There is little doubt that there will be some form of a health care bill passed by congress this year. The main question seems to be whether this overhaul will include a "public option" or not. The "public option" is simply the government playing the role of insurer and offering an insurance plan in direct competition with private insurance companies.
The "public option" is also just another name for single-payer, or government run health care; Socialized medicine, under another name. No one doubts, and even the Democrats wink when they "deny" the fact that the "public option" will be used to drive private insurers from the field (you cannot compete with a "company" that can print money on a whim). Once the government is the "single payer" it will, as it already does with Medicare (the most inefficient form of medicine in our country, btw) set doctor's income and the price of all medicines and tests.
The effects of this type of Socialization, or government control of medicine, can be seen in countries that have already adopted this type of system. Those are the countries where the poor get sicker, the aged get euthanized, and the rich fly to America for health care. Namely, Canada, England, France, Germany, etc. Canada's reduced prices for medicine come off of the backs of Americans paying full price, and this is a travesty! But what will happen to Canada's sweetheart deal when America socializes medicine and forces drug companies to lower prices here? Well, if they cannot make a drug at a profit, they will quit producing those drugs. Many medicines could become unavailable at any cost, or perhaps only available illegally through a black market.
And the Democrats bald-faced declaration that there will be no rationing either proves they are liars in the extreme, or fools without the ability to recognize what is going on in the rest of the world! All socialized medicine is rationed, to believe that they can create a non-rationed system in America is ludicrous. Any system were demand is higher than the available resources is, by definition, a rationing system. The current system controls demand by pricing. Not fair, many claim, but I propose the benefits of a pricing controlled system outweigh the drawbacks and the alternatively proposed government rationed system is fraught with more perils and pitfalls. And congress knows this, or they would be the first to sign up for their own health care. However, every bill without fail, clearly and specifically exempts congress from their carefully crafted health care!
"Here, take this medicine", Dr. Congress offers a vial to the American Patient.
"But, is it good for me?" We ask. "Oh, yes, it is socialized medicine, it will cure what ails you!" "Have you tried it?" "Heavens no, its only good for you, the people, we your leaders would never drink this stuff!"
Even without a "public option" government, all of the various health care overhaul bills active in the House and Senate are terribly flawed. One of the most important issues, one that even divides Democrats is the forced funding of abortion provided for in these bills. The "Hyde Amendment" claims to insure that "public money" cannot be used to fund abortions, but it is in reality an accounting slight of hand, requiring that every State provide an insurance option that includes abortion coverage, requiring even that the States go out and recruit a provider if there are none locally willing to provide for abortions, and requiring that abortions be funded through the insurance premiums charged to all insured.
All people will be required to purchase insurance in the Senate version of the bills; just as all people are required to purchase Automobile Insurance in most, if not all States. And like failing to purchase Auto Insurance causes there to be penalties, failing to purchase Health Insurance will come with some amount of financial penalty. Employers will likewise be required to provide insurance for all employees or pay a penalty. This quite obviously amounts to a brand new Health Insurance Tax that will directly effect employee take home pay and drive many small businesses out of business.
"So what is the answer?" you ask. Well first let me say that our system is not as broken as congress would like you to believe. The main problem of price controlled medicine is that only the rich will ever have the very best care. However, like everything else, it is those who are willing and able to pay for the very best care that drive the innovations that allow that care to become less expensive and more common place. Brand new technology is expensive because it takes a lot of time and effort to develop it! Just like the latest and greatest electronic gizmo is very expensive at first, bust as newer gizmos are created and the costs to mass produce the older gizmos comes down, they become affordable to more and more people.
"But health care is a basic right, not a TV set!" you might argue. You may or may not be aware, but in this country it is currently illegal for a hospital to turn anyone who needs life-saving emergency medical treatment away, without regard to their ability to pay. And that is how it should be. But to stretch that idea and claim that the very top of the line medical treatment should be available to all is to ignore the reality, that there simply is not enough to go around, and even if there were, there is not enough money to pay for it.
We could feed the whole world too, if it wasn't for the fact that farmers, truck drivers, ship owners, etc all expect to be able to make a living and feed their own families! The same is true with health care. If we stifle innovation, and give up advancing technology, we can just barely give basic health care to all people, but it would drag everyone down to the lowest common level!
If we want to stop the spiraling out of control costs of health care we must first end the expenses in areas we can control without killing innovation.
Namely Tort Reform!
No Party Loyalty - A Call to Action
Conservatism owes no party any loyalty, as neither party has shown loyalty to conservatism.
In my lifetime, the Republican party was home to conservatism through the auspices of President Ronald Regan. Before my time, the Democratic party was actually the home of conservatism. But there seems to be some illness in Washington, where liberalism appears to be the way to stay in power, so both parties have raced to abandon their core conservative ideals for the illusion of power through extreme liberalism. We owe the Democrats no loyalty, they long ago abandoned the ideals that made America great. Neither do we owe the Republican party, which when elected to power, was quick to trade in the very ideals for which it was elected for the desire to stay in power, through the illusion of compromise with liberalism.
But what Regan knew, and the Washington-based party insiders forget, is that the vast majority of Americans, those who self-identify as Democrat, Republican, and increasingly Independent, share the same common ideal. The value upon which this country was founded, the Constitution was written, and that has made our country great. We all believe in self-responsibility.
I call upon all Americans to vote for the candidates that best exemplify the, not just "conservative", but all-American ideal of self-responsibility and all that it entails. The biggest, most visible aspect of self-responsibility is smaller government. If we the people take responsibility for ourselves, we have less need for an over-expansive government to "care" for us. I put "care" in quotes because in all actuality responsibility is liberty. Self-responsibility is just another way of saying personal liberty, and government care is just another way of saying government control, the antithesis of liberty.
I call upon all American to encourage and vote for the candidates who will invest in America and Americans. The only way we will recover from our current economic woes is for we Americans to elect a government that will radically cut spending and instead invest in the one and only area that can truly grow our economy. That one area is we, the working citizens of this country. And the only way the government can invest in us is by cutting taxes.
Money is power and taxes are control. By cutting taxes, the government returns liberty to the people. With more money, more liberty available to the we people, we can then drive the engine of the economy by personally investing in our own innovations, grow our own businesses, and even invest in the businesses and ideas developed by our neighbors, our fellow citizens. Growing our buisnesses means more labor will be required opening up even more opportunity. This was called "voodoo economics" in the eighties by the power elite in Washington, because they fear the freedom, the lack of government control, this approach entails.
I call upon all Americans to encourage and support the candidates who best exemplify the ideal of self-responsibility by ending all public funding for the heinous, racist genocide called abortion. It is a well know fact that the woman who founded the leading abortion industry player, Orwellianly-named "Planned Parenthood", was an extreme racist and supporter of eugenics. Her organization has succeeded in her plans, in that self-identified blacks would be the majority in this country if not for the actions of Planned Parenthood and the other industry players. However, Planned Parenthood has risen above its base roots and now is merely driven by greed, as abortion has become a multi-billion dollar, tax-payer funded industry. It reaches out and destroys with equal disregard for life to all people.
This cancer must be excised. The millions of Americans, sacrificed on the altar of convenience, represent an entire missing generation of ideas, dreams, and hard work. The ultimate in self-responsibility isn't a mother's right to choose (she has already made that choice, by having sex), but the right of the innocent unborn child (who has had no choices, ever) to life.
In my lifetime, the Republican party was home to conservatism through the auspices of President Ronald Regan. Before my time, the Democratic party was actually the home of conservatism. But there seems to be some illness in Washington, where liberalism appears to be the way to stay in power, so both parties have raced to abandon their core conservative ideals for the illusion of power through extreme liberalism. We owe the Democrats no loyalty, they long ago abandoned the ideals that made America great. Neither do we owe the Republican party, which when elected to power, was quick to trade in the very ideals for which it was elected for the desire to stay in power, through the illusion of compromise with liberalism.
But what Regan knew, and the Washington-based party insiders forget, is that the vast majority of Americans, those who self-identify as Democrat, Republican, and increasingly Independent, share the same common ideal. The value upon which this country was founded, the Constitution was written, and that has made our country great. We all believe in self-responsibility.
I call upon all Americans to vote for the candidates that best exemplify the, not just "conservative", but all-American ideal of self-responsibility and all that it entails. The biggest, most visible aspect of self-responsibility is smaller government. If we the people take responsibility for ourselves, we have less need for an over-expansive government to "care" for us. I put "care" in quotes because in all actuality responsibility is liberty. Self-responsibility is just another way of saying personal liberty, and government care is just another way of saying government control, the antithesis of liberty.
I call upon all American to encourage and vote for the candidates who will invest in America and Americans. The only way we will recover from our current economic woes is for we Americans to elect a government that will radically cut spending and instead invest in the one and only area that can truly grow our economy. That one area is we, the working citizens of this country. And the only way the government can invest in us is by cutting taxes.
Money is power and taxes are control. By cutting taxes, the government returns liberty to the people. With more money, more liberty available to the we people, we can then drive the engine of the economy by personally investing in our own innovations, grow our own businesses, and even invest in the businesses and ideas developed by our neighbors, our fellow citizens. Growing our buisnesses means more labor will be required opening up even more opportunity. This was called "voodoo economics" in the eighties by the power elite in Washington, because they fear the freedom, the lack of government control, this approach entails.
I call upon all Americans to encourage and support the candidates who best exemplify the ideal of self-responsibility by ending all public funding for the heinous, racist genocide called abortion. It is a well know fact that the woman who founded the leading abortion industry player, Orwellianly-named "Planned Parenthood", was an extreme racist and supporter of eugenics. Her organization has succeeded in her plans, in that self-identified blacks would be the majority in this country if not for the actions of Planned Parenthood and the other industry players. However, Planned Parenthood has risen above its base roots and now is merely driven by greed, as abortion has become a multi-billion dollar, tax-payer funded industry. It reaches out and destroys with equal disregard for life to all people.
This cancer must be excised. The millions of Americans, sacrificed on the altar of convenience, represent an entire missing generation of ideas, dreams, and hard work. The ultimate in self-responsibility isn't a mother's right to choose (she has already made that choice, by having sex), but the right of the innocent unborn child (who has had no choices, ever) to life.
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