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The Right Prescription
How the GOP Can Stop the Spread of Obamacare
With a three-stage vaccine successfully tested — in Massachusetts.
Progressive pundits and policy wonks boast that, despite Tuesday’s Republican victory in the House, ObamaCare will be very difficult to eradicate. They correctly point out that, to get rid of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), both houses of Congress must pass repeal legislation and that a Democrat filibuster would more than likely forestall any such effort in the Senate. They further point out that President Obama would certainly veto any repeal bill that somehow found its way to his desk, and that there is virtually no chance that his veto would be overridden. All of this is absolutely true. Moreover, the PPACA infection has already been introduced into the health care system and has begun to spread. Nonetheless, when the Republicans officially take control of the House in January, they will still have the ability inoculate us against future outbreaks of this contagion.
The three-stage vaccine with which the GOP can stop the spread of PPACA has already been proven effective — in Massachusetts of all places. It will come as a surprise to many that Romneycare was not the first “universal coverage” law to be inflicted on the long-suffering citizens of the Bay State. In 1988 that state’s legislature passed a health care bill containing many of the provisions that later reappeared in the 2006 boondoggle signed by Romney. That “reform” program was signed into law by then-governor Michael Dukakis, who gave it a prominent place in his résumé during his unsuccessful bid for the presidency. Like polio, however, “DukakisCare” is all but forgotten. Why? Because a group of newly elected state legislators defunded the program, delayed its implementation and, for all intents and purposes, killed it after Republican William Weld was elected governor in 1990.
The many similarities between the DukakisCare and ObamaCare situations have not received any attention in the media, of course, but they have not been lost on everyone. Mike Stopa, who unsuccessfully sought the 2010 Republican congressional nomination for the MA-3 district, offered a PPACA repeal plan whose introduction declared, “[T]he experience of Massachusetts in the late 1980’s… serves as a model in our current situation.” Indeed it does. Not long after the Dukakis legislation passed, the GOP made significant gains in the state legislature and immediately set about dismantling the bill. There are also parallels in the executive branch. As Stopa put it, “Michael Dukakis passed universal healthcare in 1988 and his term as governor ended in 1990. Barack Obama passed PPACA in 2010 and his term ends in 2012.” All of which suggests that the “MA vaccine” could work on ObamaCare.
For the newly empowered GOP, however, the most difficult stage of the vaccination process may be the first — getting solidly behind the defunding project. Their vociferous denunciations of PPACA notwithstanding, many House Republicans have expressed reservations similar to those of Rep. Paul Ryan: “Well, yeah, technically speaking, we can put riders in appropriations bills that say, ‘No such funds can go to HHS to do x, y, or z in implementing ObamaCare.’ He’s gotta sign those things. And he doesn’t strike me as the kind of person who would sign those things.” Similar noises have been heard in the upper chamber. Retiring Senator Judd Gregg recently said, “I don’t think starving or repealing is probably the best approach here …”
These and other Republicans are understandably chary of fighting a PR war with the White House. Their shellacking by Bill Clinton in 1995 is still green in their memories. But much has changed since then. Fifteen years ago, the Democrat-friendly “news” media could exert considerable control over the public perception of a battle between Congress and the President. Now, the blogosphere and conservative talk radio can — and will — provide an alternate narrative. And the voters who came out in such impressive numbers to repudiate the Democrats are not likely to be patient with a pusillanimous approach on this issue. Most would likely agree with the chairman of DeFundIt.org, who responded thus to Ryan’s squeamishness: “[I]t is a policy battle we must fight…. Make no mistake, the conservative base will revolt against a Republican Party that backs down in a funding fight over ObamaCare.”
Assuming the Republicans can absorb this reality and summon the courage to face down the President on funding, they can move to the second stage of the vaccination process. In addition to the power of the purse, the new House majority will also have subpoena power that can be used to delay implementation. They can hold numerous and protracted public hearings, while demanding all manner of documentation from the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). They can summon HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to answer questions about her 2009 gag order to insurance companies and her growing reputation as an enemy of the First Amendment. It would also be instructive to hear CMS administrator Donald Berwick to elaborate on statements like, “Any healthcare funding plan that is just … must redistribute wealth.”
The third and final stage of the vaccine must, of course, be administered in 2012. The event that enabled Massachusetts legislators to finish off the 1988 universal coverage bill was the replacement of Michael Dukakis with Republican William Weld. The decision, by the former, not to seek reelection in 1990 made that process easier than might otherwise have been the case. Needless to say, Barack Obama is very unlikely to follow the Duke’s example. However, if the President stays true to form and refuses to face the reality that the American people do want to “re-litigate” the reform issue, it is at least possible that a good Republican opponent can beat him in the 2012 presidential contest. And Tuesday’s big GOP gains in key state houses and legislatures, particularly in crucial battlegrounds like Pennsylvania and Ohio, render an Obama defeat even more plausible.
Cynics will argue that, even if Obama can be given the bum’s rush in 2012, that doesn’t guarantee the success of this three-stage vaccine. And it is certainly true that it didn’t permanently inoculate the Bay State from new and more virulent strains of health “reform.” But that’s hardly an argument for supinely allowing the PPACA to spread or waiting for the Supreme Court to provide a miracle cure. This contagion must be eradicated now. John Boehner was right when he said, “[W]e have to do everything we can to try to repeal this bill…” And, if outright repeal isn’t possible, then the MA vaccine is the next best alternative.
About the Author
David Catron is a health care revenue cycle expert who has spent more than twenty years working for and consulting with hospitals and medical practices. He has an MBA from the University of Georgia and blogs at Health Care BS.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (144) | Leave a comment
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Ret. Marine| 11.5.10 @ 6:40AM
It is entirely possible for a plan by the Republicans to "hammer" the point that We the People have said not only no but, HELL NO, read my lips, which part of NO do you not understand mr. pretender. We the People, not you the wannabe dictator.
While it is true, not doubt, the pretender will do everything in his supposed power to put the veto pen in overdrive, he will not be able to contain the anger coming from the electorate. If he thinks this election cycle was bad, he's seen nothing yet when comparing the "free market" principles against the demon inspired "let them eat cake" attitude. He looses, we win. Impeach and send this fraud packing back to Kenya where he belongs. That a country who could use and deserves his supposed greatness.
Paul D| 11.5.10 @ 8:38AM
We will now see if Republicans can really man up.
Tex Expatriate| 11.5.10 @ 3:36PM
Not all but most Republicans will "man up" because they have just seen what happens to squishes, whether they are squishy socialists or squishy rino republicans.
lechevre| 11.5.10 @ 11:04AM
And let him take his Aunty Zutuni who is an illegal sucking off the state of MA.
Alan Brooks| 11.5.10 @ 5:55PM
No one but Communists doubts the economy can be grown with GOP determination. However,
Crime wont be lowered
Schools wont be lifted up.
All the money in the world can't mend broken families (spouses who hate each other can't be 'bought' off).
Don't go into a runner's-high stupor just yet merely because you will have 65 or so in the House come January. there are many Januarys to go before you book your families into Heaven.
No reservations are being taken in Heaven at this time.
ironhorzmn| 11.5.10 @ 6:32PM
What are you going on about? Your post is staggeringly irrelevant to the subject at hand.
It sounds exactly like Bill Clinton's distraction technique, 'No (insert GOP move here) ever fed a hungry child'. And it's totally incoherent to boot.
Alan Brooks| 11.5.10 @ 8:15PM
because I don't think AS is a conservative mag, it is rightwing. Rolling back ObamaCare will do little or nothing.Anyone who is elected, in any party, will have to face the same problem, you make it sound as if you "fight lib'rals" and everything eventually falls in to place.
I think perhaps you will stop the growth of government, but you will not scale it back much.
What I surmise will happen is: healthcare will devolve to the states, and states will pay the bills of indigents, etc. However, when the bills begin to mount-- as they always do-- they will be sent to the Federal govt to pay.
The GOP will do something about healthcare, but not much. They aren't magicians.
Quartermaster| 11.5.10 @ 9:16PM
You're right! Conservatism is quite centrist. BUT, and this is a very, very big but, centrism is defined by the founders, not by today's extreme leftists. The founders by today's leftist lights are right wing extremists.
As the author of "Day By Day" put it "we have a choice between two socialist parties...."
So Brooks, to put it succinctly, you are leftist wingnut, and not a conservative. Washington, Jefferson, and Madison were conservatives, but certainly not you.
Alan Brooks| 11.5.10 @ 11:23PM
So the question arises: what are YOU, pray tell?
Perhaps Jesus will whisper in your ear how to shrink govt-- and that is, shrink it substantially?
So I shall write the prediction again (and then, again):
What I surmise will happen is: healthcare will devolve to the states, and states will pay the bills of indigents, etc. However, when the bills begin to mount-- as they always do-- they will be sent to the Feds to pay.
stmichrick| 11.7.10 @ 10:59AM
But Alan;
Decisions about paying for indigents, etc. are most legitimately made at the state or local level. And those decisions will most likely involve more discretion and less overall spending.
It's best to keep driving it there.
Bob K.| 11.7.10 @ 10:28PM
The states will hardly consider it. They already have nearly insurmountable problems with their own pension plans and and with their cities on the verge of bankruptcy. They will look to the feds to get them paid off first.
H Smith| 11.6.10 @ 12:58AM
Your post makes no sense whatsoever.
Alan Brooks| 11.6.10 @ 1:09AM
The GOP is bluffing, Mr. Smith.
ironhorzmn| 11.6.10 @ 9:28PM
That's probably what Bill Clinton said in '94.
That's probably what Tip O'Neill said in 1980.
Alan Brooks| 11.7.10 @ 1:23AM
"That's probably what Bill Clinton said in '94."
You're right about 1980, but Gingrich's "revolution" fizzled out. And BTW, 1980 was when the Cold War was still on; that era is over-- so is GOP unity.
Alan Brooks| 11.7.10 @ 1:25AM
... that is, if the Gingrich-led (or manipulated) GOP couldn't get it together during the late '90s, how can they do better this time around?
Robin| 11.6.10 @ 4:20PM
America's moms and dads don't want to go back to the bad old days when insurers could drop us or our children just when we got sick! We want to keep America moving forward: http://bit.ly/asvNdW
Michael Adams| 11.8.10 @ 5:52PM
Dropping people after they got sick was already illegal in most states. It's a bloody shirt, or a bogeyman under the bed, to scare folks like Robin. I'm sure Robin is a nice person. Scaring her is not a nice thing to do. Nasty, nasty Democrats!
Barney Murrell| 11.8.10 @ 11:23PM
To Michael Adams -
You are right by being wrong. Only people working for a large corporation could afford insurance and these employees did not get dropped when they got sick. However, those who purchased individual health insurance polices simply had their premiums raised to unaffordable levels. Thus, when they got sick their rates were raised to unaffordable levels and they were forced to drop out because they could no longer pay.
typical white person| 11.6.10 @ 10:05PM
Remember folks, Obama is not the brightest bulb in the box, he is ego driven, he is impetuous and he is surrounded by incompetence.
So defund Obamacare, call in his minions that have not read the bill, ask them how things work, and start defunding the obvious failures.
be short, be brief and be logical in your defunding - make them look like fools for supporting that which is unsupportable.
Barney Murrell| 11.8.10 @ 11:36PM
To typical white person –
If you think Obama is not too bright then what about former President GW Bush who “impetuously” said “we know” Saddam Hussein has WMD, and all his “incompetent“ Administration and Congressional Republican supporters who were only too quick to agree? And $1 trillion later none were found. In addition to his two wars Bush also cut taxes and became the only president in history who did not raise taxes and did not ask America’s citizens to make ANY sacrifices in order to help fight them.
The Underwearinator| 11.7.10 @ 3:51PM
Your a rasist!
hanne| 11.8.10 @ 5:06AM
Interesting ideas (and use of the English language -- try proofreading), and I sympathize with your emotion, but if you could just stick to the news at hand...
logmank| 11.5.10 @ 7:34AM
I am patiently waiting to be shown that the Republicans can summon the will to confront Obowmao on healthcare, cap and tax, alien amnesty, cardcheck and myriad other marxist programs.
Nothing in history makes me optimistic.
WRTolkas| 11.5.10 @ 8:27AM
I have to agree with logmank. Republicans have yet to demonstrate a spine. The three-hundred-pound gorilla has yet to show its fangs. The old Republicans were wimps, did not understand that this is WAR, and drank the cool-aid by blindly following George Bush into near oblivion. I hope this new batch of freshman Republican legislators, that have been filtered and hopefully steeled by the Tea Party, is a new breed of Ranger/SEAL.
Everyone have a safe weekend,
WRTolkas
John Navratil| 11.5.10 @ 10:54AM
logmank,
We can look to the 1946 mid-term for some hope. There is much new blood, but we will have to see.
Eric Cartman| 11.5.10 @ 11:12AM
I agree we have to keep the heat on, but lets make it clear that we will back them. If they start the repeal efforts and keep going at Obamacare, let's make sure they know we are there for them. I distrust the Republicans as much as the next guy, but I'm going to let them know I back them. Give 'em support or they'll slink away.
Chris| 11.5.10 @ 11:28AM
I have a suggestion; another rally in D.C. when they swear in the new Congress. It could send several messages.
Eric Cartman| 11.5.10 @ 11:35AM
Good idea! It could be a sort of support rally - no politicians speaking, however. Just Americans sending them a message of support for doing what must be done. If we are demanding hard things, let them know we also support them.
Alan Brooks| 11.5.10 @ 11:26PM
Again:
I surmise healthcare will devolve to the states, and states will pay the bills of indigents, etc. However, when the bills begin to mount-- as they always do-- they will be sent to the Federal govt to pay.
Alan Brooks| 11.5.10 @ 11:31PM
But we've been through all this before!
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 12:24AM
Let's think about this inigent bill for a minute Alan. If the Republicans grow a set and begin to require proof of citizenship in order to recieve social benifits then the cost of indigent care begins to decline. I read that the cost of feeding, clothing, sheltering, educating and providing healthcare for illegals in California costs the state ten to thirteen billion dollars a year. Extrapolate that cost out to the other forty-nine states, not to mention the federal government.
It seems to me that if I have to show a birth certificate, a drivers license or a passport in order to be hired by my employer then it would be reasonable to require same for people seeking to enroll children in a public school or applying for public housing or any other social services. When illegals are identified they can be arrested and deported, all clean and legal.
If at every turn you have to prove citizenship in order to recieve services the filtering effect would be an incentive for these folks to leave the country, the alternative being arrest and deportation.
All of the above hinging on the most critical word in the English Language, "IF" and only if the Republicans have the political will to do what needs to be done which they haven't in the past.
We'll see.
Alan Brooks| 11.7.10 @ 1:27AM
"IF and only if the Republicans have the political will to do what needs to be done which they haven't in the past."
It'll be tied up in court for years.
Alan Brooks| 11.7.10 @ 1:31AM
Immigran"IF" and only if the Republicans have the political will to do what needs to be done which they haven't in the past.
I mean courts, not court, singular!
Immigrant litigation will bounce around the courts for perhaps even a decade or more. You know litiginous America is.
When in doubt, lawyer it out.
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 6:56AM
I don't see how it could be an issue to be decided in court. Immigration law has been successfully applied in the past without legal challenge. If immigration law were to be a new law then I could see your claim but that's not the case. Immigration law has been arouind for a while.
Alan Brooks| 11.7.10 @ 11:28PM
No, there are so many Mexicans here now, they wont give up. Some have power, some influence.
But it doesn't matter what they SAY, it matters what they think and do--
they will look out for their own kind.
FTM| 11.8.10 @ 8:00AM
I don't think that I'm understanding you but that's OK.
Alan Brooks| 11.9.10 @ 12:33AM
"I don't think that I'm understanding you but that's OK."
Thin line between optimism and gullibility. Life is a flurry of motions and counter-motions.
However, as for attorneys...
Attorneys will never starve.
I always accentuate the positive!
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 7:01AM
Another massive cost savings to the federal government would be to withdraw all military participation in NATO, Japan and South Korea. The only reason that these economies and nation states have universal health care is because the American taxpayer pays for their national defense. World War II has been over for a while now. For that matter the Cold War has been over for a while now too. Let the Germans and the French, the good folks that BETRAYED the US in the "Oil for Food Program" for monetary gain pay for their own national defense then let's see how their universal health care system holds up.
Just saying.
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 7:07AM
One more huge cost savings to the federal government and an effective downsizing of the federal government would be to withdraw from the United Nations. The UN serves what useful purpose? The UN is probably, just speculating on my part, one of the most corrupt organizations in the history of the human race. The American taxpayer foots seventy percent of the UN's annual operating budget not to mention hauling the lions share of the military intervention load and for what? America can easily do without the UN. All of the thousands of career diplomats and do-gooders "working" under the employ of the federal government at the UN would just have to go find "real" jobs.
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 7:22AM
Screw the UN, how many carrier battle groups does the UN have anyway.
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 7:17AM
The federal government can defund NPR and CPB and the ACLU and LaRaza and ACORN the NEA and NSF. That ought to be good for about a billion or so all told. Defund the Southern Law and Poverty Center if they get federal funding. I don't know if they do, it wouldn't surprise me.
Summarily terminate foreign aid, no questions asked.
Get the US out of Iraq and Afganistan. The moslems hate us, no doubt. Don't allow travel from a moslem country to the US and visa-versa. No trade, no communication. These folks want to live in the sixth century, I say let them. See how they enjoy sixty percent infant mortality rates and the like.
The US imports oil from Canada, Central and South America. The EU imports oil from the middle east. See the above reference to NATO, let the EU deal with these murderous savages, let's see how that plays out with their national health care and social democracy, "cradle to grave" welfare states.
The Republicans want to trim $100 billion out of the 2011 fiscal budget. If I were king I could do $100 billion the first day on the job.
Doug in Jax| 11.5.10 @ 7:35AM
Conservatives have taken the first baby step, but we must now stay engaged.
1. We have discovered that the Partisan Socialist Media is not supreme. We can force our message through their closed gates and fight their propaganda.
2. We need to evangelize to non-voting people. They are the low hanging fruit. We need to create a constant din of PSA type commercials that appeal to the ideal of individual liberty and economic freedom. If we can get 5% of these people to come to the polls and vote conservative, the DNC will be gone or forced to come back to American principles to compete.
3. We need a better framework of raising much larger amounts of money to support #2. We need to get past the election season surge mentality and focus on getting people to commit to something more akin to union dues, but voluntary of course. If conservatives were setting aside 3% of their income monthly, and focused those resources, we could then dominate the message.
Alert1201| 11.5.10 @ 7:43AM
4. We need new leadership in the GOP with the guts and brains to implement 1-3.
REB| 11.5.10 @ 8:37PM
We also need every freeman&woman; to keep the pressure up,we have a long hard march back to where we left our liberty and our guts,this nation has slid down for over 150 years with tyrants and wannabee rulers dictating everything from healthcare to building codes and commie schools ...all of this crap needs to be pushed back into the sewers of liberal thinking where it spawned and drowned there! Americans (with their God given liberty )can solve almost anything and make a better life for themselves and the world,lets have at it all the way!
Alan Brooks| 11.5.10 @ 11:27PM
Again:
I surmise: healthcare will devolve to the states, and states will pay the bills of indigents, etc. However, when the bills begin to mount-- as they always do-- they will be sent to the Federal govt to pay.
mjksr| 11.5.10 @ 7:58AM
The house must also get behind the court challanges to ObamaCare. They must also due no harm to these suits by doing things that deminish the states standing in thrse cases.
Intelligent Design| 11.5.10 @ 8:06AM
Obamacare makes the IRS the cop relative to the "crime" of not purchasing medical insurance. The IRS would levy punitive taxes for non-compliance. This of course is being challenged by about 20 states in federal court. Another way to nullify this aspect of the Obama "health care" monster is to enact the Fair Tax legislation already introduced in Congress. It would completely abolish the federal income tax and the IRS.
And the Fair Tax would do a lot more. It would lead to unprecedented economic growth.
John Navratil| 11.5.10 @ 10:56AM
Don't lose sight of the lack of a severability clause. If the individual purchase requirement is found unconstitutional, it is not only practically dead (no money), but the next argument will be that the whole thing is unconstitutional.
Texas Mom 2012| 11.5.10 @ 1:12PM
When the House was forced, by virtue of Scott Brown's election, to pass the flawed Senate version of the bill without using reconciliation. The clause which would allow the remainder of the bill to stand if a part was struck down was left completely out of the bill. So if one portion is struck down by the courts it should effectively invalidate the entire bill. That would be ideal but the House should definitely do it's best to strike down and defund every portion of the bill that they can. If necessary, force Obama to veto every bill by adding language to drive Obamacare to bankruptcy....
Ted| 11.5.10 @ 8:31AM
While it is true that conservatives do not have the current edge in the Senate, remember this. There will be far larger numbers of Democratic Senators up for re-election in 2012. As is the President.
Part of the thumping the Democrats took in the House this year was due to the monstrosity called Obamacare. So, introduce bills in the House and Senate for repeal. Let the Democrats in both vote against it. They can run in 2012 on their efforts to thwart Obamacare repeal. Just like they ran on their support for and votes in favor of Obamacare in 2010. Oh wait, most didn't run on their support for the program.... They are in a pickle. And they know it.
The President has far more looming issues on his plate that will come from Democrats than from Conservatives or Republicans. Democratic Senators up in 2012 are aware of the real causes of the 2010 House bloodletting. There will be more than a few Democrats who will vote to repeal Obamacare and sustain a veto override. After all, they want to be re-elected.
RAMIII| 11.5.10 @ 10:12AM
You have hit the nail on the head and drove it in in one stroke. Let the Democratic Party squirm. Don't give them time to re-group, nor give them the opportunity to frame the argument.
Alan Brooks| 11.5.10 @ 11:33PM
You said that in '95.
Bombs away...
around and round we go.
bluecollarbytes| 11.5.10 @ 8:33AM
If Obamacare is not going to be fought on all fronts, welcome to the political inevitability of govt-controlled health.
Republicans have one purpose now- to Oppose. Voters don't care about the risks to their political careers. The country itself is at stake. If Republicans put up the good honest fight, they will be rewarded in 2012. If they lapse into the type of conflict Democrats prefer- with Republicans constantly splitting differences on issues as a defense against slander, they will have 'earned' minority status.
JayDubIII| 11.5.10 @ 8:50AM
It's time to put the hammer down.
RCV| 11.8.10 @ 7:11PM
The Hammer is busy fighting his criminal case.
Don L| 11.5.10 @ 9:00AM
"CMS administrator Donald Berwick to elaborate on statements like, "Any healthcare funding plan that is just ... must redistribute wealth."
When they are marched (Henry Waxman-like) in front of the congressional panel, first remind them of a gent named Scooter Libby, and then proceed to ask the particulars (names, dates and who said and knew what, when and where, etc.)
In the meantime, to assist your judicial productivity, request additional funding for expansion of federal correctional facilities to handle the overload.
Old Joe| 11.5.10 @ 9:53AM
I don’t think we need additional funding for federal prisons. I think we need a new kind of federal prison. Tent cities, surrounded by two rows of concertina with Pit Bull guard dog packs roaming in between. Baloney sandwiches for every meal, no air-conditioning, no TV. Let’s stop making prison a vacation resort. It can’t be considered cruel and unusual since we ask our troops to live under the same conditions.
loulou| 11.5.10 @ 11:25AM
Quite right, Old Joe.
There is no reason prisons should be so luxurious. We can expand capacity while cutting costs if we really wanted to.
inspectorudy| 11.5.10 @ 11:38AM
Also, let's get rid of weight lifting sets so that when these felons are released they are not overpowering monsters. We should also monitor all religious services in prison because a lot of people are being converted to Islam while inside. We all know what kind of a mind set muslims have toward authority.
Sheila| 11.5.10 @ 1:01PM
I agree, Old Joe. Enough with the "rehabilitation;" let's have a little more old fashioned retribution. As you note, what sort of lunatic society provides more luxurious accommodations for its prisoners than for its defenders? A dying one, as far as I'm concerned.
MisterZ| 11.5.10 @ 2:03PM
Sherriff Arpaio (sp?) in AZ rehabs his prisoners with unairconditioned tents, canvas cots, no TVs, and pink jumpsuits and underwear.
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 3:30PM
Don't forget glass shard toy soldiers. I just loves toy soldiers.
Don L| 11.5.10 @ 9:09AM
A new weapon might be to mimick the absurdity that Obama has done with his CZARS program. Create congressional czars (can't be vetoed) to perpetually investigate the Whitehouse Czars, the election funding by Soros, the unions (lobbyists?)writing our laws Obmacare) etc.
Investigate all election fraud and take a stand on loss of citizenship for any conviction in this essential area.
Above all -go on the offensive and keep their leftist heads spinning.
Bob Miller| 11.5.10 @ 1:34PM
Spy vs. Spy!
jstwndring| 11.5.10 @ 3:32PM
"Investigate all election fraud and take a stand on loss of citizenship for any conviction in this essential area."
--------------------------------------------------------
I'm thinking more along the lines of execution, since, as President Clinton proved, they could be later pardoned and citizenship could later be restored. Execution, on the other hand, is impossible to reverse. I'm not kidding either. These scumbags think that screwing with our freedom is a big joke. Let's see them laughing at the prospect of meeting their Maker. Now, that would be funny.
ironhorzmn| 11.5.10 @ 6:36PM
The death penalty for election fraud?? You must be joking.
(Even if we do execute them, we know from experience that they'll still vote.)
Tim*| 11.5.10 @ 9:15AM
We Tea Party Rebels are urging Our Tea Party Kingmaker & The Senate Point Man Jim DeMint to run for The presidency in 2012.
He's gonna be involved in the dismantling of ObamaScam piece by piece.
Carpe Diem.
JayDubIII| 11.5.10 @ 9:24AM
I could be wrong but I don't see the new Speaker of the House John Boehner as being real wishy washy.
loulou| 11.5.10 @ 11:27AM
Boehner is a ruling class politician and is not conservative unless it suits his purposes.
At this point he seems to be trying to get with the program and I think he understands that he owes his majority to the tea partiers. We are watching him because: trust but verify.
Nancy in NC| 11.5.10 @ 12:27PM
I suggest that we put some heat on Boehner and our own congressmen, weekly and keep it there. They need to be reminded of Nov. 2 regularly, as well as Nov. 6, 2012.
Sheila| 11.5.10 @ 1:04PM
Exactly right, loulou. Boehner particularly needs to be pressured regarding House committee chairmanships - lots of establishment oldies are vying for these positions, and Boehner himself has made it known he doesn't want "troublemakers" like Michelle Bachmann having any leadership jobs. Let's push him so hard he pales even under that vanity tan of his.
Impeach Don't Wait| 11.5.10 @ 8:10PM
Watch the video of John Boehner's address at the American Enterprise Institute, listen, take notes, and be thinking of the things he says that you can hold him (and others) accountable for in the coming months. It's one way to keep the pressure...
Here it is:
http://www.aei.org/event/100308
Impeach Don't Wait| 11.5.10 @ 9:22PM
I like this article by Senator Bob Smith in Accuracy in Media, "Who Really Won and What Happens Now?":
http://www.aim.org/aim-column/.....ppens-now/
wodiej| 11.5.10 @ 9:29AM
I believe that one way or another, something will be done to stop it. One of the top members of the GOP said they have plenty of tricks up their sleeves.
The good part is health care reform has finally taken front and center after decades of no action. I strongly support privatization. But hospitals should not be allowed to charge $5 for a friggin band aid. There should be a law passed that gives new workers 60 days to sign up for health insurance. If you don't, you are on your own. You can get emergency treatment and nothing else. If you do get emergency treatment or some other serious illness, your assets should be frozen in order to help defer the costs. If a person cannot prove their citizenship, they are reported and deported.
It is irresponsible and completely unfair to those of us who purchase coverage to have to pay extra on our premiums so those who don't give a flip until they get sick, spend their money on jet skis, vacations, big SUV's and live high on the hog. If everyone would buy some type of basic coverage, it would be more balanced. I had a great plan that covered preventative care, low co-pays, a minimal deductible and it was not expensive.
Texas Mom 2012| 11.5.10 @ 1:21PM
I am a fan of high deductible insurance plans coupled with Health Savings Accounts. The insurance cost is negligible and the incentive to ration your own health care dollars helps drive down the total cost. Plus you have the funds if you need care and in the event of major surgery or serious health situations you can cover the deductible while your insurance picks up the rest. In addition, the funds that you do not spend roll over and are tax deductible as well as invested in a fund controlled by the owner. This will enable younger healthier workers a second way to save for retirement needs. Health Savings accounts work similar to 401ks except the funds can be used to pay for medical expenses WITHOUT paying taxes or penalties!
jstwndring| 11.5.10 @ 3:35PM
This, exactly.
joli| 11.5.10 @ 7:37PM
My objection to HSAs is the "use it or lose it" aspect. I'm not interested in giving our money away just because we happened to have a particularly healthy year. If remaining funds could be rolled over for the next year, that's a different story.
Michael Adams| 11.8.10 @ 6:08PM
Transferring the health insurance deduction from employers to individuals would help. As would very actively encouraging younger people to buy a high deductible policy when they are young, and adding to a Health Savings account, reducing the deductible each year, as the HSA grows, and the premiums also increase with age. If you buy health insurance when you are twenty five, and rarely get sick, and it is quite cheap, and stay with the same insurer, because, if the employer is not paying, you keep it as you change jobs, and if, as stated above, you can't be canceled after you get sick, an awful lot of the things that scare people now, become non-existent or irrelevant.
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 3:37PM
Wodiej,
The reason that bandaids and asperine cost so much is that, coming into the building (hospital) somebody has to stock, inventory and distribute said commodity. Then on the other end, when sombody needs said commodity somebody else has to go get it then administer it. There are a lot of people that have to handle that band aid before it ends up on your boo boo. Then to top it all off if the boo boo gets infected the administrator not to mention the hospital gets sued for malpractice. That's why a band aid or an asperine costs so much in a hospital.
Me personally, I favor Bill Shakespear's idea, and I know that it's a misstatement but I like it anyway, "if you would have justice, first kill all the lawyers."
Curly Smith| 11.5.10 @ 9:40AM
"Their shellacking by Bill Clinton in 1995 is still green in their memories."
The GOP lost the 1995 PR war because they fought a PR war. They ran a bluff, President Clinton saw them for what they were and called their bluff. The GOP then ran away, like they always run away. At least this time they're running an pre-emptive retreat. Sorry GOP, we didn't put you in power for what you can't do, we put you there to actually do something. We could have elected Democrats to not repeal ObamaCare.
The GOP has a true mandate from the American People. It's not the phony mandates that the media always proclaims the Dems to have, it's a real mandate to dismantle ObamaCare. The GOP House should send standalone repeal legislation every month and let every Democrat and RINO vote against the repeal. Get them on the record repeatedly voting against the will of the people. Then destroy them in 2012. Or, we'll destroy you in 2012. It's really that simple.
RAMIII| 11.5.10 @ 10:25AM
Yes it is! Let's remain vigilant so that they don't get into Washington DC "Group Think".
Reagan Loyalist| 11.5.10 @ 10:58AM
THIS is THE strategy - force all of the Ruling class D's and R's to vote, repeatedly on Obamacare yes - but on ALL of the Liberal items. Keep sending bills to the floor and put those selfish bastards on the record for the 2012 election.
MikeD| 11.5.10 @ 1:32PM
"We could have elected democrats NOT to repeal obamacare". Curly, You hit the nail on the head. We have to HAMMER that home to the (usually) cowardly Republicans every day, every hour, and every minute. This is the future of our nation here. Remember what those devious sons of bi**hes put into the stimulus package about healthcare. There are BOMBS in every piece of legislation that the unholy trio snuck/jammed (pick one) through the last two years. They must be found and defused.
George S| 11.5.10 @ 9:58AM
Hey Republicans in the House... take the game directly to them. Draft another 99-week unemployment benefits extension bill with a rider that repeals ObamaCare. Draft a bill that extends the Bush era tax cuts with a rider that repeals ObamaCare. Draft a bill that raises the debt ceiling with a rider that repeals ObamaCare. Draft a bill that gives seniors a COLA for social security along with a rider that repeals ObamaCare. Get the idea?
Old Joe| 11.5.10 @ 10:04AM
I saw on Drudge that AARP is raising premiums and co-pays on their employees due to the new health law. How rich that such a strong supporter of the law now has to admit that it raises healthcare cost. Maybe the message can be given to Andy Griffin now.
Steve A| 11.5.10 @ 10:06AM
If & when they do de-fund or repeal this garbage, I hope Bohener takes Pelosi's gavel, puts it in a box, shreds the bill, uses it for stuffing & ships it back to Nancy.
Mark| 11.5.10 @ 10:21AM
I believe that the Republicans need to be a bit careful about Obamacare. Yes, it's got to be repealed, but they need to do it systematically and sequentially.
They should start by saying that this Congress is going to do what the Pelosi Congress refused to do. They're going to read the Obamacare bill.
Then they need to hold a series of press conferences.
e.g. We read the bill and did you know that it is going to create a national sales tax of 3.8% on the sale of your home. The housing market can't stand that, and those that will be hurt most are retirees who seek to downside. We're going to fulfill Obama's pledge to not raise taxes on the middle class. That's why we're repealing it.
e.g. President Obama said that if you like your health care, you can keep it. But did you know that if your company changes insurers, but there is otherwise no change in coverage, grandfather protection is lost; you'll be forced into the federal program? Imagine the power that gives the incumbent insurance company. We're going to repeal it and make sure the President's vision of you being able to keep your own insurance is upheld.
A different press conference and different bill on segments of Obamacare every other week.
Force the Dems to vote for or against the onerous provisions one by one. Let the Senate filibuster or Obama repeatedly veto this stuff. They'll pay for it in 2 years.
ironhorzmn| 11.5.10 @ 6:41PM
It won't be repealed. The logistics just aren't there, as this article shows.
We need to defund it, declare it illegal and unconstitutional, and yes, force the Dems to defend it by opposing and vetoing repeal bills, knowing now the consequences in 2012 which is virtually around the corner.
Scrappy| 11.5.10 @ 10:25AM
Boehner needs to have balls of Megasteel to outdo Peloser's.
Margie| 11.5.10 @ 12:46PM
You can say that again. Does he? We shall see. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for now.
wukong| 11.5.10 @ 10:48AM
Our founders gave us away to bypass a dead locked legislature in the form of a Constitutional Convention. Republican have a huge influence in state governments and this issue could expand that influence. This bulldozer should at least be trucked to the scene of the obstruction.
REB| 11.6.10 @ 8:02PM
Lets just kill the law no matter how we do it...BUT lets be very careful with the idea of a con con,...the wrong sobs get their way and our constitution could be gutted!
JP| 11.5.10 @ 11:03AM
The state govenors also have big part to play. Much of the bureaucracy will be filtered thier way. They can file suit in court over a host of things; from the insurance exchanges, to the subsidies that state will be required to disperse. The GOP runs over 30 state governments now. They could slow ObamaCare's impelmentation by 5-8 years.
Tim the Enchanter| 11.5.10 @ 11:56AM
JP- We're not interested in "slowing" the implementation of ObamaCare. We're interested in dragging its miserable, rotting, stinking corpse to the dumpster. Period.
joli| 11.5.10 @ 7:47PM
Well said!
BH| 11.5.10 @ 11:32AM
I would like nothing more than to see this or some other strategy implemented to defund/slow the progress of osamacare. However, the term 'republican leadership' has been, and still is an oxymoron, nor would I ever use the terms 'courage and Republican' in the same sentence because the latter has never demonstrated any of the former.
I hope I'm wrong but I think you folks would be wise to temper your expectations because my guess is within 6 months the gutless wonders will be tripping over themselves to see who can grab their ankles first.
Sheila| 11.5.10 @ 1:12PM
You're correct, BH, that too many here are naive optimists who think it's all better now, after an election that I celebrated far more for who was defeated than who was elected. I expect little from the GOP establishment and less from the American people (replaced). However, I'm not going gently into that night, and I plan to harass my Congressman (a good guy but too old) and my appalling Senators (Cornyn and Hutchison) nonstop regarding their votes and positions. I'm going to work my tail off for the first genuine conservative to challenge these abominable senators in their next reelection attempt - not because I think it will make much difference in the long run, but because I want to forcibly starve their ponderous egos. Take away the fawning sycophants and refuse the honorific bestowed on former office holders, and they lose their reason to live - I deeply, sincerely hope.
Texas Mom 2012| 11.5.10 @ 1:27PM
Sheila, I am with you! I like my congressman Pete Olsen and wish he would challenge one of our Texas Senators in the next primary... I will be contacting him! Do you have a challenger in mind?
Sheila| 11.5.10 @ 6:20PM
Unfortunately, no, I don't know of any good challengers. Some have pushed hard for Michael Williams, who Perry was supposedly going to appoint to Hutchison's position when she resigned (promises, promises, sigh). I don't know enough about him, though, and I am chary about this latest GOP craze to showcase their own magic negro candidate. There is a local guy I like who just won reelection (Keith Self), but he's already faced lots of challenges from the GOP establishment because he's a take-no-prisoners conservative activist, and I don't think he has any statewide plans.
BH| 11.5.10 @ 2:58PM
Well said Sheila. The GOP elite establishment is every bit as repugnant as obama & the (d)ingbats.
Look what they're doing, or more accurately not doing, to help Renee Ellmers win her race in NC. Here's someone who has won her race by a slim margin but needs to raise funds for a potential recount so she doesn't get "al franken'd". And the good ole boys at the NRCC tell her to pound salt.
If anyone else would like to to help her out here is her website - http://www.reneeforcongress.com/
Sheila| 11.5.10 @ 6:22PM
Yes, BH, we already sent some money to Renee, and I fired off as nasty an email (careful to use no actual obscenity, of course) as I could think of to the NRCC. I still need to call my Congressman to remind him where he ought to stand on this.
Houston Rao| 11.5.10 @ 11:37AM
Turn the fairness game against the Dems.
a) Remove discretionary authority from HHS. It is not fair to put such power in the hands of an unelected bureaucrat. Let the law apply equally - no waivers, exemptions....
b) Require all government officials, elected or otherwise, to purchase their insurance only through Obamacare. Also require all government officials to avail of services only from those providers that accept Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare plans. It is not fair that government people have a different set of rules than the common people or they have access to doctors that people on Medicaid, Medicare, etc. don't.
Shredderofmass| 11.5.10 @ 1:01PM
Please google the term "Mike Stopa Plan to Kill Obama Care"; there is a great recording on youtube of a radio interview where the interviewer sounds like his head is going to explode when he hears Mike's plan. We'll be moving the campaign videos soon but hopefully they will be available somewhere.
Les Smith | 11.5.10 @ 1:05PM
A Four-Step Health-Care Solution
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
It's true that the U.S. health care system is a mess, but this demonstrates not market but government failure. To cure the problem requires not different or more government regulations and bureaucracies, as self-serving politicians want us to believe, but the elimination of all existing government controls.
It's time to get serious about health care reform. Tax credits, vouchers, and privatization will go a long way toward decentralizing the system and removmg unnecessary burdens from business. But four additional steps must also be taken:
1. Eliminate all licensing requirements for medical schools, hospitals, pharmacies, and medical doctors and other health care personnel. Their supply would almost instantly increase, prices would fall, and a greater variety of health care services would appear on the market.
Competing voluntary accreditation agencies would take the place of compulsory government licensing--if health care providers believe that such accreditation would enhance their own reputation, and that their consumers care about reputation, and are willing to pay for it.
Because consumers would no longer be duped into believing that there is such a thing as a "national standard" of health care, they will increase their search costs and make more discriminating health care choices.
2. Eliminate all government restrictions on the production and sale of pharmaceutical products and medical devices. This means no more Food and Drug Administration, which presently hinders innovation and increases costs.
Costs and prices would fall, and a wider variety of better products would reach the market sooner. The market would force consumers to act in accordance with their own--rather than the government's--risk assessment. And competing drug and device manufacturers and sellers, to safeguard against product liability suits as much as to attract customers, would provide increasingly better product descriptions and guarantees.
3. Deregulate the health insurance industry. Private enterprise can offer insurance against events over whose outcome the insured possesses no control. One cannot insure oneself against suicide or bankruptcy, for example, because it is in one's own hands to bring these events about.
Because a person's health, or lack of it, lies increasingly within his own control, many, if not most health risks, are actually uninsurable. "Insurance" against risks whose likelihood an individual can systematically influence falls within that person's own responsibility.
All insurance, moreover, involves the pooling of individual risks. It implies that insurers pay more to some and less to others. But no one knows in advance, and with certainty, who the "winners" and "losers" will be. "Winners" and "losers" are distributed randomly, and the resulting income redistribution is unsystematic. If "winners" or "losers" could be systematically predicted, "losers" would not want to pool their risk with "winners," but with other "losers," because this would lower their insurance costs. I would not want to pool my personal accident risks with those of professional football players, for instance, but exclusively with those of people in circumstances similar to my own, at lower costs.
Because of legal restrictions on the health insurers' right of refusal--to exclude any individual risk as uninsurable--the present health-insurance system is only partly concerned with insurance. The industry cannot discriminate freely among different groups' risks.
As a result, health insurers cover a multitude of uninnsurable risks, alongside, and pooled with, genuine insurance risks. They do not discriminate among various groups of people which pose significantly different insurance risks. The industry thus runs a system of income redistribution--benefiting irresponsible actors and high-risk groups at the expense of responsible individuals and low risk groups. Accordingly the industry's prices are high and ballooning.
To deregulate the industry means to restore it to unrestricted freedom of contract: to allow a health insurer to offer any contract whatsoever, to include or exclude any risk, and to discriminate among any groups of individuals. Uninsurable risks would lose coverage, the variety of insurance policies for the remaining coverage would increase, and price differentials would reflect genuine insurance risks. On average, prices would drastically fall. And the reform would restore individual responsibility in health care.
4. Eliminate all subsidies to the sick or unhealthy. Subsidies create more of whatever is being subsidized. Subsidies for the ill and diseased breed illness and disease, and promote carelessness, indigence, and dependency. If we eliminate them, we would strengthen the will to live healthy lives and to work for a living. In the first instance, that means abolishing Medicare and Medicaid.
Only these four steps, although drastic, will restore a fully free market in medical provision. Until they are adopted, the industry will have serious problems, and so will we, its consumers.
----------
Hans-Hermann Hoppe teaches economics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Oldefarte| 11.5.10 @ 2:43PM
test
David W| 11.5.10 @ 3:30PM
Republican failure may finally result in a new 3rd party that truly represents the American people.
Oldefarte| 11.5.10 @ 3:53PM
As Davie Crockett, Jim Bowie,etc demonstrated in the Alamo's final scene, It is A FIGHT WORTH HAVING!!!!!!
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.5.10 @ 3:54PM
Screw it,
Quit grinding sausage and de-fund the agencies to run it.
Man-up, wimps!
Oldefarte| 11.6.10 @ 12:56PM
Ken, SAUSAGE is too kind of a term for it........IMO, it was/is more akin to what one might find stuck to the bottoms of their shoes after walking across a cow pasture!!!!!!!!!
ABNCP| 11.5.10 @ 4:14PM
Lets make the Grahams, Snows, Collins, etc show who they really are! That way at their next election cycle We The People can flush them down the drain where they belong. Oh Yeah, the Republicans in the House had betteer push this repeal process. Make the President and any cohorts he still has show the people in this country who
they are. And yes he will veto that legislation,
who cares? Just another nail in his political coffin.
uncle curmudgeon| 11.5.10 @ 5:16PM
Lots of good ideas here: riders, hearing, and other RROO tricks. Let's use Washington to dismantle Washington. But there is one part of business as usual that I abhor. Who cares what the poling expert's computer model says about the likelyhood of a filibuster? Of course the Dems will threaten to filibuster. You stupid idiots! It is your JOB to bring a repeal-it bill to the floor and then make them do filibuster it. Get the evil SOBs up on their hind legs and MAKE them defend that which we, the people, will NOT tolerate (this is not rocket science). Night and day, weekends and holidays: if they sit down and shut up bring the bill to a vote. If it passes make BHO veto it. Yes it is your JOB to make him veto it. Then bring the over-ride bill to the floor and MAKE them defeat it. Please raise your hand if you don't understand any of this. YOU! With your hand up: you are part of the problem. 2012 is just around the corner. We are watching. We're taking names. We ain't taking prisoners.
Heywood| 11.5.10 @ 5:24PM
Obama is no Bill Clinton--by a longshot! Obama doesn't have the political skills to artfully turn the tables as Clinton did. No way Obama will be 'triangualting' and there's no Newt Gingrich around this time.
They need to attack Obama from every angle and not let up. That's what they do and have been doing to our side and we basically sit and take it--no more of that stuff!
GKPAL| 11.5.10 @ 7:40PM
After our BIG win we must stay vigilant and demand that Obama care be repealed in its entirety. As many of you stated above, let the demon-crats go on record voting against it. That will only strengthen our position in 2012. If the Republicans don't, at least, try to repeal this monstrosity, there will be a third party and that will be the Republican party. Bi-partisanship was rendered meaningless, after the tactics used by the Dems to ramp through Obamacare. Now, the Dems want bi-partisanship. Now you want bi-partisanship? Sit down and shut up. "we won"! "sit in the back"! Remember?
amused| 11.5.10 @ 8:05PM
Mission Statement
The impetus for the Tea Party movement is excessive government spending and taxation. Our mission is to attract, educate, organize, and mobilize our fellow citizens to secure public policy consistent with our three core values of Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government and Free Markets.
Core Values
* Fiscal Responsibility
* Constitutionally Limited Government
* Free Markets
Fiscal Responsibility: Fiscal Responsibility by government honors and respects the freedom of the individual to spend the money that is the fruit of their own labor. A constitutionally limited government, designed to protect the blessings of liberty, must be fiscally responsible or it must subject its citizenry to high levels of taxation that unjustly restrict the liberty our Constitution was designed to protect. Such runaway deficit spending as we now see in Washington D.C. compels us to take action as the increasing national debt is a grave threat to our national sovereignty and the personal and economic liberty of future generations.
Constitutionally Limited Government: We, the members of The Tea Party Patriots, are inspired by our founding documents and regard the Constitution of the United States to be the supreme law of the land. As the government is of the people, by the people and for the people, in all other matters we support the personal liberty of the individual, within the rule of law.
Free Markets: A free market is the economic consequence of personal liberty. The founders believed that personal and economic freedom were indivisible, as do we. Our current government's interference distorts the free market and inhibits the pursuit of individual and economic liberty. Therefore, we support a return to the free market principles on which this nation was founded and oppose government intervention into the operations of private business.
Our Philosophy
Tea Party Patriots, Inc. as an organization believes in the Fiscal Responsibility, Constitutionally Limited Government, and Free Markets. Tea Party Patriots, Inc. is a non-partisan grassroots organization of individuals united by our core values derived from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, the Bill Of Rights as explained in the Federalist Papers. We recognize and support the strength of grassroots organization powered by activism and civic responsibility at a local level. We hold that the United States is a republic conceived by its architects as a nation whose people were granted "unalienable rights" through our humanistic original documents. Chiefly among these are the rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Tea Party Patriots stand with our founders, as heirs to the republic, to claim our rights and duties which preserve their legacy and our own. We hold, as did the founders, that there exists an inherent benefit to our country when private property and prosperity are secured by natural law and the rights of the individual.
D Kingsbury | 11.5.10 @ 10:49PM
When I downloaded the bill my impression was that it was "written" by several hundred incompetent lawyers trying to design a Boeing 747 without bothering to learn even the basics of engineering. I could not read it all -- in fact it was designed to be incomprehensible -- but EVERY section that I seriously tackled was fatally flawed. It CANNOT be implemented even by a conscientious bureaucracy. This fact provides a simple way to stop it. The House leadership must keep the public focused on HOW it is being implemented, ie what subterfuges are being used by the tame bureaucracy to PRETEND that they are executing it. Keep a floodlight on the disaster! Imagine watching the test flight of a 747 whose parts were drafted by Reid's Senate!
Alan Brooks| 11.5.10 @ 11:29PM
Again:
I surmise that healthcare will devolve to the states, and states will pay the bills of indigents, etc. However, when the bills begin to mount-- as they always do-- they will be sent to the Feds to pay.
D Kingsbury| 11.6.10 @ 12:18AM
Alan, you made that up. Which contradictory actions does the law suggest?
Bob K.| 11.7.10 @ 10:38PM
Again, your surmise is wrong. The states will have enough trouble paying their own pension obligations and bailing their own cities out of bankruptcy. They will look for Fed help there first. After all, they can't print money but the Fed can.
Osamas Pajamas| 11.6.10 @ 1:59AM
Alright. The Republicans have lost their balls. What a frkn waste this election was, then. Defund the Healthcare Hijacking. Shut the frkn government down. Challenge the corrupt bastards in the media to a debate. Smash them.
WeMustLiveWithinOurMeans| 11.6.10 @ 2:54AM
The huge excess of Federal Govt spending over income makes a defunding of Obamacare mandatory for the survival of the USA as a free nation. Any politician who wants the USA to survive has to vote for lower deficts. The USA cannot have Fed deficits of 14% of GDP and tell its creditors "We decide". The creditors are going to decide once they get the numbers.
LMajito| 11.6.10 @ 8:01AM
How could you AmSpect? Here I was enjoying my daily oatmeal and decided to start the good ol' laptop to view some political commentary at your site when ugggghhhh what's that that Dukaka gigantic proboscis? man get this short flake image out of the page (or at least put on a warning that viewing the pic may cause oatmeal indigestion)....uggghhh
Yosemeti Sam| 11.6.10 @ 12:28PM
" ... In addition to the power of the purse, the new House majority will also have subpoena power that can be used to delay implementation. They can hold numerous and protracted public hearings, while demanding all manner of documentation from the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). They can summon HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to answer questions about her 2009 gag order to insurance companies and her growing reputation as an enemy of the First Amendment. It would also be instructive to hear CMS administrator Donald Berwick to elaborate on statements like, "Any healthcare funding plan that is just ... must redistribute wealth."...."
THEREIN, my fellow Americans is the Republican scythe with which to help separate the wheat from the Leftoid chaff.
DRUMBEAT, SMOKE SIGNALS, SPEARS IN THE DIRT - make it abundantly CLEAR, Republicans to whom you have ALLEGIANCE to!
THE PEOPLE!
Neo| 11.6.10 @ 4:27PM
I've always thought that the Congress should require that all rules and regulations for ObamaCare be passed while all are jumping up and down on one leg.
Dayton Dave| 11.6.10 @ 5:53PM
This Catron character writes:
'Moreover, the PPACA infection has already been introduced into the health care system and has begun to spread. '
So if the 'infection' is getting people insured with health problems, ending lifetime limits, and stopping insurers dropping sick people, what's not to like? The only truly nasty virus is the Nazis like this David Catron who would send the sick to the modern-day gas chambers and charge their relatives for the gas.
Jon| 11.6.10 @ 8:30PM
I ask this one question to you all, do you have anything against insurance companies dropping people after they get sick? Or do you think that its fair that my uncle after being diagnosed with brain cancer was dropped from his insurance plan? This made my aunt quit her job to stay at home to take care of him his final 3 months, living in a bed in his living room with no income for the house, and mounting debt.
Harvey| 11.6.10 @ 11:01PM
The American People have told this Congress and the so called President time after time that they do not want this Obamacare bill and they still refuse to hear.
This President,Harry Reid and most of the other members of this Congress are the most arrogant know it all crooks in this Country and i bet there will be some of them wind up in trouble and Possibly Jail before its over,and every one of them deserve it,along with a few of the republicans.
Explosion Proof Light | 11.7.10 @ 9:32AM
The more hopeness, the more dispress.
I am look forward the Government of Obama.
John Bailo | 11.7.10 @ 12:37PM
Obamacare is the sort of thing, that if enacted here in WA State, would be struck down the next election by an Initiative where voters wake up, see what they're being billed for, and essentially cancel the credit card transaction.
Why don't we have Initiatives at the Federal level?
Jes Dump It| 11.7.10 @ 3:41PM
Stage II of dumping obamacare should include Congress sending a bill to Obama which provides that every single regulation promulgated by HHS SoBilibous under obamacare shall have no force or effect until, and unless, it is submitted for vote of the Congress and receives the majority vote in each house of Congress, with the vote to be cast as to each separate regulation, and "up or down" with no opportunity for amendments.
The People's representatives should have final say on any regulation promulgated by HHS under obamacare. Let Obama try justifying his veto of a bill assuring primacy of the will of the People.
The Underwearinator| 11.7.10 @ 3:46PM
Your a rasist!
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 3:59PM
One thing that the several states can do, the ones with the political will and/or desire, would be to pass laws requiring political candidates to prove their eligability before putting their names on the state ballot.
The constitution requires a candidate for president to be an American born citizen. The problem is that the constitution does not call out a vetting authority. When congress asked to see President Obama's credentials he can legally say, "And who appointed you gatekeeper?"
If a key state, say Florida or Iowa or Ohio or Pennsylvania were to pass a law that said that a candidate for the presidency must prove eligability before being placed on the ballot then President Obama would have to produce a birth certificate before being allowed to run for re-election in 2012. Game over.
Same case with anyone else running for an elected office. The constitution calls out a requirement, the state law vets the requirement. The same case can be applied to state constitutional requirements for state elections.
What it all boils down to is that if one state were to pass a law requiring a candidate to prove eligability then President Obama is publically cooked and that is that. The man would have to either put up of shut up and be exposed publically to be the fraud that he is.
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 4:07PM
Basically what it comes down to is that a local jurisdiction can stop the stunt that President Obama is pulling in regards to his eligability to be president. A state can pass a law requiring proof of eligability. A county or parish within a state can do the same. Imagine the political onus that one would face in challenging such a law in court. A challenger would have to explain himself in public as to why requiring a political candidate to comply with a published law is a bad idea.
The main thrust being that you don't need a state legislature or congress to deal with this issue, you can do it in a county government or down to the local court house. There, done.
FTM| 11.7.10 @ 4:08PM
To quote the Joker, a role model of mine, "TA-Daaaa!"
Ken Roberts| 11.7.10 @ 4:31PM
It is easy as posting here to write your representative so get ready to do just that, keep in touch often, you will make a difference but only if the voters stay on them to do what is right .
Chuck| 11.8.10 @ 8:29AM
And let's just hope that the president we elect to overturn Obamacare is not Romney. He'd be just the one to throw a wrench in the works -- until he admits that Romneycare was misguided, he has little credibility with me, despite his other fine qualities. He would make a good Treasury Secretary perhaps ...
Wayne Peterson| 11.8.10 @ 7:07PM
Jon, sorry for your uncle's situation. Medicine is horribly expensive and part of the reason is the governments intrusion in the marketplace. We as consumers are passive participants in the entire process. Just passing the problem over to taxpayers does not solve the problems.
As far as insurance, many states have insurance pools for people like your uncle. I know Oregon and Iowa does. It pays for itself and is a far better option than Obama Care.
Nite| 11.8.10 @ 10:58PM
Everywhere funds are needed, deny the funds. States could pass laws stating that citizens can not be forced to buy insurance. Repeal the anchor baby law. Pass a law that only citizens are elgible for insurance, medicare or medicaid. Non citizens should not be able to use hospital ER's like an ATM. Look closely at all foreign aid and decrease. Forget the so called Dream Act, this is a money buster for people who are here illegally. Remove Dr. Donald Berwick and other unconfirmed and non-legally employed Czars. Dr. Berwick is over Medicare and Medicaid and is busily setting up his little fiefdom. This is a scary person who has little respect for human life, but he will have the power of life or death over those individuals who receive this insurance. States will be responsible for their own problems. California is broke. If they are stupid enough to elect Democrats who have already broken the bank there, then they should be on their own. No federal bailouts. The Federal Government is broke too. There are lots of hard choices to be made.
David R.| 11.9.10 @ 2:30PM
All this talk about repealing Obamacare but no one seems to be concerned with the mounting debt and pending collapse of the dollar. What's going to happen with our savings, CD's, IRA's and 401K accounts?