Neutral and Detached Healthcare? Just Ask NYC

Finally, some of the stimulus money is being spent. And on something useful!
The government dished out one billion dollars to various cities to enable their law enforcement agencies to hire extra personnel.

Brilliant! Fantastic! I mean this is a great way of spending the much awaited funds: creating new jobs while keeping us safer.

But get this: guess who was left out? New York City! You know, the city that has been and continues to be a consistent target of terrorism.

However, this post is not about New York City getting the shaft from Big Brother. This post is actually about government controlled healthcare (or anything government controlled for that matter).

How did the government determine which cities deserved funding that would allow them to increase their police force?

Well, the acting director of the Justice Department office administering the program, Dave Buchanan, said that his office used a “uniform system of evaluating applicants” which “allowed us to review applicants in a neutral and detached manner in order to best allocate funds”
Read that very carefully. Mr. Buchanan was offering us a very honest insight into how government bureaucracies make decisions; decisions that affect our daily lives.

The government is cold and calculating; objective and bottom-line oriented. We are a government “of the people” and people work beyond the scope of mathematics. Of course we are logical creatures, but we are also emotional, thoughtful and able to utilize all the traits that make us human while making decisions. This truly makes us a unique species. Government, however, is also its own entity; a entity that thrives on formulas, charts and spreadsheets.
Formulas can work out well on paper but can also miss the point.

Anyone reading this would have enough knowledge from life experiences to realize: hey, New York City would be a smart place to invest in increasing security. It is the financial capital of the world and it has already been the victim of two terrorist attacks, one that has completely changed the world we knew it. But, when New York City was plugged into the formula, they were rejected.

When you read Mr. Buchanan’s words “neutral” and “detached” you should start rethinking government controlled healthcare.

If you are ever in the need of a surgery that can prolong or even save your life, do you really want some mathematical formula determining whether or not you are worth the expense? Do you really want your healthcare determined in a vacuum void of human experience; one that is “neutral” and “detached” when determining how to “best allocate funds”?

I do not know about you, but I want my healthcare provider to be extremely subjective and attached. I want them having a shared investment in my healthy existence. I want them to place my existence above all us when deciding whether or not my insurer should be allocating funds.

My god people!

Obamacare: Isolate Opposition. Apply Pressure. Lie.

Last night, Americans sat around their TVs watching the president try to sell his healthcare plan. Many of the viewers were yearning for clarity; they were hoping for change, myself included. Instead, many Americans turned off the TV, scratched their heads and walked away numbed by the president’s vagueness.

The speech was eloquent with the typical flawless Obamaesque delivery. However, it lacked substance. This speech needed to circle the wagons in congress and convince Americans that healthcare will evaporate in this country unless we implement this legislation and do it now. None of that was really accomplished.

Americans are not going to buy into the idea “that society as we know it will cease to exist unless we act now”. We did that once before and the memory of the stimulus package still stings. While we all know that America’s healthcare needs reform, none of us think we will all be left to suffer if we don’t act now. In fact, most of us think that we should take a step back and think this thing through so that the reform truly changes the system for the better without crippling our economy or burdening taxpayers or falling short of any of its goals.

The speech did not cultivate bi-partisan support. Obama really wasn’t reaching across the aisle last night. Instead, he used his prime time spot to vilify the opposition.
All in all, the speech truly failed to convince Americans or members of congress to jump on board the Obamacare train. What, then, is the president’s next step?

Isolate opposition. Apply pressure. Lie.

Isolate Opposition
Today Roll Call reports that Democrats are preventing Republican House Members from sending their constituents a mailing that criticizes the health care reform plan. All official mail sent by members must be approved. The piece in question here is a chart created by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) that illustrates the organization of the Democratic health care plan (I posted it a few days ago).

The Democrats in the house are holding these mailers for further review. They are going to stale for as long as they can. Americans deserve to know the truth about the healthcare reform that their representative is going to vote for or against. After all, that is the definition of representation; members of congress go to DC to watch out for our interests. Controlling media and communications isolates the opposition and allows the Dems to run a propaganda machine.

Apply Pressure
Today, the House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn announced that he wants to cancel or postpone the August recess in order to pass Obama’s healthcare plan. The president and the Democrats definitely want this legislation rushed, but I think Rep.

Clyburn, no doubt acting on behalf of Pelosi and the White House, has another agenda.

It has become abundantly clear that Americans do not support the current legislation. Every poll that was released over the last two days, shows a dramatic decline in support for the president on the healthcare issue. Remember: elected officials are at the mercy, and rightfully so, of their constituents. If members of congress go back to their districts, they will be bombarded with complaints and concerns from angry constituents. After a few weeks of direct contact with the people they are meant to serve, members will return to DC even more skeptical of the president’s plan. Support will inevitable erode and we will get the opportunity to see if this really was Obama’s Waterloo.

That is unacceptable to the White House and Democratic leadership.
Therefore, keep congress in session during August. Keep them away from the pulse of the people and keep them cooped up in their offices, apply pressure, convince, cut deals and twist arms. Summon them to the Oval Office.

Lie
Nancy Pelosi came straight out and said, “I have no question we have the votes on the floor of the House to pass this legislation.” Excuse my ignorance, but if that was true, what is the hold up?

The truth is Ms. Pelosi and the presidents do not have the votes. They can whine and try to blame Republicans. However, the GOP is powerless in this process. The Dems have majority control in both chambers of the House. They control the Executive Branch. If the Dems wanted this bill to pass, it would in the blink of an eye. However, the truth is that not all of the Dems are on board just yet.

Rep. Mike Ross, a leader of the Democrat group called the Blue Dog Coalition said, “No, I don’t think they have the votes.”

With every passing day the likelihood of them rounding up the votes before the fall seems impossible.

This isn’t going to be the president’s Waterloo, it will be his Titanic. Realizing that his overwhelming charisma is not enough to get the job done, Obama has reverted back to old school Chicago political tactics. He might be an inspirational speaker and brilliant politician but Mr. Obama is a lousy leader. Healthcare is a serious issue, and, Mr. President, your 15 minutes of fame over. Get off the cover of People Magazine; stop touring the world. Sit down and get the job done. Listen to the voice of the American people. You work for us, not the other way around. Stop talking and messing with my TV schedule. Start doing, accomplish and succeed. We don’t have time or patience for your mind games.

Oh, and read the bills before you advocate for them! As a rule of thumb: read than approve.

Obama Intimidates Elmendorf - America and Tyranny

The day has started off on a scary and weird foot. This morning, Obama has summoned Douglas Elmendorf, the director of the Congressional Budget Office, to the White House.

Clearly, Obama meeting with the leaders of various industries, as he has, is not all that unusual. However, summoning Mr. Elmendorf is extremely inappropriate and highly suspicious.

Mr. Elmendorf is the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This is an independent agency that reports directly and only to congress. It was created to be free of political influence and to present congress with a truly objective perspective. This is how the CBO describes their role on their webpage (http://www.cbo.gov/aboutcbo/budgetprocess.shtml):

CBO assists the House and Senate Budget Committees, and the Congress more generally, by preparing reports and analyses. In accordance with the CBO's mandate to provide objective and impartial analysis, CBO's reports contain no policy recommendations.

On July 16th, Mr. Elmendorf testified before the Senate Budget Committee about the healthcare legislation currently proposed in the House (you know, the plan that Obama has been talking about nonstop for weeks). He was there to offer a little perspective and objective analysis of the bill. And, it wasn’t good for the president’s plan.
During the testimony he explained that this legislation did not offer "the sort of fundamental changes" that would reign in the costs of healthcare. He went further saying:

"the changes that we have looked at so far do not represent the sort of fundamental change, the order of magnitude that would be necessary, to offset the direct increase in federal health costs that would result from the insurance coverage proposals."

His words had a rippling effect causing Democrats to begin rethinking their support for the president’s plan, especially among the more moderate Democrats. His words justified the complaints of the Republicans. Clearly, Elmendorf is a critic of the president’s plan; an extremely legitimate and valid source of dissent.

How did the president handle Mr. Elmendorf’s analysis? He breaks protocol and summons him to the Oval Office on the morning before he delivers a significant address to the nation on the very issue that Elmendorf criticized! Hmm, I wonder: did the invitation come with a dead fish wrapped in newspaper from Emanuel?

Ok, lets sum this up: The president proposed a massive overhaul of healthcare. The director of the CBO, an objective oversight agency, explained before congress that the plan will not and cannot achieve its goals. Elected officials and the general public accept this analysis and start rethinking the plan. In the wake of the president losing support, he schedules yet another press conference/televised national address in a intense PR blitz to defend his legislation (which, according to his own admission in a conference call with liberal bloggers, he has not read in its entirety). On the morning of the address, the lone objective, non-political voice of dissent is summoned to the room with no corners, the Oval Office.

Wow, this sounds a tad Stalinesque.

Nowadays, people throw around words like: fascism, socialism, authoritarianism. Lets loose the “isms” and go with a far more simple definition for the direction Obama is stirring America, shall we?

Nathan Sharansky wrote in The Case for Democracy:

“Can someone within that society walk into the town square and say what they want without fear of being punished for his or her views? If so, then that society is a free society. If not, it is a fear society.”

American has always been the very definition of a “free society”. We are a nation that was founded by men who stood in the town squares challenging their king at the top of their lungs. Freedom is in our bones; it is the bloodline of our country. Our political system is built on the idea of debate, dissent and arguments. Difference of opinion is a concept celebrated throughout the Constitution.

Today, Obama seems to have taken us another step closer to a "fear society". Don't disagree, or we are coming for ya!

Tyrannical rulers silence their opposition, not American presidents.

Obama: New Polls, Bad News

President Obama has blasted through the first six months of his presidency. But, for a man who achieved the presidency after a mere 150 days or so in the United States senate, time is irrelevant. Or maybe it is extremely relevant.

Perhaps the president is simply used to a “roadrunner” pace, but America isn’t.

A six month anniversary isn’t necessarily a tremendous benchmark, but for a president who has quickly and drastically introduced and pressured dramatic new legislative measures, much can be said after six months of work. Beyond that, it is also interesting to see how Americans are responding to a president who they were only introduced to over the last two years or so; a president whose background was void of legislative accomplishments to brag about or who had any significant voting record.

Therefore, as Americas have become acquainted with President Obama, it is worthwhile to see how they feel about what he has accomplished (or tried to) in his first six months in the Oval Office.

Overall, Americans like Obama. While he has begun to see his approval ratings dip, his approval rating has averaged 62%. That is not too shabby at all. But, when you ask Americans about the issues, a very different picture begins to take form.
Americans are facing extremely harsh economic times. When the economy began to tank back in September, many voters looked to Obama to save them from imminent financial doom.

We were promised that the stimulus package would “immediately” rescue the slumping economy and that it would help create jobs while keeping the unemployment rate at 8%. Those promises have evaporated as the economy seems to be worsening with unemployment at 9.5% nationally and over 10% in 14 states. Over 2.5 million jobs have been lost since Obama took office. Where is the stimulus plan’s immediate relief? Where are the new jobs? Empty promises.

Americans want their politician to keep their promises. Obama hasn’t and Americans are not happy. When it comes to the economy, President Obama’s approval rating has dived from 59% in February to 47% today, according to a recent Gallup Poll. 59% of Americans feel that he is spending too much money and 55% of Americans disapprove of the federal budget’s deficit.

The president has made healthcare reform his primary focus; perhaps in attempt to redirect the national dialogue away from the stimulus package’s failure. There seems to be countless press conferences and prime time addresses stressing, once again, the urgency to pass legislation to “immediately” save our healthcare system.

But, Americans aren’t buying it this time around. Maybe the failure of the stimulus package has caused us to be skeptical. Or, maybe Americans don’t want to become a nation with socialized medicine. Either, Americans are frowning.

In a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, 51% of Americans disapprove of Obamacare.
And, this isn’t an isolated poll.

According to a recent Gallup Poll, 50% of Americans disapprove of the way the president is handling the healthcare issue. More interestingly, 55% of independent voters, the individuals who really secured the presidency for Obama, disapprove of the president’s healthcare proposals. Do I hear opportunity knocking on the door of the GOP (please answer!)?

The same Gallup Poll revealed that the majority of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling Afghanistan and Iraq; two areas, interestingly enough, where the Obama administration has kept most of the Bush administration’s policies.
As we reflect on the last six months, it is abundantly clear that most Americans are concerned about the way the president is handling the critical issues facing our country. They might have believed in him a few months back, but now they are beginning to lose their faith.

While we have a long way to go, Obama should be nervous. Americans are patient and they have definitely given this president the benefit of the doubt, offering him some lead way. But, that patience will only last so long before it wears out. The gravel coming down the mountain can turn into a landslide very quickly. Only time will tell.

Obamacare: Can this be more confusing? Seriously...