David

Karki

Read David's bio and previous columns here

June 17, 2009

Obama Health Care: Run Out The Clock to Save America

President Obama and the Democratic leadership of Congress are nothing if not ambitious. Their goal before Congress departs for its summer break at the start of August? The end of America as we've known it, in the form of massive health care and cap-and-trade bills that will destroy the economy and crush personal liberty.

So why would they attempt this? Because it would cement government power – their power – for a long time to come. Just as the nationalizing of GM and Chrysler will effectively result in the dictatorial end of SUV and truck production – as only the teenie-weenie greenie-mobiles loved by enviro-wackos will meet the mileage standards mandated by Obama's EPA – so too will the nationalizing of health care and cap-and-trade be the killing by government of the medical and domestic energy businesses, respectively.

Nothing in either of these industries could occur without Washington's approval. Both would be forcibly re-made in the far-left's manic vision. And they alone would have control, down to the tiniest detail.

Neither new life-saving medications and procedures nor trained, specialized doctors would remain available for long with all the reward for producing them – i.e. profit – taken out of the system. The cost of handing a de facto blank check to those who are already needlessly over-consuming care would prove impossible to afford absent massive tax increases. Government would ration care away from some and toward others whom they deem “more worthy” of the cost.

Finally, your personal behavior would be subject to government diktat, as they would be paying for the treatment of the consequences. If you think this far-fetched, realize that we are in fact a long way down this road already – smoking bans, trans-fat bans, seat-belt laws, proposed alcohol and sweetened-drink taxes, etc. Require care due to an unapproved activity, and watch it be ratcheted down, if not rationed away.

Cap-and-trade would forcibly end coal, oil and nuclear power production in America, not to mention crippling farming. Given what it would do to energy and food costs, it would be an absolutely massive tax increase on every single American.

Plus, your personal liberty would be gone. Everything from your showerhead's water flow to your lawn mower's exhaust would be subject to invasive environmental regulation, and banning on a whim. You'd probably have to file an impact statement on methane emissions before cutting a fart.

But all these obvious and awful consequences are of no concern to Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and their cohorts. They're so close to the totalitarian power they crave that they can almost taste it. They will stop at nothing to get it. No lie is too big to float. Witness Obama claiming he didn't want to take over the auto industry (then why did he do it?), to the total crock of “climate change” (just how abnormally cold does it have to get before we say “enough?”), to the “uninsured” (the number of which the left claims exists goes up almost as fast as Obama racks up debt).

Rahm Emanuel's motto of “never let a crisis go to waste” and its corollary “if there isn't a crisis, invent one” are being employed to the max to mislead and manipulate. Obama never misses a chance to say how all this has to be done right now or disaster will ensue. In fact, the rush is so that no one can see the awful details of these bills before Democrats can pass them and get the foundation of their dictatorial vision firmly in place so it's nearly impossible to roll back.

According to The Hill, there are 45 House Democrats on record who will vote against cap-and-trade, so harmful will it be to their farm and energy-producing districts. When added to the entire Republican caucus, that's enough “no” votes to kill the bill.

But the Democratic leadership is pursuing it full-speed ahead, willing to risk being slapped down by their own ranks. Why such political recklessness? They're consumed by their lust for power. It's all they see, like a race horse wearing blinders.

As for health care, according to the Cato Institute's latest paper, a gargantuan tax increase will be needed. Obama, who lied during the 2008 campaign by ripping John McCain for suggesting the taxing of health benefits, would have to do precisely that and much more in order to pay the $1.5 trillion tab (which is likely a lowball estimate itself, given how far off Medicare's projections were when passed in the mid-1960s). Again, this would seem to be a political kiss of death.

But the Democratic leadership wants health care passed even before cap-and-trade. Why? Because as details trickle out and discussion continues, the more people see of it the less they like it.

The Republicans and whatever Democrats oppose these bills must use every stall tactic available and drag this out as long as it takes, even if it seems they lack the numbers to succeed in stopping them in the end. It already seems clear that if the substance of these bills becomes common knowledge, they will die and with them, the Democrats' attempts to seize total power and end America – for now, at least.

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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