On Health Care Reform...Part 1

It is naive and ridiculous to equate polls that show that majority of Americans who are in favor of health care reform with the idea that they want an overhaul that includes a single payer socialistic health care system. As a discerning person, if I were asked whether or not the health care system needs to be reformed, I would answer with a resounding "Yes!"

President Obama and the liberal left, believe the only answer to this is to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and essentially scrap the old system with a health care system that will magically provide high quality health care for all while costing next to nothing. Their rhetoric rings hollow, when the details in the health care proposal come out showing massive new taxes for just about everyone. Regardless, they call the "public option" (code for government run single payer health care)necessary to increase competition among private sector health plans.

There are some facts that need to be pointed out.

First, while the American Health Care system needs to be reformed, this very same flawed health care system, complete with its capitalistic incentives, has produced the absolute highest quality of care in the world. (Evil) pharmaceutical companies, because of the incentive to make gobs of money, have invented new drugs that have extended both longevity and quality of life for all citizens. Neither of these two facts are in dispute. The successes of health care and pharma companies has in part led to spiraling costs. People under 50, for the most part don't get sick and don't spend money on health care. As people live longer, it costs more and more to keep them alive, with a decent quality of life. I am not proposing or advocating anything here. I am simply stating a fact.

Second, the rationale for the "public option" that said public option will improve competition is utterly false on two levels. First, is the straw man arguement that there is no competition now. There is, but depending on the state one lives in, that competition is severly limited by laws prohibiting interstate commerce in the health insurance industry. My wife's dilemma is a perfect example of this problem. She works (remotely) for a company in another state, who's parent company is in yet another state. Because she is only one of three employees in this state, health care cost for our family is roughly $700 dollars per month. If federal law allowed interstate commerce among insurance companies, she could be grouped with the hundreds of employees who work in the state where her company's main office is, thus cutting her insurance IN HALF. By simply removing these limitations, the government would be able to increase competition without spending a dime. The second point is the idea that a public option would fairly create competition. The government does have to make a profit to exist. A public health care plan, with the deep pocket of the federal government complete with deficit spending, could spend as much as it wants, undercutting the private sector and effectively killing competition. Make no mistake, this is the precise purpose of the public option.

What I hear from liberals is the argument that it is fundamentally wrong for corporations profits from peoples sickness and suffering. This is anther straw man argument. First I do not believe honest profits are wrong, and in fact the capitalist/free market system is the reason that the United States has the highest quality, and greatest innovation in health care in the world. If this were not so, why then do people, when they are really sick, often seek medical care in the United States. It is my argument that the market forces have been turned off, and it is this very reason that health care costs are spiraling upward. If Congress wants to fix this problem, they need to examine how and why market forces are not keeping costs down, as they do in almost every other industry.

More on this later.

What terrifies me...

is that the current administration does not understand the nature of our enemy. Michael Cain's Alfred, in The Dark Knight said it perfectly.

Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

Until the Obama administration understands that there are people in this world that can not be sweet talked, cannot be negotiated with, cannot be bought, we as a people will be at risk. We have had two terror attacks on our country in the past few months. One, Fort Hood, was successful, the second, The Christmas Day plot, was not. This is not the end. Yet this President and his congress are focused on global warming legislation and health care reform. Perfect.

Hello....is this thing on?

I quote President Barack Obama from what he said yesterday.

"It is important though to recognize if we keep on adding to the debt, even in the midst of this recovery, that at some point, people could lose confidence in the U.S. economy in a way that could actually lead to a double-dip recession."

I have to ask, did he keep a straight face when he said this? Yes President Bush left a deficit, when he left office. This is a fact that cannot be disputed. But President Obama came in and TRIPLED the deficit. T-R-I-P-L-E-D it. Now he says that adding more to the debt could weaken the economy? But he wants a universal health care plan that according to current estimates will cost 1.3 trillion over 10 years. And given the fact that Medicare has cost roughly 9 times more than originally estimated, this monster could easily cost 10 trillion dollars. And there are rumblings from congress that another "stimulus" package is needed. MORE DEBT.

Does Obama really mean what he said here? He keeps spending more and more money and the debt is so huge that it is practically unfathomable.

I actually agree with his statement, but how can can he say it with a straight face? His policies have set up this house of cards to fall. The dollar is weak and there is nothing being done to strengthen it. Inflation is coming. There is so much money sitting out there not being spent, that when it is, the economy could overheat causing massive inflation. If (in my opinion it is a matter of when) this happens say goodbye to the minuscule growth that is happening right now, and this depression (yes I think it is a depression) will worsen.

I think I have seen this movie before.

The Fundamental Problem with Liberal and economics.

It is quite simple really. Liberals believe the purpose of a business is to employ people. Therefore regulating said business to force it to provide higher wages, better employee benefits, etc. for its workforce is not only the right thing to do, but is a moral imperative. This thinking however is fundamentally flawed. People start and run businesses to make money. From the little mom and pop store in a strip mall to the largest corporations in the world, their purpose is to make money and for the owners, CEO's and executives to become wealthy. A company that does not turn a profit will go out of business. Jobs that are created are a result of said company's quest for profits.

To raise taxes or to create more regulations that cost businesses more money is to essentially kill jobs. Consider the entrepreneur who opens his dream restaurant. After paying for food and operating costs, wages and other expenses the entrepreneur hopes to take what profits, if any are left, so that he or she will be able to provide for him or herself and hopefully get ahead financially. If, because of regulations or taxes, the business's profit margin is reduced or begins to lose money, the owner has two choices: 1) make cut backs to remain profitable or 2) go out of business.

Its really simple. If you cut taxes and reduce regulations on business, businesses will be able to expand, hire more people, turn greater profits and thus pay more taxes on said profits.

"In this present crisis, government is not the answer to the problem. Government IS THE PROBLEM." Ronald Reagan.

Political Correctness caused the massacre at Ft. Hood

Despite all the warning signs including the fact that investigators found out that Nidal Hassan had tried to contact people associated with Al Qaeda in the recent past, The US Army failed to act. I believe they did not act for one reason: fear being accused of racial profiling and racism.

President Obama has said that we should not "jump to any conclusions" and has said little else about this massacre. Here is what investigators know so far about this man and the attack at Ft. Hood.

1. Hassan went around saying goodbye to his neighbors in the days before the attack.
2. He had been passing out Korans to people.
3. Dr. Hassan was disciplined and reprimanded for attempting to convert his patients to Islam.
4. He was known by his associate to have radical views and was opposed to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
   
5. Hassan was known to be sympathetic toward the very people that the US was fighting.
6. Multiple witnesses have stated Hassan yelled Allah u Akbar before opening fire, and during the rampage was reported to be calm and calculating during the shooting.
7. The place he chose for his rampage was a pre-deployment center for soldiers going to Iraq or Afghanistan.
   

Put all this together and it is pretty hard not to draw the conclusion that this was done by a radical Muslim, intent on killing Americans.

Sounds like an act of terrorism to me.

Harsh Interrogation vs Tortue

I am really having a hard time wrapping my head around this whole debate. I have read the memo that was released by the White House that gave details to the types of "harsh interrogation" that were used on high value prisoners like Khalid Sheikh Mohamed. My first reaction was, "Is that it?" This is the "torture" that the left was screaming about? But what I really don't get is why would the Obama Administration do this other than to appease the left wing of his party? But what is worse is that now Obama has opened the door for the justice department to prosecute Officials in the Bush Administration who wrote opinions and recommendations as to what interrogation techniques were acceptable.

Above all however, I feel that these actions and new policies enacted by the Obama Adminstration do absolutely nothing to strengthen our defense against potential terrorist attacks, and in actuallity rolls back our handling terror threats to a pre-9/11 mentality.

Forget the fact that using interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, helped to thwart terroist attacks on US cities. Does Obama really think that by telling our enemies that we will no longer use these techniques, which inflicted no bodily harm on these terror suspects, will somehow endear us to the terrorists all over the world. Does he think by doing this that the next time an American journalist (not even a solider or operative) is taken captive by these evil people, that they will show mercy and not decapitate their prisoners head.

But a bigger question must be asked? Hypothetically speaking lets postulate that in the future the CIA or NSA picks up chatter, backed up by intel that another terrorist attack err "man caused disaster" is imminent. Around this time they capture a terrorist who they know was involved in the planning and possible participation of this or a similar imminent attack, or they are fairly certain that he has information about an upcoming attack. Does the current administration really think that just by asking nicely or even harshly, that this person will give up the information. Is this despicable man's dignity or civil rights more important than the lives of thousands of Americans that might be killed if an attack is not stopped?

If you think I am exaggerating about something like this, look into what happened to Khalid Sheikh Mohamed. He had been captured. The US knew he was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and when interrogators were questioning him, he told them of another attack coming by saying "you will find out" but was otherwise defiant and uncooperative. The interrogators used waterboarding and he gave up information which helped to break up a terror cell in Asia that was planning an attack, like 9/11 on a bulding in Los Angeles. "Enhanced interrogation" on this dispicable exuse for a human being saved thousands of lives.

The Obama adminstration, with its policy changes and actions is signaling to the terrorists of the world that it is more important to spare the diginity of a terrorist or detainee than to save the lives of thousands of Americans. I suspect Bin Laden and the other leaders of Al Qaeda are laughing. We won't be laughing if we are hit again by these animals.

The Phoenix Arizona Tea Party Protest

I took the opportunity to go to my first (but probably not last) protest in my life. It was a fun experience. I took my 5 year old, Jessica with me, conning her into going with the promise of a train ride (light rail). We drove to the light rail station in Mesa and then took the train downtown and then walked about a mile to the State Capital building, where the protest was. Jessica was a trooper and had no trouble with the walk until the last 500 yards or so when she got tired. There were several people on the train doing the same thing. Taking the train was a good idea as we did not have to fight any traffic or have to search for parking.

The protest was probably one of the calmest protests that I have ever seen(of course the only ones I have seen until yesterday were on TV). People from all walks of life, and all ethnic groups were there holding up signs and chanting as the speakers (most of which were from KFYI) revved up the crowd. I estimated there had to be between 4 to 7 thousand people at this protest, and the Arizona Republic said that there was about 5 thousand people there.
The only complaint that I had was that I was not really able to hear what was being said. The PA system set up was not that great nor did it do much good if you were very far from where the speakers were. Critics of the tea party protests said that these protests were not spontaneous grass-roots organizations, but were GOP organized protests. If it was the GOP that organized them, then they did a very poor job with logistics. But it was not. I did not really care to hear what was said since i consider myself pretty well informed and new that since this was a grass roots protest that at least at this point there would not have been a whole lot said that would have been truly profound.

What I hope is that this is the beginning of something, that the silent majority has been stirred from a deep slumber. The move away from a constitutional republic really began long ago (FDR's New Deal was the beginning), and so many of us have for so long sat by while our freedoms have been slowly eroded and our free market system has been attacked and damaged from people within our own government. We can no longer sit by and say we are too busy to do anything about what is happening to our government. Not only do we need to wake up, but we need to wake up our friends and neighbors.

Often I think people look at me and wonder why I am so politically minded and passionate about these things. I am passionate about these things because the political system is the mechanism by which our rights and freedoms are maintained. It is the Constitution and that protects all of us and allows us to worship God according to the dictates of our conscience.
But the Constitution is under assault. There are those at the head of our government now, who believe that the Constitution is a flawed document and that because of that our country is hoplessly flawed and is in need of radical change. They are using the cover of an economic crisis to enact these changes to remake America. The changes that are being proposed will limit freedom in the name of fairness. Instead of liberty, we will have a soft tyranny.
I am passionate because I grew up loving this country. The American dream was available to all. I have people in my very family who have made their fortune because they took a risk and were rewarded for their hard work, timing and work ethic. I am passionate because I fear that what I see coming from those in power will disable the engines of prosperity that have made this country the greatest on Earth.

All of us need to be passionate about this country or we will be lulled to sleep; And when we wake up, the America we once loved will be no more.