“Kiss America Goodbye”

By William L. Garvin

The retching sound you heard a week ago Saturday night was the national gag reflex after Speaker Pelosi and her statist minions crammed 2000 pages of government health care tyranny down our American taxpayer throat! Never before have I seen such arrogance and disdain for the will of the people nor such a blatant expansion of government power.

While many Americans believe there needs to be a curtailment of rising health care costs, in no reputable poll does a majority of citizens support Obama-care or Pelosi-care or a government option. Nonetheless, here we go. Shades of San Francisco’s Gavin Newsome: “Here it comes…the door’s wide open now…like it or not.” What is it about San Francisco politicians?

The charade of a debate was about as predictable as Kabuki Theater. Republicans would read portions of the bill and point out flaws; Democrats would say they were wrong but would never read the specific language which would prove the error. There was an unending series of 1-minute statements that were all printed up in advance and submitted for the record. There was no discussion of opposing points or language. There was no debate. It was a dog and pony show complete with both parties using children as stage props despite empty warnings from the chair.

I now believe that truth is the first casualty in the House of Representatives. I even heard Sheila Jackson Lee refer to the bill as “concise.” But then, Representative Lee also likes to talk on her cell phone while her constituents ask her questions at her town hall meetings. Nice parallel universe you live in, Ms. Jackson. There is no doubt that if the Pinocchio Effect was in play, Jimmy Durante and Cyrano de Bergerac would not even be in the ballpark with these prevaricators! Joe Wilson, we sure could have used you last Saturday.

No cuts in Medicare? It will only be about $500 million in “waste and fraud.” Wait a minute…if there really is that much waste and fraud, why are we using Medicare as the model for the government option? Why do we think that over 100 of these new commissions and boards and agencies will be fraud free? Why do we think that NOW, for the first time, after many years of abject fiscal failure, we will have a new government agency that will go where no government agency has ever gone before? Or do you just want to believe in Santa Claus?

Four hours of discussion for 1,990 pages of government gobbledygook that represented one-fifth to one-sixth of the American economy that had been available for less than a week! How is that “hope and change” thing working out for you now? Why does the AMA support this bill even though Investor’s Business Daily found out that 45% of doctors will consider quitting their practice if this bill is enacted into law? How come there are no processes for increasing the supply of doctors even though the workload is about to increase by tens of millions of patients?

As for bill particulars, if you make more than $500,000 per year, your tax rate will go up 5.4 percent. Why don’t we just outlaw rich people and take all their money now instead of slowly bleeding them to death? If you’ve gone out and purchased really good health insurance, what the government calls a “Cadillac plan,” you will get to pay a surtax. If you didn’t purchase a Cadillac plan, guess what? You’ve got a surprise coming. Forty percent of the difference between what you pay and $12,700 will now have to be declared as income. There won’t be a tax increase but there will be new income that will be taxed. Isn’t that clever? You dumb American taxpayers will never figure that one out. Also, there are untold millions of costs that are off budget and being transferred to the states as an unfunded liability. You probably won’t notice when states have to increase property taxes and sales taxes to pay for these new responsibilities.

You probably also won’t notice that there is no significant tort reform in this bill. The fact that the trial lawyers’ political action committee gave 96% of their donations to Democrats is pure coincidence. Oh, and don’t look in the fine print to see that states that do have tort reform have to be punished by this Pelosi-care extravaganza.

You could have predicted that this bill would be steamrollered. After all, when the lesser HR 3200 was exposed to daylight, the contents did not stand up to public scrutiny. It incited a passion across this country, at town halls, in congressional offices, and over a million people at the 9/12 meeting in opposition to the onerous and ridiculous contents. Despite non-stop presidential campaigning, SEIU union thuggery, and ACORN activists, American citizens continued to protest their opposition. So, Pelosi and Reid did what they do best. They went behind closed and locked doors and wrote their new bills. In the meantime, what promises were made? What threats were made? How were the arms twisted? We all know “the Chicago Way.” We also know that the supposedly fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats turned into lapdogs or Blue Puppies that needed potty training. All bark and absolutely no bite.

If you read our United States Constitution, nowhere does it say anything about health care. In fact, nowhere does it say that the government has the power to make any citizen buy anything. If you want to read it again, there are very limited functions and powers provided to the federal government. No matter how many times you read it, health care ain’t there! James Madison said “If Congress can do whatever in their discretion can be done by money, and will promote the General Welfare, the Government is no longer a limited one, possessing enumerated powers, but an indefinite one, subject to particular exceptions.” If so, then to paraphrase Janis Joplin, “Obama, won’t you buy me…a Mercedes Benz!”

Now of course, there is the “General Welfare” clause but how can a system designed to provide benefits to a minority of citizens be considered as general welfare? It can’t! When Speaker Pelosi was questioned as to the constitutional authority for Obama’s health care proposal, she dismissed it with a “you can’t be serious” non-answer. Later on, her spokesman clarified “You can put this on the record: that is not a serious question. That is not a serious question.” Au contraire, my friends; it is a VERY serious question! In Mark Alexander’s essay of October 29th of this year, he chronicled similar ignorance on the part of House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, and Senate Judiciary Chair Patrick Leahy.

The “General Welfare” clause was written by James Madison and is found in Article 1, Section 8. When an expenditure of funds was requested of an early Congress, he noted “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents….” And here I thought that the President and all the lesser public servants in Congress and the cabinet swore to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic….” Pogo was right: “I have seen the enemy and they is us!”

So, look back, America. This year, there’s that $800 billion stimulus bill that has been an abject failure but you still have to pay for it. There’s the Cap and Trade fiasco working its way through Congress that will raise your utilities about $1,500 per year. You will have to pay. Don’t forget your water and sewer fees doubling here in Rio Vista that you will have to pay for. And that little old $24 billion unemployment/housing incentive bill passed last week that you will have to pay for. Now we’ve got a new trillion dollar health care bill that you will also have to pay for. Bend over and kiss your wallet goodbye and kiss the middle class goodbye. Now, stand up and kiss your freedom and kiss America goodbye!