Political Corruption
No matter how far you look, even in our wonderful state of Pennsylvania, you will find nepotism, cronyism and lots of corruption. Some think Luzerne County, my home county, leads the corruption brigade for the country. If it weren't for Cook County (Chicago), Maybe they would be right!
All of these ills occur at the local level, the state level, and also on the national stage. When special interests and lobbyists flaunt their affiliations with our current leaders, it is a prescription for bad government. All of the corruption must end now! None of us should care in which level of government corruption occurs. It is all bad, and the people are the losers!
This is a fairly lengthy essay and the tone is to help us all unite to eliminate corruption in many aspects of government and the political process from ideology to honesty and truth and the lack thereof. . There are three main parts to this essay. In the first part, we discuss corruption in Washington DC, and how it affects us, and what we can do about it. In the second part, we look at NASA and other areas in which the US is about to abrogate its leadership role in the world. In the third part, we wrap it up with a look at healthcare with Obamacare and what is neded when we finally repeal this corrupt and dishonest legislation. FiInally, we summarize and offer a few additional points to help US prosper in the future in a less corrupt world with a stronger America.
There are a lot of crummy people who feel very comfortable living with other crummy people in a sea of corruption in Washington D.C. Because there are so many truly rotten people in Washington, every day the bad ones see the bad ones, and they ask themseleves if they can possibly be that bad. If they asked you or me, the answer would bemuch different.
Lobbyists have become a scourge on America and each day they convince our representatives that the representatives are good people because they follow the wishes of the Washington Insiders. Without hearing a countervailing message from the people back home, the politically enabled in Washington emerge ready to serve their own self-interests the very next day. It is a shame that the corrupt politician feels no shame, but it is a bigger shame that only the lobbyists hear their confessions.
Before we talk about the influence of lobbyists on government decisions, let's look at some thoughts that regular people have about lobbyists. Here are the best responses on yahoo.com as the answer to the question of "What is a lobbyist?"-- "People/companies/countries who pay money to get their message heard from the government. Its basically a bribe." The next best on Yahoo is: "A lobbyist is an activist usually paid by an interest group to promote their positions to legislatures.
Exploring the notion further we find that lobbying is the preferred means of exerting political influence in rich countries; and corruption is the preferred one in poor countries. The evidence suggests that lobbying and corruption are substitutes for each other and thus they are equivalent. Therefore, the people need no longer guess as to why the government no longer appears to represent the people. It simply does not. Perhaps it cannot.
Our "honorable" representatives have learned from their corrupt environment in Washington DC that cheating their fellow man is OK. Their real teachers and friends in Washington are the lobbyists. This staunch group of determined money changers have more access to our representatives than the supposed represented—that would be US.
Will your representative pick up the phone if you call? Yet, lobbyists see them every day. They wine them and dine them at every opportunity. The lobbyists are always fighting for some cause that is important to a company, a union, or a governmental agency. When our representatives resolve to become fully corrupt, as often happens, they can no longer tell the difference between positive overtures and selfish propositions. They come to think that life is all about them.
"Legal" lobbying against the public for a private concern, using dollars or anything else as an incentive is immoral. Even if we cannot do anything about it because it is legal, it is still not right! Most of us "know it when we see it.” Eventually, our representatives, unfortunately, believe that such taking is OK. After a few good grabs, they become part of the super-rich and corruption is the path to their gold.
When we suggest it is legal, we must remember that our continually corrupt Washington Congress determines at a national level what things are legal and what things are illegal. Most sins, for which plain folk would be jailed, are pre-forgiven by Congress for Congress, simply because they declare it so. They are a special body for sure, but they are hardly "honorable."
From the second term onward, representatives seem to be much more well-to-do than what we pay them. They have a lot more status and net worth than they had when they left our local areas for their respective elected offices. What happens is that they begin to exist in a plain above the common man in a highly exalted land with no local constraints but one: Every now and then, they must come home to get reelected. At those times they are very public and they are seen everywhere. They are always available for photo ops, which make them look like they really care for the people. Instead of shunning these two-faced parasites and castigating them for their poor behavior, we the people are often so enamored to be in their company that we pose with them and then we brag about the photos to others. Thus, there is no public chastisement for the politician gone bad, even from those who know first hand their degree of dishonesty.
All Americans are hurt when the politically corrupt get the wrong message from the people. Reelection is the worst message that we can send but there are a lot of other messages that can make the corrupt politician feel like it is OK.
The gain of a politician, who takes lobbyist perquisites makes the country less than what it should be otherwise. Corruption is insidious, and the relationships our trusted representatives form while in Congress make them players who are in the on deck circle for Hell, but they make the most of their time before the big burn. Most politicians eventually get their time at bat, but the devil is a pitcher of only curve balls. Some get caught and thrown in jail while others simply die and are swept into the eternal abyss to pay off their debt. Eventually they all get their "reward."
In the meantime; the people suffer because the process is inherently flawed in favor of the lobbyists, and the corrupt participants. The people have little role other than that we help the corruption by maintaining our silence.
Place a pure person in the midst of the corrupt in Washington, and that person immediately will quickly identify the stench of unbridled greed and corruption. "Ask what you can do for your country," is no longer on the agenda. We may not want to believe it but our 545 representatives, who have sworn to uphold the laws of this country, and who we really depend on to do their job, have taken their toll on the country. They have taken us from unassailable greatness and exceptionalism to being the laughing stock of the world. Their reckless, drunken-like, spending to assure their own elections has placed our America in Harm's Way. .
Can you believe that we are the world’s greatest debtor? Is that an "accolade" we should be proud about? We always do have hope as long as we do not follow the 545. Let us not give in to these bootlickers. They are killing our country because nobody has the intestinal fortitude to tell them that they are bad for America. Their giving in to corporations, unions, and government agencies hurts all of the John Q. Public's out here. They know it but many of us let them get away with it because we simply cannot beleive they can be so evil. They are.
Well, what can regular people do? We in the bleachers must come down to the field where the game of life is played and simply say, “Hey--you guys are bad for America!” Then, we need to chase them all home, and not let their replacements stay long enough to get corrupt. We also need to come up with better ways to deal with the stench of corruption caused by lobbyists.
There is no question that the worst of the worst are the bought and paid for politicians. These lost people have hijacked our representative republic. They have stolen our America. They sold themselves to get elected, and then they sold us out to the special interests and anybody with an open wallet and the promise of a big campaign war chest. They have enriched their own lives at the peril of us all.
While I was a Senate candidate, I hoped that I could make it through the primary election season ending on April 24, 2012, without having to take a dime from anybody. I was able to do that in my congressional bid in 2010 and I was rewarded with 17% of the votes in PA-D11 for a personal cost of about $4,000.00. Unfortunately, as the system exists, early in 2011 when i decided to run for the Senate, I knew I would not be able to reach a state full of Pennsylvania citizens without taking campaign donations. SO, I acquiesced and decided to do so.
But, because I am not and will not ever be a politician, and I am against the new country-breaking precepts of the Democratic Party for six months, though my donation site was available, nobody chose to give. My message did not matter because there was no conduit in which I could get it released. I posted all my messages on my web site but without a budget, I had a tough time attracting any donors though thes site got a lot of hits from very active web surfers. As a regular person, without all of the tricks in my hat that a seasoned politician has, I was unable to attract attention to the fact that I was wiling to help my country out of its mess.
The press did their job, but it has it constraints also. Even if the press liked me, they cannot be giving free sapce to a regular guy and then charge the politicians for the same thing. Thus, most News outlets reduced anything I said into sound bites that were so innocuous and diluted, nobody, including Bob Casey Jr., my opponent, even cared.
I could have promised that special interests would not be special to me as a US Senator, but nobody would have heard it. . Maybe that is why I never received a single campaign donation though the donation site was up for at least six months.
There are two sites that always presented my message as intended and I thank them sincerely. Steve Urbanski from the Examiner. Take the Link, always presented the facts, and Melissa Sabol from the Wilkes-Barre Record did so also. Thank you both. From a press perspective, the Times Leader in WIlkes-Barre was the most fair. None of the TV stations or radio stations felt that I had anything newsworthy to say and so there were no offers for time. The moral of the story is that without campaign cash, which is synonomous with the wprd politician, a regular Joe cannot run for higher offices in this country. The deck is stacked against the people.
My plan, if elected, was to be dedicated to the people of Pennsylvania. I was also ready to be dedicated to the people of America. My perspective is that If any of us can work to solve America's biggest problems, we will have solved most of Pennsylvania's at the same time. I would have been pleased to serve but now, as I update this article so shortly after withdrawing from the race, I must admit that I am releived. I did my best to be able to serve, and yet, circumstances prohibited my being able to serve. I can now take a deep breath of fresh air.
When this article was part of my active campaign for the US Senate, I ended the prior paragraph with a message: "Feel free to send me a few bucks and I will use them in my campaign. If you send me nothing, that is fine. I will still do my best. I promise. Donate if you wish at www.kellyforussenate.com."
I am out of the race so nothing you do will help me get elected and so my new plan is to go through the rest of my life never being elected to any political office, while still doing my best to impact the debate in America. So, if you choose to donate on this site, I approve. It will help me pay off a few lingering campaign bills. Additionally, now that the pressure of running for office is gone, I would be pleased to go to state events for conservatives, D or R, and speak on behalf of the Senatorial candidates. Anybody who is not a clone of either Bob Casey Jr. or Barack H. Obama is a person I would consider backing. Just send me a note and I will be there. If it is OK with you, let's continue our discussion of political corruptness.
We Can No Longer Trust the Congress
The 111th Congress (2010 to 2011) compared to all others was especially heinous. They could not let something go without making it worse. The 112th House is not so bad but the 112th Senate is just as bad as the 111th and probably much worse .
If the Senate were reasonable in 2011, and if it did its job, the people would have been served. But, this Senate, the historical House of Lords, played Obama ball the whole time it was in office and so it deserves our collective disdain and an unceremonious sendoff for its poor efforts and poor results. Nobody in the Senate that is up for election, in my opinion, should be brought back, unless, of course, they take my pledge that is on this Web site. And, for some, even if they are willing to take the pledge, I might ask that there be a Polygraph Examiner present, with the candidate all properly wired up. Do you really trust politicians to do anything for the people?
As an aside, Michael Moore, one of the few people who can still walk while being just a tad larger than me, but who apparently is much younger than I, wears a baseball hat to look more American than he really is. I don't. I Know that I look American without a hat, and I am proud of my American look.
Anyway, his eminence, Mr. Moore told us all in a magazine article about the essence of Obama. He used a basketball analogy and he said: "Obama fakes right and then he goes left." If it were not a basketball move, it would be a lie. If Michael Moore, despicable soul that he may be, knows that about Obama, then why do we even pretend that Obama is a fair player? He is a narcissist faker, and from my eyes, Bob Casey Jr. who learned little from his great family, is molded to his side. So, where does that leave US?
Corrupt is as corrupt does.
A few years ago, you may recall that the infamous Wall Street Bailout Bill started out as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. writing a simple three-page proposal to the President. Paulson’s three page plea to save America was clearly a “why not” proposition. It was Paulson’s idea as to how to fix the problem, about which all of our experts, except Paulson, were confounded. Paulson had a simple solution but the faux experts knew the solution needed to be much more complex so some good pork could be part of the deal. It needed to include a little eye of nute, (my pardons to the former speaker) a bit of crony capitalism and some large dashes of favoritism here and there. Three pages just would not do it. Sorry Henry!.
Once in the hands of this crazed 111th Congress, the three pager that Paulson viewed as a “simple and to the point proposal,” morphed into a 451-page monster with unrelated tax-extensions, tax-increases, and energy legislation. Why should America have to endure pork in order to survive?
Thank you Congress. But, no thanks!
At this point, our inimitable Congress had yet to learn that they had the power to force a few thousand extra pages of legislation, earmarks, and simple gratitudes on the public. They learned that very quickly, however, in the next twelve months. Corrupt legislators just can't help doing the wrong thing.” Spend! Spend! Spend!” is their mantra though in the background they hear the new country tune of today: "Broke! Broke! Broke!" If there is no spending, there can be little corruption. That is why they are predisposed to spend--even when nothing is in the treasury.
Isn't Congress’s inability to stop spending the biggest reason why the “American Public” were and will always be skeptical of any other bailout plan? Isn’t it why voters still know we cannot trust the Congress?
Obamacare -- something for every special interest
Whether it is the bailout bill or any of the other of the monsters leading to the 3000 plus page Obamacare bill that narrowly passed in 2010, most citizens believe that it should be against the law to vote either "for or against" a legislative bill that you, as a legislator have not read, or have not had a trusted advisor read 100% to you. Can we get a poll as to who voted for Obamacare and yet chose not to read the legislation? Would Robert P. Casey Jr., Pennsylvania's august Senator be among the ignominious who voted without reading? Ask the Senator yourself before you ask him to take a second term! When he had a second chance to repeal Obamacare, Casey still loved Obama more than Pennsylvanians.
Sorry Mr. or Mrs. Representative, Sorry Mr. Casey and many others. It is not OK to vote on a bill that you haven't read that will spend millions, if not billions and trillions of the people’s tax money! From in the bleachers, i see that you have not provided representation. You perpetrated malfeasance of office. And, the 111th Congress and the 112th Senate with you as PA's Senate incumbent, Mr. Robert P. Casey Jr. have a lot, for which to answer.
From the evidence I, now freed from running for office, have seen, I would decree: “guilty as charged.” Mr. Casey, however, living on a plain of life different from most PA citizens will not respond because we Pennsylvanians do not make him respond. While a candidate, I requested that the Senator debate me, and instead of saying no, he chose not to speak to me even though he represents me as I am still a Pennsylvanian. Casey is a big shot, and he is a politician. Now that I have withdrawn from the Senate race, I am proud to say I am still just a little shot in life and I am not a politician. I do know who I am -- just a regular Pennsylvanian. I admit that I looked forward to debating Mr. Casey on the issues. From what I see, it would have been an eye-opener for Pennsylvanians who support the Senator simply because his father was such a good person and a good PA Governor.
Government Is Rarely the Answer
Even my party, the Democrats find it convenient as the country is falling apart to quote Ronald Reagan. They now admit that Reagan was as a person of sound mind with a penchant to help people who looked to be successful in life. Ronald Reagan was a great man and members of my party, the Democratic Party have belatedly chosen to recognize him as such today. It took awhile, but since he is the late Ronald Reagan, there are no politicians who need to worry about running against him.
Despite cherrypicking Reagan's words and choosing those that fit the notion of socialism and Marxism, few as they may be, Democrats forget that Reagan said that the solution to America’s problems is not more government. Can it be that the socialist / progressive Marxist elite Democrats, ruling the masses today missed that part of Reagan's message. Why would a good anc competent person want government bureaucrats, instead of themselves to make their decisions? The answer is obvious. They would not.
Should government bureuacrats make your decisions for you?
Think about how many government administrators that you have met in your own life. Which of them actually cared about you? Which cared about your needs? I know the answer but how does that mix with the notion that the government beleives the people want more, not less of the crumbs its minions have to offer in benevolent fashion?
Do you want more people who think they are better than you deciding the next path you may take in life? Do you and I simply wish to be free? We all know that there is already too much government. Increasing the portion of a bad thing is not going to make it better. We int We also know that government workers are not as motivated to excel as those in private industry. Big Government simply doesn't work, but it has the power to ruin a country.
Government cancels the Space Shuttle & NASA
Despite the Space Shuttle tragedies from years back, if you are looking for something that government has done right, look no further than NASA. NASA has consistently been one of the government's only bright lights of accomplishment. This was not because there was a bloated bureaucracy in NASA. Instead, it was because NASA always had to run lean and mean. They got the best and the brightest Americans to take on the challenge of being Astronauts or working in the development labs or in Houston. What stellar accomplishments—and they were of the government, but they were special people, very brave, who would never say, never!
Ironically, continual de-funding and NASA budget cutting over the years dimmed NASA's lights and the US is no longer the leader in space. Obama does not appear displeased. Unlike Walter Cronkite who yearned to be on one of the space missions, the President has no desire to be shot into deep space. The more I think about that, it does disappoint me. How should we feel that Obama decommissioned the most successful agency, other than the Defense Department, which he is now working on. Don;t you ask where is the press in all of this? Our press is no longer rooting for America. Reporters are all looking over their shoulders, afraid to report the truth to Amarica or we would be hearing about the demise of our space program from all of the media.
Unfortunately from all accounts, the press is now a propaganda arm of the Obama administration. If we had an honest press, they would have informed all of us that our space program is gone because Obama and Bob Casey would prefer to give that funding to help your neighbor down the street in his desire not to work. Is that corruption? WHat else can it be?
Thanks to the Casey / Obama team, your neighbor will not have to work and one day America will no longer be a super power. Space, as it will be defined one day, will again become the distance between two objects within your sight! Hang on to your moon-shot pictures.
Ironically, US agencies, manned by people paid by American citizens, have concluded after much work, that either Russia or China, the eventual US takeover countries, will be kind to Americans. It's up to Russia and CHina to fight for the spoils of America. These two repressive countries may not like all the phone gadgets Amerians use, especially the youth, and they will quickly learn to hate anything that begins with the letter, "i." However, they can be expected to promise that they will make sure each American has at least two to ten people to whom they can communicate with daily.
The Russians and Chinese may not like iPhones, iPads, iPods or anything of the kind, but they do like the notion of "I can." as in they can. How about this new humanistic technology they re-discovered. They will surely adopt this as the official means of communication in the new US or whatever its new name shall be. Think of using vocal chords and ear drums, and you will have gotten the right perspective.
The "You and I who work" will not have it as good in the Russia / China days since we will have to pay our neighbor’s way. But, there will be more than enough propaganda to eventually ameliorate any bad feelings we may have. Additionally, it may make us all feel better about most people not working while we, the few who want to get ahead in life, work like b-stards and feel the full load.
So, by becoming less capable in Space with a capital S, the cost to other Americans may not be as great since we will have stopped trying to spend American dollars for world domination. So, we may all have a few more pence in our purses. Once we Americns give it up, and we eliminate the DOD, we can count on our eternal friends, the Russians and the Chinese. They will be pleased to take over. Of course, because of their integral sense of righteousness, they will surely honor our government's social security and Medicare obligations. So, we will all be home free. Amen!
But, if we actually make it without a Russian or Chinese bailout, the benefits of being a dependent of the US governemnt will increase and even more proportionately towards the timing of the next election.
In the end, while our families are figuring out how to make ends meet and how America is to be kept safe, our Obama-dependent neighbors may be able to add more lobster to their diet.
Is all of this really good for US? Is it good that President Obama has pulled the plug on the Space Shuttle and future space exploration? Is it good that Robert P. Casey Jr. agrees with President Obama? Is it corruption or incompetence? Is it good that we have become a world weakling? No Space Shuttle makes the US dependent on the Chinese and Russians to put up our Military satellites, GPS systems, TV satellites and the like. Is that really good for our National Defense? If you are already longing for the days when the Chinese and/or the Russians rule America, you no longer have to read this essay.
It is ironic that in one of the very few things that government control has helped in a positive way, the Space Program, where we really needed government; our sweet, friendly government has shut it down. To whom do you think this administration actually listens?
Bob Casey is in sympatico with B. H. Obama and so we have learned that Senator Casey does not offer a dissenting voice to the dismantling of American strength and the American economy. As Pennsylvanians and Americans, therefore we must find somebody else. I can no longer be your choice for US Senator. We must find a good person, whose name is not RObert P. Casey, Jr. Casey may be OK with changing the country to a China or RUssia controlled America but he is not good for our America. This is a very important election coming up as the complexion of our country is at stake. We all must make sure that we think before we vote.
An inert NASA is only a symptom of the big problem. The government has gotten so big that it is looking for things to do. Parkinson's Rule says that work expands so as to fill the time for its completion. Bureaucrats now feel it is their business to controlling even our most innocuous activities. For their own reasons, they have great interest in controlling our bodies, our bedroom, our light bulbs, and even our toilet paper. Obamacare, which will grow the government size by an additional 1/6th is pushing the bureaucrats to become the center of our lives.
When you examine the notion of government control of healthcare, think of it as a final example of a government power grab. We will rue the day if we permit a government chock full of indefatigable ineptness to get between the doctor / patient relationship. With so few doctors, it would appear that less doctors is the plan as practicing doctors are a major dissenting voice on Obamacare. What do they know that we do not know? To which government employee are you prepared to surrender the care of your health; your parent's; or your children's?
And, by the way, those infamous Sarah Palin death panels that nobody wants to talk about in the mainstream press. How about those? How are they doing? Have they gone away. Were they never there? Are they really imaginary talk? What if they are real? What if they are an integral part of the plan. Would we all be surprised?
Obamacare is designed in over 3000 pages to reduce the cost of health care. So what if a few more people die if the costs can be lowered! Economist Thomas Sowell has taken note of the stark reality that government health care will not reduce the cost of care; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. Sowell notes that those who will suffer the most when they ration care are the sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. When the government takes over health care, Rich Americans, such as the lawmakers that passed the legislation, will be inconvenienced but they will live. They have the resources to take junkets to Costa RIca for care while poor Americans, who will be paying little, will be getting very little on the way to an early death.
Sarah Palin noted that "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."
Despite the mounting evidence that Palin had it "dead-on," progressive ideologues hold fast to their love for the government takeover. Meanwhile doctors and surgeons are preparing for when the government panels tell them they must say no. Check this out!
A caller to the Mark Levin show (full story in above link) in November, 2011 offered some frighful details of the implementation of neuro death panels to reduce the cost of brain maladies that are often very expensive to treat. The verdict by bureaucrats is that the patient should receive comfort care until they die and that is that.
A neorosurgeon named Jeff called into the show to inform Levin and the rest of the country how far the death panel notion has gotten. The message is that if you are over 70, you may be able to get morphine but don;t expect life-saving treatment. You, my friend have lived your life. Jeff had just returned home from a seminar in which the government explained the new rules to the surgeons. It was all documented and official and produced by HHS (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). It was all about what Obama's PPACA means for neuro-patients aged 70 and over.
Jeff said, " If you’re over 70 and come into Emergency Care for neurological reasons,” e.g., a brain aneurysm or bleeding in their brain, and you’ve covered by Obamacare, “advanced neurosurgical care is generally not indicated” — you get just “comfort care.”
There will be an Ethics panel in shich neorosurgeons and administrators sit and they in essence make the determination about comfort or life-saving treatment. If the whole decision is on cost and age then 70 year olds will have a tough time. One might as a cost-saving measure that five administrators and one neurosurgeon would be a proper makeup of a death panel to assure a five to one vote each time. Perhaps the new regulations will save Medicare and Social Security as a side benefit if there are less patients needing real treatment at the end of each day. In case this message was not clear. The government is planning to withhold neurosurgery to older patients since it is the most expensive of all surgeries.
Even extremely liberal progressive columnist Eugene Robinson, a self-described “true believer” who supports Obamacare and anything else Obama offers, supports this opinion on death panels: “If the government says it has to control health-care costs and then offers to pay doctors to give advice about hospice care, citizens are not delusional to conclude that the goal is to reduce end-of-life spending.”
We should thank Sarah Palin for offering this wake up call on Government social engineering. This type of corruption is not from political greed but from an ideological progressive zealotry that replaces the need for God with the need for government. If that pleases people, then let them go for it. For me, I'll take my chances with my doctor.
We do not need the government for healthcare. With EMTALA as a base assistance, and Medicaid for those most needy, nobody, including illegal aliens is denied care today. Many ER bills go unpaid yet the law still requires that all patients receive treatment. Obamacare is not the answer. It is government control of our lives.
That does not mean that we do not need healthcare reform. The parts of health care insurance legislation, which we need the most, shoudl be enacted now, even before Obamacare comes into play in 2014. I want Obamacare repealed and when it is repealed, we need to quickly reform the health program with the following:
- No preexisting condition / exclusions and / or excessive charges
- No policy limits
- No cancelation or rate changes when you get too sick
- No pricing penalties for potentially unprofitable clients trying to gain insurance
Ask your doctor what he or she thinks? Clearly without the four issues noted above, nobody’s health plan is adequate. If I were to have become your Senator, I would have been pleased to put forth legislation in my first 100 days in office so that the resolution to these four issues could have passed immediately in a small 30 to 60 page legislative package that would have been readable by the American people as well as the Congress. Make sure the Senator for whom you vote does the same thing.
There would be no Cornhusker kickbacks and no Louisiana purchases included to corrupt the legislation. Obamacare and its 3000 pages of federal restraints on our health and well being must be repealed in the same bill, as it should have been in early 2011. Whether we are R or D, government run healthcare will be an abomination and a scourge on all of us.
There are many things wrong with Obamacare and that is why intelligent Americans are against it. The bribes to pass it will never be forgotten. But, many, especially Senior Citizens will be hurt by the lies that form the basis for the funding of the bill. Yes, our politicians lie to us and with the help of the mainstream media, no countervailing information in the form of the truth is given.
Seniors may or may not know that Obamacare was funded partly by the government confiscating funds that employees pay into Medicare and redirecting those funds to Obamacare. Not only did they take it once. They took it twice according to HHS Director Kathleen Sebelius. The Secretary who admitted to the double counting back in March, 2011. The question from Rep Shimkus of Illinois was whether $500 billion in Medicare cuts were used to sustain the program or pay for the law.
Shimkus nailed Sebelius for her dishonesty: “There is an issue here on the budget because your own actuary has said you can't double-count,” said Shimkus. “You can't count...your law, cut $500 billion from Medicare.” Shimkus continued: “Then you’re also using the same $500 billion to what? Say your funding health care. Your own actuary says you can’t do both… What’s the $500 billion in cuts for? Preserving Medicare or funding the health-care law?." You could almost see the canary feathers fly from her mouth when Sebelius replied, “Both.”
The bottom line for those hoping to depend on Medicare is that employees are funding Obamacare from their paychecks rather than funding Meidicare. This administration has great disdain for the elderly and in many ways wishes they would just go away. By removing essential care and treatment from Medicare by placing funding in Obamacare, the administration may help Seniors just go way.
Insurance problems must be fixed.
Many of us are being denied insurance today under the current system, simply because we may have chosen to cough at the wrong time, or we answered a few too-personal intimidating questions truthfully on the application, or we had to endure seventeen thousand other questions, and we forgot the insurance company's intentions were not to find reasons to cover us but reasons to deny us. We all know because God gifted us with intelligence that if we had ever been sick for somthing as innoculus as a spider bite, an insurance company would bet against us. This is our country, and all Americans should have the opportunity to purchase health insurance without being measured for sickness.
WHat we have today is a system that can be made better with simple legislation. We do not need legislators going to Washington to help the insurance companies persist in denying coverage to needy people. Insurance companies need government to do one thing. Make all insurance companies behave by the same rules. If one company today is benevolent and offers coverage to all the sick and the indigent, and those requiring constant care, that company would go out of business for sure. So, we can't blame insurance companies for wanting to survive. We can blame our legislators, however, for permitting them to survive without addressing the needs of the people in the US.
Eventually everybody will be bit by a spider or suffer a bout of depression when they lose their job in today's world, Permitting an insurance company to deny coverage to people when they need it the most is a sin committed by corrupt lagislators who should know better.
To solve this once and for all, our Congressmen and Senators must submit a fifty to ninety page bill that offers the four points noted above. The people do not want to be be snookered by legislators adding 2700 or 3000 more pages than needed to a 50 page healthcare bill that would otherwise be acceptable.
Nobody wants to give up their freedom for somebody elses passion. The people must demand a less than 100 page health care plan that takes the power of who is covered from the insurance companies and it puts the power into the hands of the people. While we are at it, insurance should be sold nationally though individual states should have the power to regulate it within their own borders.
There are too many people who have been denied coverage because they have had a form of anxiety ot as noted above, they may simply have a spider bite or some other innoucuous problem that catches the attention of an insurance company. If Insurance companies can offer group coverage with no physicals, then Americans with no insurance should be able to gains sponsorship by the government or some other entity and become a group, with the same rights as all other groups who get insurance with no physicals. Insurance companies have been enabled to charge the American people for whatever they can get and deny those that might bring down their bottom lines by a few pennies. That, ladies and gentlemen, is why there are still people who want Obamacare. Sove the problem in the ligislature and nobody will want Obamacare. Because there are a few problems that must be fixed in health insurance, I am not interested in a system like Obamacare that places all of us under the government's thumb! One day, government will move its thumb, and we will be left without care.
Oh, and did I say that despite the possible greatness of the HIPAA law, did any of us know that the health insurance companies or their brokers or some snitch someplace somehow can learn about all of your ailments so they can deny you coverage. Whether this is the law or not, this is a fact. Quite frankly, if a snooper over a counter or a hacker got to learn my birth date or that I had a cold last year, I would not mind. However, an entity that is looking to deny me health insurance coverage because of information they have obtained by hook or crook, I do have a big problem with that. If physical exams or heatlh information were not permitted in the evaluation of insurance, this would not be as big a problem. Pre-existing condition legislation must fix this problem also.
I find it disturbing that insurance companies or brokers in their interviews with prospective clients know more about the patient's health history than the patient? How is that? A person cannot even get that information about a relative or loved one. Somehow, an insurance company would be able to get information about your long dead grandmother if they are ready to seek action that they are entitled to her estate, but you can't. They can also find information about your daughter or son, who after years of coverage on your plan, they must come off. How is it that the insurance companies have this information and parents cannot have it? A parent cannot find out if a child is pregnant or not yet, ans insurance company somehow knows it. I do not think that is OK! It seems a bit corrupt to me.
Other than the four situations noted above, which all Republicans and all Democrats swear to fix, as well as repairs to HIPAA, the private sector seems to be doing just fine in its entrepreneurial effort to provide excellent healthcare to all Americans. And, yes, it can be made even better and more affordable but not by putting companies out of business or forcing all Americans to give up their personal health insurance.
So why would the US government want to control our healthcare? It is because it is a great source of power over the people. If you give government control of your health, what do you have left? If the government can say "no" to your being well, if you are not careful in your political affiliations, theoretically, with a bureaucrat in charge of your healthcare, you may not be permitted to get well, and the people in the back chambers of a smoke filled room may be happy that you are on your way out. Do you really trust a government run by corrupt politicians?
The only way to assure that government does not make important life decisions for you is to maintain control of your own health and keep the bureaucrats out of the relationship between you and your doctor. While we are at it, we need to take better care of our doctors while they take care of US. Doctors must be permitted to make a good living. With more and more bureaucrats earning well over $100,000.00 per year, many are doing much better financially than even our family doctors. Does this make sense in a free country? Maybe it is not so free. And maybe that’s what we now must assure. Send home any politician that you think has been corrupted by the system. if you are not sure, send them home anyway as it is safer for America.
People from all over the world come to the US because we have the best healthcare and the best health remedies available in the entire world. US innovations in health products are the envy of the world. Why should our government want to change that? The one word answer is “power.”
When government officials control who gets health care, which government official do you think will be denied? Who do you think the new government employees (1/6 of the nation) would want to vote for? Big government does not work and it won’t work for you or me and that is why it must be kept out of healthcare. Those working for big governemnt may have a differing opinion! Think of all the things government mismanages and ask how little sense it makes to give them anything else to manage, especially our health.
When you really need health care, if government officials are in control instead of you, who decides what procedures you can and cannot have? That is the big problem for us all. Let me ask again: "Do you really trust the government?"
Besides the healthcare debacle, the Casey / Obama team, as we discussed earlier in this essay, also want to give control of outer space to Russia and China? Surely these fine world neighbors of ours, Russia and China, would not want to shoot a rocket or a missile at us once we admit that we have no capability of striking back. Soon, only Russia and China will have the only technology that can send a rocket ship to outer-space, bring it back, or use it to attack an enemy. Would we be defenseless in our new Obama world if either of these countries chose to strike the US from outer space?.
If my late dad were to try to size this up, he would say that somebody in the government has their head screwed on wrong. Ask your dad! What does he think? I think he would agree. Government will always be laden with corrupt and incompetent people. It should do only what the people cannot do for ourselves. It should stay out of the doctor/patient relationship. It should be in outer space and America should be the best.
Government is also the best entity for defense and to the extent that outer space has to do with defense, government should be the vehicle the US uses to maintain superiority. Government is also very good with roads and a few other things. We can handle healthcare ourselves. So, I would like to deliver this message to Mr. Obama and Mr. Casey: “Feel free to put up another space ship anytime you wish"
Moreover, please insist that your next Senator introduces legislation that puts America back on on top of the space game. Maybe we can use the Department of Education funding or the Health and Human Resources budget or the dollars from the useless EPA to get back in space. We should get rid of all those useless agencies and balance the budget. Our new legislators should promist to work to see that happen." Obviously, I am no longer running for the Senate, but we can all adopt the sound reasonaing of a population that wants to be successful. Don't get snookered by your government.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Casey, in these last months of your terms, please do not bail out any other US industries. Mr. Obama, when you take your next wad of cash from corporate America for your $billion dollar reelection campaign, would you please tell the American people that most of it comes from Wall Street?
And when Americans, by truth, learn to believe that Wall Street is controlled by Harvard Democrats with allegiance to fellow progressive Barack H. Obama, we can tell them all to go home while we rebuild America as a country for Americans first.
And, if they will not listen, we can simply say that we, the co-authors of this essay love America, and once we all sign up to love America, America, our land of the free, full of liberty, will prevail again as the spirit of the individualists who founded this great country continue ready to serve.
God bless America in the fashion presented to us all by our Founders.
Amen!