Liberty MavenThe Dirty Little Secret
July 21st, 2009 10:07 am | by Mike Miller | Published in Bailouts, Big Government, congress, DownsizeDC.org, law, Liberty, Obama, Politics | 11 Responses
D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
Quote of the Day: “Yesterday Democrats in the House introduced a 1,000-page national health-care plan. To make sure at least some people read it, they named it ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Pound Proposal.’” – Conan O’Brien
During the Presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised he’d do something Congress wouldn’t, post bills on the Internet for five days after passage before signing them into law. Yet he has failed to do this for any bill, and now has formally changed abandoned his promise.
It’s easy to see why. Consider the AIG bonus provision in the stimulus bill. Had Obama waited five days to sign the bill the bonus provision would likely have been exposed sooner, and Obama would have been pressured to send the bill back to Congress. But it was the Obama Administration that wanted the provision in the first place!
If the Read the Bills Act (RTBA) had been in force, however, Obama’s broken promise would be irrelevant. Under RTBA, all bills would be posted in their final form for seven days before Congress votes on their passage.
Some may say that Obama didn’t personally know about the AIG bonus provision, but that’s not the point. The point is, Obama’s a party leader and political parties exist in order to raise money for themselves and grant favors to those who help elect them to power. Obama may not have known about the AIG swindle, but he appointed the people who pressured the Democratic Congress to pass it.
More than lobbyists, the most corrupting influence on Congress is the President of the United States. This is the dirty little secret of American politics. Most provisions of bills that increase the size, scope, and power of government aren’t written by a lobbyist, or an ideologue in Congress, but rather by the Administration. This is how it works regardless of whether a Republican or Democrat is in the White House.
Congress is now considering whether the federal government should take total control of your health care. Most of the legislation they’re considering wasn’t written by them, but by the Obama Administration.
Is it so unreasonable to tell Congress to at least know what it is they’re passing?
The 1,017-page health care bill (H.R. 3200) was introduced on July 14 and already two committees have approved it. It’s hard to believe that any staff member of these committees read the bill in full, let alone any member of the committee. It will be harder to believe that any other member of Congress will have time to read it before it comes to a vote.
This health-care “reform” is not from the people, it’s from the Obama Administration. The least we can do is ask the representatives of the people in Congress to actually read the bill. Even better, however, would be to demand that they introduce and pass the Read the Bills Act. In your personal comments, tell Congress that just because Obama’s Administration may want something included in the health care bill doesn’t mean the people want it. Tell them that if they vote for it, they will be held personally responsible for every word and provision of the bill.
And tell them that if they don’t want to have to consider 1000 + pages of legislation, that they should introduce and pass the Read the Bills Act.
To illustrate the irresponsibility of Congress, in the last two weeks the House and Senate combined to pass 28 bills totaling 931 pages. To see the bills Congress passed, see the blog version of this Dispatch.
Thank you for being a DC Downsizer. We’re introducing something new this week: instead of listing new members of the Read the Bills Act Coalition in bunches every one or two weeks, we’re going to mention new members as they join us. To see the latest member and to see how we’re growing, check out the Keeping Score section below my signature.
James Wilson
Assistant to the President
DownsizeDC.org
KEEPING SCORE
New Read the Bills Act Coalition member: Defeat the Congress. To join the Coalition, click here: http://www.downsizedc.org/coalition
We grew by 313 net new members since our previous report last Wednesday! This brings us to 2,942 net new members for the year. The Downsize DC Army now stands at 27,298 — nearly 30% of the way from 27,000 to 28,000!
We can also grow faster by spreading the word through the media. Please help us do this by starting a monthly credit card pledge — it can be as low as $5 a month (which is just 17 cents per day). You can start your pledge using our secure online contribution form.
Please let us know if its okay to advertise your support here:
NEW MONTHLY PLEDGERS IN JULY: Val Grayson, Arlene Aquino, Susan Varey, Chris Sengenberger, John DiLiberto, 3 unlisted — 8 total. FROM JUNE: Bryan L Anderson, Janet Rea, Timothy M. Dyer Jr, Kenny Harrill, Ryan Sharif, Katherine Durham, David C. Flathmann, Maggie Culver, Ginny Rober, Dwight E. Baker, David H. Abernathy, John Murphy, Jeremiah J Blanchard, 6 unlisted — 19 total
Or, you could make a one-time donation. Please let us know on our secure contribution form if its okay to advertise your support here:
NEW ONE TIME DONORS IN JULY: Bonnie Hofer, Anita Binns, Brian O’Neill, Richard E Camp, Travis Walston, Donald Grahn, Sonja Thompson, 8 unlisted — 15 total. FROM JUNE: Bryan L Anderson, Richard S. Tolleson, Bryan Anderson, West Coile, James Sherman, Lawrence Lappin, Malin Williams, Jeffrey Taylor, Jason Pace, Kraig Clark, Autumn Browne, Victoria Pate, Patricia Barnum, Dwight E Baker, Rick Slusher, Dr. R.S. Gillinson, Edward J Krieger, Jan Berridge, 8 unlisted — 26 total
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D o w n s i z e r – D i s p a t c h
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July 21st, 2009 at 5:45 pm (#)
We have a tendency in America to argue for or against a concept based on our own personal philosophy or view of the world, what advances our personal interests, or the interests of our party, family, organization, or region. Perhaps viewing the issue from a management or systemic perspective might result in innovative approaches to the issue. The American national mindset, citizen philosophy, lack of citizen motivation to be proactively healthy, and governance model make the socialization of health care in America very problematic, particularly at this point in time. A country needs to know its limitations.
July 21st, 2009 at 5:45 pm (#)
We have a tendency in America to argue for or against a concept based on our own personal philosophy or view of the world, what advances our personal interests, or the interests of our party, family, organization, or region. Perhaps viewing the issue from a management or systemic perspective might result in innovative approaches to the issue. The American national mindset, citizen philosophy, lack of citizen motivation to be proactively healthy, and governance model make the socialization of health care in America very problematic, particularly at this point in time. A country needs to know its limitations.
July 21st, 2009 at 5:45 pm (#)
We have a tendency in America to argue for or against a concept based on our own personal philosophy or view of the world, what advances our personal interests, or the interests of our party, family, organization, or region. Perhaps viewing the issue from a management or systemic perspective might result in innovative approaches to the issue. The American national mindset, citizen philosophy, lack of citizen motivation to be proactively healthy, and governance model make the socialization of health care in America very problematic, particularly at this point in time. A country needs to know its limitations.
July 21st, 2009 at 5:45 pm (#)
We have a tendency in America to argue for or against a concept based on our own personal philosophy or view of the world, what advances our personal interests, or the interests of our party, family, organization, or region. Perhaps viewing the issue from a management or systemic perspective might result in innovative approaches to the issue. The American national mindset, citizen philosophy, lack of citizen motivation to be proactively healthy, and governance model make the socialization of health care in America very problematic, particularly at this point in time. A country needs to know its limitations.
July 21st, 2009 at 5:45 pm (#)
We have a tendency in America to argue for or against a concept based on our own personal philosophy or view of the world, what advances our personal interests, or the interests of our party, family, organization, or region. Perhaps viewing the issue from a management or systemic perspective might result in innovative approaches to the issue. The American national mindset, citizen philosophy, lack of citizen motivation to be proactively healthy, and governance model make the socialization of health care in America very problematic, particularly at this point in time. A country needs to know its limitations.
July 21st, 2009 at 5:45 pm (#)
We have a tendency in America to argue for or against a concept based on our own personal philosophy or view of the world, what advances our personal interests, or the interests of our party, family, organization, or region. Perhaps viewing the issue from a management or systemic perspective might result in innovative approaches to the issue. The American national mindset, citizen philosophy, lack of citizen motivation to be proactively healthy, and governance model make the socialization of health care in America very problematic, particularly at this point in time. A country needs to know its limitations.
July 21st, 2009 at 5:45 pm (#)
We have a tendency in America to argue for or against a concept based on our own personal philosophy or view of the world, what advances our personal interests, or the interests of our party, family, organization, or region. Perhaps viewing the issue from a management or systemic perspective might result in innovative approaches to the issue. The American national mindset, citizen philosophy, lack of citizen motivation to be proactively healthy, and governance model make the socialization of health care in America very problematic, particularly at this point in time. A country needs to know its limitations.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:06 am (#)
AMERICA’S NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY!
It’s official. America and the World are now in a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. A World EPIDEMIC with potential catastrophic consequences for ALL of the American people. The first PANDEMIC in 41 years. And WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES will have to face this PANDEMIC with the 37th worst quality of healthcare in the developed World.
STAND READY AMERICA TO SEIZE CONTROL OF YOUR NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.
We spend over twice as much of our GDP on healthcare as any other country in the World. And Individual American spend about ten times as much out of pocket on healthcare as any other people in the World. All because of GREED! And the PRIVATE FOR PROFIT healthcare system in America.
And while all this is going on, some members of congress seem mostly concern about how to protect the corporate PROFITS! of our GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT NATIONAL DISGRACE. A PRIVATE FOR PROFIT DISGRACE that is in fact, totally valueless to the public health. And a detriment to national security, public safety, and the public health.
Progressive democrats the Tri-Caucus and others should stand firm in their demand for a robust government-run public option for all Americans, with all of the minimum requirements progressive democrats demanded. If congress can not pass a robust public option with at least 51 votes and all robust minimum requirements, congress should immediately move to scrap healthcare reform and request that President Obama declare a state of NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY! Seizing and replacing all PRIVATE FOR PROFIT health insurance plans with the immediate implementation of National Healthcare for all Americans under the provisions of HR676 (A Single-payer National Healthcare Plan For All).
Coverage can begin immediately through our current medicare system. With immediate expansion through recruitment of displaced workers from the canceled private sector insurance industry. Funding can also begin immediately by substitution of payroll deductions for private insurance plans with payroll deductions for the national healthcare plan. This is what the vast majority of the American people want. And this is what all objective experts unanimously agree would be the best, and most cost effective for the American people and our economy.
In Mexico on average people who received medical care for A-H1N1 (Swine Flu) with in 3 days survived. People who did not receive medical care until 7 days or more died. This has been the same results in the US. But 50 million Americans don’t even have any healthcare coverage. And at least 200 million of you with insurance could not get in to see your private insurance plans doctors in 2 or 3 days, even if your life depended on it. WHICH IT DOES!
If President Obama has to declare a NATIONAL STATE OF EMERGENCY to rescue the American people from our healthcare crisis, he will need all the sustained support you can give him. STICK WITH HIM! He’s doing a brilliant job.
THIS IS THE BIG ONE!
THE BATTLE OF GOOD Vs EVIL!
Join the fight.
Contact congress and your representatives NOW! AND SPREAD THE WORD!
God Bless You
Jacksmith – WORKING CLASS
(http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-welsh/americans…
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:16 am (#)
Hahahaha, that's pretty funny!
July 22nd, 2009 at 2:47 pm (#)
Am I right if I understand we are carrying a kind of individualistic approach to our own and personal future ? Who would go against it ? If citizens did not push their own views and carried out their projects, what a mess we would have.
Is it typical American? I doubt.
Though, individualism is usually short sighted and may care for the next five years… and here the crunch: we live ninety years. Hence, some kind of state instrument must address the gap to mitigate a social disaster.
Rene Rupert
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:32 pm (#)
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