By Syndicated Blogs on December 21, 2009 7:07 PM
|Permalink
Rock the Vote suggests young voters use flirting and sex to persuade opponents of the Obama/Reid/Pelosi health-care-reform bill to change their position.
As a young person, I find such a video degrading to suggest my political philosophy is as whimsical as sexual attraction or that sex should be used as method of political persuasion.
How Americans obtain and pay for health care is an important topic that deserves open and honest debate about the real costs of adding hundreds of pages to the law books.
It's too bad that Rock the Vote is probably encouraging young people to disengage from this important debate because it's over-the-top desperate attempt to garner support for an unpopular bill.
Dick Morris points to a study by Oliver Wyman that suggests that the proposed health care reforms will increase premiums for young people by as much as 35 percent.
"These increases will stem from the bill's provisions that bar insurance companies from raising rates on sick people and from excluding people based on pre-existing conditions. Both of these mandates will mean higher costs for the younger and healthier population. This bill is, in effect, a tax on the young."
Instead of engaging young voters on the topic, Rock the Vote reveals how weak the Obama/Reid/Pelosi health-care-reform bill really is in terms of helping reduce the inflated costs of health and medical care in America.
I think more young people would engage in politics if they weren't treated like sheep. People respond to expectations...
We need more intelligent discussions about what can be done to help improve our current system, which happens to be better than any system in the world.
For example, why aren't we looking at how the Federal Reserves "lending" affects health care costs?
Eagle
Forum Collegians Summit was my first trip to Washington, D.C. and the
historical significance and richness of the marble monuments and
towering flags encircled me with a renewed pride in America. The number
of conservative students I sat with during the conference was a new
experience. I was glad to be in the company of so many students my age
who feel about our country as I do. A
motivating speech by Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota opened day one
of the conference. With as much energy as any of the 18-24-year-olds,
Bachmann bounded up the steps with a shining smile and eyes aglow with
the passion of a woman on fire for her country. Speaking
on the crucial goal of saving our sovereignty, Bachmann urged the
students to become active advocates of individual freedom as well as
sovereignty. She said this must be accomplished with the cooperation
of the American people, and she warned that the trust involved in
cooperation doesn’t come from taxing citizens into poverty.
“Transnationalists are about pushing away the traditional American
values,” Bachmann said. The
foundations of freedom cannot be cast aside in the effort of achieving
an alleged betterment for the greater good. Forcing socialist agendas
down the throats of the American tax-payers is not a proper tactic to
preserve the U.S. Constitution or the American standards of life and
liberty. Over-taxation and freedom do not go hand-in-hand. The
recent call for a global currency, the governmental buyouts of private
corporations, and the climbing income tax percentage on everyday
American citizens are not the kind of governmental intrusion we need. Noting
how strength can come in various guises, she contrasted the sovereignty
designed by our Founding Fathers with the power grab by the “lovers of
power” holding governmental offices today. “Never
before in American history has one party been so dominated by the
Democrats and by such a power-grappling agenda,” Rep. Bachmann said. The
students scratched feverishly away in their notebooks as Bachmann
encouraged her listeners to pay heed to the misuse of power occurring
in our country, using the example of other failures of socialism in
foreign nations as evidence to discontinue the power grappling in
Washington. An
increase in laws, taxes and regulations is like a set of heavily
restrictive shackles. Each chain link is like another law; each pound
of iron like another tax percentage weighing us down. In an effort to
equalize, the federal government’s endeavors only enslave.
Leaning
over the podium, Bachmann called for help from young patriots to stem
the erosion of the traditional American values of life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness. “The rug of freedom is being pulled out from
under you,” Bachmann said. “We’re in a slow surrender of our national
sovereignty.” The
primary instrument in the defense of our state and national sovereignty
can be narrowed down to perseverance in retaining one value, one goal,
one main purpose: liberty.
If
we want to enjoy the freedoms our grandfathers fought for, we must
speak our minds and share our beliefs; saving our sovereignty demands
no less. Personal freedom cannot exist without economic freedom; the
former cannot exist without the latter. “Liberty…is the gift of all
gifts,” Bachmann said. The
eagerness of the students gave me hope for a future where we have the
right to earn and keep what is ours; where we can gain strength as
individuals, as families, as states, and as a sovereign nation. “Our nation is aching for you,” Bachmann said. “This is your test of bravery.”
We
were all raising our red, white and blue banners of liberty, ready to
take on the challenges ahead and fight for the freedoms we love.
By Syndicated Blogs on December 17, 2009 3:05 PM
|Permalink
FEE sent out a great link to an VPR interview with Howard Dean on the lack of support for the monstrous Senate bill means its death. Dean suggests that "the best thing to do right now is kill the Senate bill and go back to the House and start the reconciliation process, where you only need 51 votes and it would be a much simpler bill."
Ok, so Howard Dean isn't suggesting that the recent polls showing opposition to health care reform (almost 56% oppose it; only 19% strongly favor it) makes it a dead duck, but that certain characteristics of current 'reform' plans aren't really 'reform' to make it real 'reform' to get public support. Congress should just start over in the House, he suggests, and make it more simply--a.k.a. more centrists and get rid of the bribes.
Meanwhile, Obama said during an ABC interview that if we don't spend trillions of dollars on this 'reform,' the government will go bankrupt. He's built a straw-man case for passing costly reform. Is it possible that there are other ways that new government programs to "rein in" health and medical costs? Maybe the free market?
Both are half way right. Dean is picking up on the fact that Americans--right or left--don't really trust +2000 page monstrosity of health care 'reform' and Obama's picking up on the fact that our unfunded liabilities--medicare, medicate, and social security--are on the brink of bankruptcy.
By Syndicated Blogs on December 9, 2009 11:02 PM
|Permalink
I went to a press conference today in the Chesterfield Valley to find out more about an effort by at least 22 states to pass constitutional amendments to protect the medical care choices of individual Americans.
It was great to find out that the St. Louis Metropolitan medical Society and the Missouri State Medical Association oppose the bill in the US Senate, called the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" (HR 3590) because it "does not adequately address some of the most important problems in the current system." These organizations "fear that the proposal would increase the cost of health care and allow unaccountable government bureaucrats to stand between patients and their physicians."
