States that receive such grants must submit reports to the Secretary of Health & Human Services concerning home visitations.

· pp. 1920: This talks about obligated service in the Primary Care Workforce. (I’m not certain who all is required to be part of this obligated service.)

· pp.1925 lines 8-14: The Secretary if Health & Human Services can set up Frontline Health Providers Loan Repayment Program

· pp. 1958 line 17-24: Establishment of Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program

· pp. 1990 lines 5-12: The Secretary (of Health &Human Services) has to provide to Congress and National Strategy of improving the Nation’s Health.

· pp. 1992: Establishment of a Task Force on Clinical Prevention Services

· pp. 2056 line 21-24: National Medical Device registry

· pp. 2098: Section of House Committee on Education And Labor begins

o This section seems to deal with Grants and financial aid to college students

· pp. 2152: Section on Student Loans—This seems to be mostly amendments to an earlier section of the bill.

· pp. 2205 line 14: Grants for Public School Facilities

o pp.2214: Alabama, Mississippi, & Louisiana get supplemental grants to improve the structure of their schools

· pp.2221 line 3: Begins a section of funding for “Green Schools”

· pp. 2227 line 7: Establishment of Advisory Council on Green, High Performing Public School Facilities.

· pp. 2241 line 19: Begins section on Early Learning Challenge Fund

pp. 2301 line 12-23: “OPEN ONLINE EDUCATION.—From the amount appropriated to carry out this section, the Secretary is authorized to make competitive grants to, or enter into contracts with, institutions of higher education, philanthropic organizations, and other appropriate entities to develop,evaluate, and disseminate freely-available high-quality on

line training, high school courses, and postsecondary education courses. Entities receiving funds under this subsection shall ensure that electronic and information technology activities meet the access standards established under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d).”

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.

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.