Tipping point on freedom in America

By William L. Garvin

 

"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it."            Richard Lamm

As we celebrate the 4^th of July with barbecues, fireworks, parties and parades, it appears our country is marching inexorably towards a tipping point.  Rather than a Declaration of Independence, we are morphing into a Declaration of Dependence.  The rugged independence and spirit of self reliance that characterized our previous national success is quickly evolving into a sycophantic dependency on Big Government to solve all our problems and guarantee everyone every pleasure of their insatiable hearts.  The hand up is the perpetual hand out.  Equal opportunity is equated as equal success.  Government should provide you unlimited unemployment benefits, welfare, contraception, cell phones, food stamps, college educations and amnesty.  Government, not our Creator, is now the cornucopia of inalienable rights, benefits, and privileges.  Lost from the entitlement generation is the caution of William Jennings Bryan.  “The chief duty of governments, in so far as they are coercive, is to restrain those who would interfere with the inalienable rights of the individual, among which are the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to the pursuit of happiness and the right to worship God according to the dictates of one’s conscience.”

Take the Affordable Care Tax that has now been ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court.  Forget for the moment that it was a 2,700 page monstrosity passed in the middle of the night along Democrat party lines.  Forget that no one had read it.  Forget that no one could understand it.  Forget that it was never debated on CSPAN as President Obama promised.  Forget that Health and Human Services has now issued hundreds of thousands of pages of implementing regulations that will require an army of lawyers and accountants to decipher.  Forget the Cornhusker Kickback and the Louisiana Purchase.  Just deal with the basic supply and demand principle.  If thirty million more people will now have insurance and access to the health care system, where are the doctors and nurses going to come from to handle this additional workload?  Many states such as California are already suffering a physician shortage.  Throw a few million more Medicaid/MediCal patients into the mix and what do you think you will have?  First, you should anticipate that many Baby Boomer physicians will hit the retirement exit door sooner.  Secondly, expect many of the physicians who continue to practice to restrict or refuse MediCal and Medicare patients.  Thirdly, expect that the Independent Payment Advisory Board with their “complete lives system” philosophies will restrict the services and the level of compensation which will exacerbate the second point.  Remember that Obamacare is also taking $500 billion from Medicare and is supposed to reduce physician fees.  The Associated Press reports that 12.8 million people “start getting health insurance rebate checks in the coming months.”  Bernanke better get busy printing that money and Chinese IOUs!

The fourth point to consider is that affordable insurance does not equate to accessible care.  Given the excessive new patient workload and demand combined with the already deficient supply of medical personnel, delay in service is unavoidable.  The other unavoidable option is rationing.  Of course, the aforementioned Independent Payment Advisory Board would never consider that as an option.  After all, they’re the government and they are here to help.  You can trust them with your life…and you will!

Meanwhile, the new Muslim Brotherhood President of Egypt has vowed to secure the release of the “Blind Sheik,” who masterminded an attempted bombing of the World Trade Center.  Forgive and forget.  At the same time, Iraq’s government seems to be on the verge of collapse less than six months after the U.S. departure.  Approximately 234 people were killed in Iraq in June.  Finally, the European Union is placing further restrictions on Iran’s oil imports.  Not to worry though.  China has increased their oil imports from Iran by 22%, with U.S. approval.  Russia runs war games off the coast of Alaska.  Afghanistan and Pakistan continue to deteriorate and Russia stonewalls on Syria.  The President provides 800,000 lawbreakers with temporary amnesty.  The top law enforcement officer in the country, Eric Holder, is found in contempt but continues to stonewall and also receives presidential amnesty.  As Jonathan Swift aptly noted, “Laws are like cobwebs, which may catch small flies, but let wasps and hornets break through.”  We’ve reached a tipping point on freedom in America.