As President Obama once again goes into campaign mode, now for the “final” push for passing “Health-Care Reform”, he apparently believes that his silver-tongued oratory can change falsehood into truth. In every speech, he ardently claims this “reform” will lower costs and help the economy. Is that so? Yet his arguments are pure rhetoric. Not once has he laid out a specific and quantifiable explanation how the Senate Bill will lower costs. He hasn’t done so because he can’t. Further more, for him, costs and truth will not get in the way of his and the Democratic leadership’s efforts to impose his big government and progressive vision on the citizens of our republic who reject this vision.
His “all rhetoric and no substance” modus operandi was displayed in its stark reality during his recent “Health-Care Summit”. After the President’s usual eloquent introduction, Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin presented to him the following analysis of the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that indicated that the Senate Health-care bill would lower the deficit by $131 billion dollars over the next 10 years. He began by expressing his confidence in and respect for the CBO, but explained that the CBO estimates are only as good as the assumptions they are instructed to use. He first pointed out that the CBO estimate assumes 10 years of tax collections for 6 years of spending on this new entitlement program. He next identified that the CBO estimate counts $52 billion of increased Social Security revenues toward defraying the costs of this new program. The SS program itself has an estimated $17 trillion dollar unfunded liability. That $52 billion can be put to one or the other program, but not both. Similarly, the estimate also includes $78 billion of premiums from the CLASS program (Federal long-term care program). Again, those dollars can be applied to one or the other program, but not both. Perhaps most significantly, the estimate includes taking $500 billion out of Medicare to apply to this new entitlement. Yes, the same Medicare program that currently has an estimated $89 trillion dollar unfunded liability. He further pointed out the Medicare’s Chief Actuary predicts that diverting $500 billion from Medicare will result in 20% of providers dropping Medicare patients and also result in millions of seniors losing their Medicare Advantage coverage.
Recalculating the CBO estimate utilizing assumptions that closer reflect reality, Congressman Ryan concluded this new entitlement would further expand the deficit by $460 billion dollars over 10 years, not reduce the deficit by $131 billion deficit reduction as claimed by the proponents of the current Senate health-care bill. Over the 2nd ten years, the estimated deficit expands to $1.4 trillion.
This more accurate estimate, disturbing as it is, in all likelihood, reflects likely a best case scenario. The Federal government health-care cost estimates are notoriously inaccurate. Just 2 examples: 1. During its first year, Medicaid was expected to cost $238 million but wound up costing over $ 1 billion. In fiscal 2009, Medicaid cost $251 billion. 2. In 1965, the CBO estimated that Medicare costs would be $12 billion in 1990. Turns out the “reality” number was $90 billion, off by more than a factor of 7.
At his “Health-care Summit”, President Obama didn’t refute or even substantively address a single argument made by Congressman Ryan; he simply changed the subject with another rhetorical flourish.
President Obama correctly assesses that controlling heath-care costs is essential for the well being of our economy and the government’s fiscal condition, but could hardly be more dishonest in insisting the reform he and the Democratic majority are shamefully (e.g. reconciliation, deeming the Senate Bill passed without a vote) working hard to impose on the citizens of this Republic, will make the situation better and not worse.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
It's the Costs
A recent WSJ Capitol Journal analysis of President Obama’s health-care summit pointed out that although no agreement was reached, at least the debate partially clarified the differences between the Democrat and Republican positions. Particularly significant, the Democrat starting point for health-care reform is the problem of the uninsured and the related problem of pre-existing medical conditions, while the Republican perspective emphasizes the need to control the escalating costs. Fundamentally, to move forward with constructive reform and actually improve our health-care system, rather than just implement change because “something needs to be done”, it must be understood that the first perspective has to be subordinate to the second.
The escalating health-care costs have alarming implications for the Federal Budget. The 2009 Medicare Trustees Reports estimates that the projected unfunded liability (the difference between costs of the benefits promised and the projected revenue from dedicated Medicare taxes and Medicare premiums) is $89 trillion dollars. This gap can only be closed with either significant benefits cuts, significant tax increases or both. A tax solution alone would require total payroll taxes to climb to 37% to meet the retirement promises (Medicare and Social Security (1/5th of the Medicare liability)) made to the young people who today are entering the work force.
If payroll taxes don’t rise to cover the deficit, general tax revenues would need to be transferred to cover the shortfall. Currently 13% of Federal tax revenues are spent to cover the Medicare and Social Security deficits. That percentage is projected to grow to 27% by 2020 and 49% by 2030. By 2050, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will consume the entire budget on the current fiscal trajectory. As more and more of the budget flows to these entitlements, the other Federal Government services that now receive 87% of the Federal Budget e.g. defense, education, infrastructure maintenance, and the thousands of other federal program, will consequently be progressively and drastically scaled back with frightening and even existential ramifications.
The economic scale and scope of such a financial calamity makes consideration of additional benefits such as covering the uninsured or those with pre-existing medical conditions beside the point. Not that those problems should not be addressed but that they can not possibly be addressed on a sustainable basis until solving the fundamental issue of unsustainable health-care costs growth. Given that Federal and state governments now account for nearly 50% of all medical expenditure and given the financial status of those programs (Medicare, Medicaid, et al), can anyone reasonably believe that turning over the other 50% of health-care to the government could fix or even improve the current costs crisis? Successful reform will only occur by utilizing free market forces to promote a more consumer oriented payer system and to increase competition. As discussed numerous times on these pages, the components of successful reform should include promoting Health Savings Accounts, equalizing the tax treatment of privately purchased health-care insurance with that of employer provided insurance, allowing purchase of insurance across state lines, decreasing the number of mandated benefits, and allowing insurance companies to appropriately assess the risk of utilization of health-care services in premium pricing.
One final point, after the “health-care summit” President Obama is calling on Congress to find common ground and get health-care reform done. Yet, the 2 alternative positions, expanding a failing system to include the uninsured and those with pre-existing medical condition or fundamentally restructuring the system to curb accelerating costs, can not be reconciled to a middle ground compromise. Controlled by the far left ideologues, the Democratic majority will not accept the premise that first costs must be controlled and that successful cost control will depend on utilizing free market forces, not bigger government programs. For the sake of our children and country, we must hope the Republican minority does not compromise from that premise.
The escalating health-care costs have alarming implications for the Federal Budget. The 2009 Medicare Trustees Reports estimates that the projected unfunded liability (the difference between costs of the benefits promised and the projected revenue from dedicated Medicare taxes and Medicare premiums) is $89 trillion dollars. This gap can only be closed with either significant benefits cuts, significant tax increases or both. A tax solution alone would require total payroll taxes to climb to 37% to meet the retirement promises (Medicare and Social Security (1/5th of the Medicare liability)) made to the young people who today are entering the work force.
If payroll taxes don’t rise to cover the deficit, general tax revenues would need to be transferred to cover the shortfall. Currently 13% of Federal tax revenues are spent to cover the Medicare and Social Security deficits. That percentage is projected to grow to 27% by 2020 and 49% by 2030. By 2050, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will consume the entire budget on the current fiscal trajectory. As more and more of the budget flows to these entitlements, the other Federal Government services that now receive 87% of the Federal Budget e.g. defense, education, infrastructure maintenance, and the thousands of other federal program, will consequently be progressively and drastically scaled back with frightening and even existential ramifications.
The economic scale and scope of such a financial calamity makes consideration of additional benefits such as covering the uninsured or those with pre-existing medical conditions beside the point. Not that those problems should not be addressed but that they can not possibly be addressed on a sustainable basis until solving the fundamental issue of unsustainable health-care costs growth. Given that Federal and state governments now account for nearly 50% of all medical expenditure and given the financial status of those programs (Medicare, Medicaid, et al), can anyone reasonably believe that turning over the other 50% of health-care to the government could fix or even improve the current costs crisis? Successful reform will only occur by utilizing free market forces to promote a more consumer oriented payer system and to increase competition. As discussed numerous times on these pages, the components of successful reform should include promoting Health Savings Accounts, equalizing the tax treatment of privately purchased health-care insurance with that of employer provided insurance, allowing purchase of insurance across state lines, decreasing the number of mandated benefits, and allowing insurance companies to appropriately assess the risk of utilization of health-care services in premium pricing.
One final point, after the “health-care summit” President Obama is calling on Congress to find common ground and get health-care reform done. Yet, the 2 alternative positions, expanding a failing system to include the uninsured and those with pre-existing medical condition or fundamentally restructuring the system to curb accelerating costs, can not be reconciled to a middle ground compromise. Controlled by the far left ideologues, the Democratic majority will not accept the premise that first costs must be controlled and that successful cost control will depend on utilizing free market forces, not bigger government programs. For the sake of our children and country, we must hope the Republican minority does not compromise from that premise.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Health-Care Reform Would Help the Economy: If it is the Right Reform
Almost immediately after the historic Massachusetts Senate election, many Democrats began expressing second thoughts on continuing legislative efforts for health-care reform given the ongoing economic weakness and sustained unemployment. That stunning outcome forced Democrats, in an attempt to avoid a complete election debacle in November, to step back from their misguided progressive reform of health-care and announce they must instead work on improving the economy and unemployment. The Republicans were only too happy to agree with this legislative “pivot”, not so subtly implying that the Democrats have wasted a year working on health-care reform when they should have been addressing unemployment.
Once again, our career politicians in Washington have demonstrated that political maneuvering takes precedence over substantively addressing the serious challenges facing our citizenry. In fact, presenting these two legislative efforts as being mutually exclusive couldn’t be further from the truth. Very clearly, reform resulting in lower health-care costs and in substantial slowing of the growth of those costs would provide a major long term boost to the economy, including employment. Escalating health-care costs increasingly burden small businesses, large businesses, and families. For businesses that provide health-care employee benefits, higher costs for that insurance leave less capital to invest in the business and make those businesses less competitive in the global economy. Broader detrimental economic consequences of these costs were confirmed in a recent RAND corporation study that demonstrated among corporations that provide employee health-care benefits, increasing health-care costs result in greater unemployment and lower industrial output. Further economic damage occurs on the employee side with higher insurance costs resulting in lower wages, household spending, and saving.
Legislation for effective health-care reform would utilize free market principles to shift from a 3rd party payer system, a system that essentially creates unlimited health-care demand, to a more consumer oriented system. Effective legislation would also increase competition to decrease costs. Those same competitive forces would stimulate not only transparency and accountability with regard to costs but also, in turn, transparency and accountability with regard to quality of care. Further, lowering health-care costs would make health-care insurance more affordable for more businesses, families, and individuals thus making significant headway in decreasing the numbers of the uninsured. The components of successful reform should include promoting Health Savings Accounts, equalizing the tax treatment of privately purchased health-care insurance with that of employer provided insurance, allowing purchase of insurance across state lines, decreasing the number of mandated benefits, and allowing insurance companies to appropriately assess the risk of utilization of health-care services in premium pricing. This could all be done without creation of a single new government entity, without adding a single dollar of government spending, and without a single dollar of increased taxation.
In contrast, the “reform” put forth by the Democratic Congressional majority, (thankfully stopped dead in its tracks by the Massachusetts election), would have expanded the failed 3rd party payer system, increased insurance costs, expanded Federal and state provided health-care insurance that currently has trillions of dollars of unfunded liability, created massive new government bureaucracies, increased taxes, done immense harm to an already faltering economy, and pushed our country further down the road of the welfare state. (As an aside, understand that terms such “faltering economy” sound very academic and impersonal. In reality, the “faltering economy” means millions of our citizens agonize over their inability to provide for themselves and their families, and many others fear they may lose that ability.)
Still, don’t hold your breath waiting for Congress to enact common sense legislation, (utilizing the free market principles that made our country the global economic engine), to address the current health-care system ills and the related devastating effects on the economy. The Democratic Party, currently held hostage by the progressives, rejects such solutions outright because they do not conform to their ideological agenda. The Republican Party is more interested in undermining Democratic majority for their own political gain. And the career political establishment, both Republican and Democrat, would rather serve their own interests and special interests than that of the citizens of the republic they represent.
The great experiment in liberty that is our country and the resultant unprecedented national prosperity, freedom, and satisfaction is now mortally threatened simultaneously by the progressive left that seeks to abandon our very foundational principles and by the corrupt political establishment. For our sakes and for that of our posterity, we can not just sit back and allow our liberty to die (be killed). We must instruct ourselves and others with regard to the issues of the day including health-care reform, education reform, immigration reform, the National debt, etc. More importantly, we must reeducate ourselves and others on our country’s foundational principles and on that foundational understanding on the role of government. We must participate in the grass roots liberty loving political movement at the local, state, and national level. Find your local grass roots organizations. Learn about the candidates. Become a candidate. Support worthy candidates (local, state, and national), with time, effort, and money. This will take effort but without that effort our country, the country of our forbearers, many of whom sacrificed their very lives for the American way, will slip away.
Once again, our career politicians in Washington have demonstrated that political maneuvering takes precedence over substantively addressing the serious challenges facing our citizenry. In fact, presenting these two legislative efforts as being mutually exclusive couldn’t be further from the truth. Very clearly, reform resulting in lower health-care costs and in substantial slowing of the growth of those costs would provide a major long term boost to the economy, including employment. Escalating health-care costs increasingly burden small businesses, large businesses, and families. For businesses that provide health-care employee benefits, higher costs for that insurance leave less capital to invest in the business and make those businesses less competitive in the global economy. Broader detrimental economic consequences of these costs were confirmed in a recent RAND corporation study that demonstrated among corporations that provide employee health-care benefits, increasing health-care costs result in greater unemployment and lower industrial output. Further economic damage occurs on the employee side with higher insurance costs resulting in lower wages, household spending, and saving.
Legislation for effective health-care reform would utilize free market principles to shift from a 3rd party payer system, a system that essentially creates unlimited health-care demand, to a more consumer oriented system. Effective legislation would also increase competition to decrease costs. Those same competitive forces would stimulate not only transparency and accountability with regard to costs but also, in turn, transparency and accountability with regard to quality of care. Further, lowering health-care costs would make health-care insurance more affordable for more businesses, families, and individuals thus making significant headway in decreasing the numbers of the uninsured. The components of successful reform should include promoting Health Savings Accounts, equalizing the tax treatment of privately purchased health-care insurance with that of employer provided insurance, allowing purchase of insurance across state lines, decreasing the number of mandated benefits, and allowing insurance companies to appropriately assess the risk of utilization of health-care services in premium pricing. This could all be done without creation of a single new government entity, without adding a single dollar of government spending, and without a single dollar of increased taxation.
In contrast, the “reform” put forth by the Democratic Congressional majority, (thankfully stopped dead in its tracks by the Massachusetts election), would have expanded the failed 3rd party payer system, increased insurance costs, expanded Federal and state provided health-care insurance that currently has trillions of dollars of unfunded liability, created massive new government bureaucracies, increased taxes, done immense harm to an already faltering economy, and pushed our country further down the road of the welfare state. (As an aside, understand that terms such “faltering economy” sound very academic and impersonal. In reality, the “faltering economy” means millions of our citizens agonize over their inability to provide for themselves and their families, and many others fear they may lose that ability.)
Still, don’t hold your breath waiting for Congress to enact common sense legislation, (utilizing the free market principles that made our country the global economic engine), to address the current health-care system ills and the related devastating effects on the economy. The Democratic Party, currently held hostage by the progressives, rejects such solutions outright because they do not conform to their ideological agenda. The Republican Party is more interested in undermining Democratic majority for their own political gain. And the career political establishment, both Republican and Democrat, would rather serve their own interests and special interests than that of the citizens of the republic they represent.
The great experiment in liberty that is our country and the resultant unprecedented national prosperity, freedom, and satisfaction is now mortally threatened simultaneously by the progressive left that seeks to abandon our very foundational principles and by the corrupt political establishment. For our sakes and for that of our posterity, we can not just sit back and allow our liberty to die (be killed). We must instruct ourselves and others with regard to the issues of the day including health-care reform, education reform, immigration reform, the National debt, etc. More importantly, we must reeducate ourselves and others on our country’s foundational principles and on that foundational understanding on the role of government. We must participate in the grass roots liberty loving political movement at the local, state, and national level. Find your local grass roots organizations. Learn about the candidates. Become a candidate. Support worthy candidates (local, state, and national), with time, effort, and money. This will take effort but without that effort our country, the country of our forbearers, many of whom sacrificed their very lives for the American way, will slip away.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Because They are Self-Centered Not Right of Center
Fox News recently reported that the National Republican Congressional Committee fund raising has fallen well short of their projections and of their requirements for supporting national congressional campaigns (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/01/03/gop-financial-struggles-jeopardize-house-election-bids/). The Republican leadership laments that this shortfall threatens potential significant Republican gains in the November 2010 elections.
Republican strategists doubtlessly are struggling to understand why donors are not stepping up when so much of the electorate clearly opposes President Obama’s and the Democratic Congressional majority’s initiatives regarding the economy, energy policy, environmental policy, and organized labor policy. Poll after poll has found that the majority of American voters consider themselves centrists or right of center and yet, those same people have little enthusiasm for the “conservative” Republican Party.
There is no mystery here. We the people have completely lost confidence in the political process. Both parties by their actions have demonstrated that purported espoused etiology clearly ranks below self interests and special interests. Congress’s wanton spending on pet earmarks, trips abroad, bureaucracy expansion, etc makes plain their complete disregard for our hard earned tax payer money. How are they any better than third world dictators who pillage their citizenry? In fact considering the current unfunded liability of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, our politicians have far surpassed those totalitarian regimes in devising a system to take from those that have yet to be born.
At the end of this past year, while average Americans continued to struggle in this economy, Congress gave all federal employees a raise. In earlier days, we referred to government employees as public servants because historically compensation for public service lagged behind private sector positions. Now those “public servants” belong to unions and have salaries and benefits that exceed those of the private sector; even as their “employers” (local, state and Federal governments) fall further and further into debt.
We desperately need to return to those traditional American free market principles, personal freedoms, and values that made our great land the global economic powerhouse and bastion of freedom. If we do not, our country’s and our childrens' futures will continue to slide down the slippery slope to European style socialism, which can only result in economic insecurity, national and global insecurity, and individual dependency and unhappiness. The Republican Party must stop paying lip service to those principles, freedoms, and values but rather incorporate them in legislation to address the significant challenges facing out country. Yet this can not occur until the Republican establishment first regains our trust and reforms the political process by working in earnest for term limits, fiscally responsible stewardship of taxpayer (present and future) monies, and absolute transparency and accountability in government.
Republican strategists doubtlessly are struggling to understand why donors are not stepping up when so much of the electorate clearly opposes President Obama’s and the Democratic Congressional majority’s initiatives regarding the economy, energy policy, environmental policy, and organized labor policy. Poll after poll has found that the majority of American voters consider themselves centrists or right of center and yet, those same people have little enthusiasm for the “conservative” Republican Party.
There is no mystery here. We the people have completely lost confidence in the political process. Both parties by their actions have demonstrated that purported espoused etiology clearly ranks below self interests and special interests. Congress’s wanton spending on pet earmarks, trips abroad, bureaucracy expansion, etc makes plain their complete disregard for our hard earned tax payer money. How are they any better than third world dictators who pillage their citizenry? In fact considering the current unfunded liability of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, our politicians have far surpassed those totalitarian regimes in devising a system to take from those that have yet to be born.
At the end of this past year, while average Americans continued to struggle in this economy, Congress gave all federal employees a raise. In earlier days, we referred to government employees as public servants because historically compensation for public service lagged behind private sector positions. Now those “public servants” belong to unions and have salaries and benefits that exceed those of the private sector; even as their “employers” (local, state and Federal governments) fall further and further into debt.
We desperately need to return to those traditional American free market principles, personal freedoms, and values that made our great land the global economic powerhouse and bastion of freedom. If we do not, our country’s and our childrens' futures will continue to slide down the slippery slope to European style socialism, which can only result in economic insecurity, national and global insecurity, and individual dependency and unhappiness. The Republican Party must stop paying lip service to those principles, freedoms, and values but rather incorporate them in legislation to address the significant challenges facing out country. Yet this can not occur until the Republican establishment first regains our trust and reforms the political process by working in earnest for term limits, fiscally responsible stewardship of taxpayer (present and future) monies, and absolute transparency and accountability in government.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Fixing the Economy – The Hard (Impossible) Way
President Obama recently convened a jobs summit purportedly being “open to every demonstrable good idea to create jobs” as our economy continues to struggle in the throes of the worst recession since the Great Depression. Unemployment stands at 10% but including the underemployed (those who can only find part-time work) and those who have given up looking for work increases that number to 17%. There are also many persons who presently have jobs but legitimately worry they could lose their present employment and many who had lost their job and subsequently have found new work but at significantly lower pay. Lastly as consumer confidence continues to fall (recently to a 26-year low), ongoing depressed consumer spending further restrains the economy, putting more pressure on business hiring.
Small businesses based in our free market system have been our nation’s primary employer and the source of our economy’s vitality. It would stand to reason that any reasonable effort to stimulate the economy should be expected to promote a healthy small business environment; yet, President Obama and the Democrat Congressional majority have selected the hard (impossible) way to fix the economy – by making the small business environment more difficult.
The taxpayer bailout of the big banks and ongoing Federal monetary policy has resulted in record Wall Street profits and in severely restricted small business credit. The trillion dollar taxpayer stimulus package has largely been a failure. Despite appropriating this huge sum out of the private economy (present and future), unemployment has increased; although we are told that more jobs would have been lost if not for the stimulus package. The jobs stimulated by road improvement projects are now disappearing as those projects and funding have been completed. The taxpayer money to the states to support salaries and to pay obligations similarly has dried up and many states remain in critical financial condition.
Cap and trade energy legislation that would, by the administration’s own admission, result in higher energy costs to families and businesses and also push jobs overseas has mercifully stalled in the Senate. However, just this week, the EPA announced its intention to designate CO2 as a harmful emission and regulate it as such which will result in the same economic harm inherent in the cap and trade legislation.
Perhaps worst of all, current health-care “reform” proposals in the Democrat controlled Congress fail to substantively address the ever escalating cost of health-care insurance and the resultant financial stress of small businesses and families. Rather than reorienting the 3rd party payer system to a more consumer centered system by implementing common sense reform including expansion of Health Savings Accounts, decreased mandated policy benefits, and decreased insurance regulation so to allow national competition and national risk pools, President Obama and the congressional Democrats want to expand mandates, expand the third party payer system, and effectively decrease insurance carrier competition. This “reform” would not only significantly increase health-care costs for businesses and families (http://www.bcbs.com/news/plans/new-report-shows-senate-bill-would-increase-healthcare-costs-for-louisianians.html) but would impose new taxes on those businesses and families.
Apparently “every demonstrable good idea” must conform to the left’s big government and green ideology. Unfortunately, those “good ideas” can only exacerbate our difficult economic situation. These legislative initiatives would be laughable if they were not so harmful to the well being of so many.
The Democrat Senate leadership is pushing to pass their health-care reform bill by Christmas at all costs. We must act. We can each individually make a difference. Call your Senators and urge others to call http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm. Tell them to vote against the present bill. Tell them we need true patient centered reform that decreases costs to families and businesses; reform that decreases insurance regulation and increases competition; and reform that decreases government debt and government intrusion into our health-care.
Small businesses based in our free market system have been our nation’s primary employer and the source of our economy’s vitality. It would stand to reason that any reasonable effort to stimulate the economy should be expected to promote a healthy small business environment; yet, President Obama and the Democrat Congressional majority have selected the hard (impossible) way to fix the economy – by making the small business environment more difficult.
The taxpayer bailout of the big banks and ongoing Federal monetary policy has resulted in record Wall Street profits and in severely restricted small business credit. The trillion dollar taxpayer stimulus package has largely been a failure. Despite appropriating this huge sum out of the private economy (present and future), unemployment has increased; although we are told that more jobs would have been lost if not for the stimulus package. The jobs stimulated by road improvement projects are now disappearing as those projects and funding have been completed. The taxpayer money to the states to support salaries and to pay obligations similarly has dried up and many states remain in critical financial condition.
Cap and trade energy legislation that would, by the administration’s own admission, result in higher energy costs to families and businesses and also push jobs overseas has mercifully stalled in the Senate. However, just this week, the EPA announced its intention to designate CO2 as a harmful emission and regulate it as such which will result in the same economic harm inherent in the cap and trade legislation.
Perhaps worst of all, current health-care “reform” proposals in the Democrat controlled Congress fail to substantively address the ever escalating cost of health-care insurance and the resultant financial stress of small businesses and families. Rather than reorienting the 3rd party payer system to a more consumer centered system by implementing common sense reform including expansion of Health Savings Accounts, decreased mandated policy benefits, and decreased insurance regulation so to allow national competition and national risk pools, President Obama and the congressional Democrats want to expand mandates, expand the third party payer system, and effectively decrease insurance carrier competition. This “reform” would not only significantly increase health-care costs for businesses and families (http://www.bcbs.com/news/plans/new-report-shows-senate-bill-would-increase-healthcare-costs-for-louisianians.html) but would impose new taxes on those businesses and families.
Apparently “every demonstrable good idea” must conform to the left’s big government and green ideology. Unfortunately, those “good ideas” can only exacerbate our difficult economic situation. These legislative initiatives would be laughable if they were not so harmful to the well being of so many.
The Democrat Senate leadership is pushing to pass their health-care reform bill by Christmas at all costs. We must act. We can each individually make a difference. Call your Senators and urge others to call http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm. Tell them to vote against the present bill. Tell them we need true patient centered reform that decreases costs to families and businesses; reform that decreases insurance regulation and increases competition; and reform that decreases government debt and government intrusion into our health-care.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Religion and Politics: The Manhattan Declaration
Last week, a group of religious leaders released the Manhattan Declaration - a statement reaffirming the essential justice and goodness of upholding and protecting the sanctity of life, traditional marriage between a man and a woman, and of the rights of religious conscience and liberty. Although written from a Christian perspective, the ethos of the declaration conforms to the foundational Judeo-Christian heritage of our traditional American values and morality. The document urges believers and non-believers alike to recognize the evident detrimental societal ramifications caused by the steady erosion of these 3 principles. It is not written simply from a perspective of fidelity to the Christian faith, but from that of the well being of society and of love for all individuals. The declaration also calls on people of conscience to actively promote these doctrines in our American society and further to civilly resist attacks on and abandonment of these doctrines.
This point of view undoubtedly will be assailed from the left as bigotry, intolerance, and imposing church on the state. They incorrectly argue that the principle of separation of church and state that prohibits a state sponsored religion also requires a person to exclude their religious perspective from their politics. This position not only is a misunderstanding of that principle but also fails to grasp that a person’s belief system is their religion. It is their framework for understanding this world, this life, and their purpose or vocation in this life. Further, a person’s belief system intrinsically has an associated code of morality or ethics. This moral code provides an ethical standard by which a person measures the conduct of their lives. For many, this cosmologic and ethical framework arises from their belief in an eternal, omnipotent, and loving God. For others, their belief system arises from their secular understanding of the world. In either case, what they believe is their “religion.” One’s politics can not possibly be separated from one’s “religion”. It is facetious for a “non-religious” person to say that a Christian’s political position which is based in their religious beliefs should not be expressed in the political process and yet insist that their political position that is based in their secular beliefs are legitimately expressed in the political process.
Ironically while many on the progressive left claim to espouse broad tolerance of individual beliefs, they do so only as long as those beliefs conform to their beliefs. As Americans, we rightly pride ourselves in freedom of beliefs and in that sense we certainly live in a tolerant society. However, living in a free, democratic, and tolerant society does not mean that all beliefs should have equal expression in that society. Our American freedom confers the right to any citizen to utilize the political process to incorporate into our society those beliefs they consider beneficial and to exclude those they believe to be detrimental.
The principles and objectives of the Manhattan Declaration will also meet resistance from the right. Some conservatives argue that these issues of sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty are peripheral social issues that divide and thereby weaken the conservative movement. They feel debate of these issues only distracts from the more important conservative effort to promote traditional American individual freedoms and the traditional American economic principles of free markets. This stance however, does not recognize that the same liberal ideology underlying the systematic attack on traditional American morality also underlies the attack on traditional American individual freedoms and economic principles. Progressive ideology comprehensively rejects the intrinsic, absolute, and personal nature of individual freedoms, talents, and responsibilities as understood in our Judeo-Christian heritage. Rather than primacy of the individual person and of the individual family, the progressive movement emphasizes the ascendancy of the non-personal collective society. Rather than the absolute and unchanging morality of our Judeo-Christian heritage, the progressive movement champions a changing and relative morality that “fits” with our societal and scientific “progress”. We must understand that the attack on traditional American individual freedoms and economic principles is part of the broader systemic ideological assault on all of traditional American society and must be resisted on all fronts.
We have reached a defining crossroads in our nation’s history. We can sit back and watch the “enlightened” progressive economic and moral principles insidiously supplant our traditional American principles and values; or we can each step up, and actively participate in an unprecedented grass roots political movement that embraces and promotes traditional American free market principles, individual freedoms, and morality. Please read the Manhattan declaration. It is a compelling and lucid statements. Aand, if it conforms to your beliefs, add your signature (http://manhattandeclaration.org/images/content/ManhattanDeclaration.pdf). Forward the document to those who care for traditional America. Write your congressman and senators (contact info found at http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm). Join and contribute your time, energy, and money as you are able to grass root organizations such as the American’s for Prosperity http://americansforprosperity.org/national-site, American Liberty Alliance http://americanlibertyalliance.com//, and other traditional American values based grass roots organizations.
This point of view undoubtedly will be assailed from the left as bigotry, intolerance, and imposing church on the state. They incorrectly argue that the principle of separation of church and state that prohibits a state sponsored religion also requires a person to exclude their religious perspective from their politics. This position not only is a misunderstanding of that principle but also fails to grasp that a person’s belief system is their religion. It is their framework for understanding this world, this life, and their purpose or vocation in this life. Further, a person’s belief system intrinsically has an associated code of morality or ethics. This moral code provides an ethical standard by which a person measures the conduct of their lives. For many, this cosmologic and ethical framework arises from their belief in an eternal, omnipotent, and loving God. For others, their belief system arises from their secular understanding of the world. In either case, what they believe is their “religion.” One’s politics can not possibly be separated from one’s “religion”. It is facetious for a “non-religious” person to say that a Christian’s political position which is based in their religious beliefs should not be expressed in the political process and yet insist that their political position that is based in their secular beliefs are legitimately expressed in the political process.
Ironically while many on the progressive left claim to espouse broad tolerance of individual beliefs, they do so only as long as those beliefs conform to their beliefs. As Americans, we rightly pride ourselves in freedom of beliefs and in that sense we certainly live in a tolerant society. However, living in a free, democratic, and tolerant society does not mean that all beliefs should have equal expression in that society. Our American freedom confers the right to any citizen to utilize the political process to incorporate into our society those beliefs they consider beneficial and to exclude those they believe to be detrimental.
The principles and objectives of the Manhattan Declaration will also meet resistance from the right. Some conservatives argue that these issues of sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty are peripheral social issues that divide and thereby weaken the conservative movement. They feel debate of these issues only distracts from the more important conservative effort to promote traditional American individual freedoms and the traditional American economic principles of free markets. This stance however, does not recognize that the same liberal ideology underlying the systematic attack on traditional American morality also underlies the attack on traditional American individual freedoms and economic principles. Progressive ideology comprehensively rejects the intrinsic, absolute, and personal nature of individual freedoms, talents, and responsibilities as understood in our Judeo-Christian heritage. Rather than primacy of the individual person and of the individual family, the progressive movement emphasizes the ascendancy of the non-personal collective society. Rather than the absolute and unchanging morality of our Judeo-Christian heritage, the progressive movement champions a changing and relative morality that “fits” with our societal and scientific “progress”. We must understand that the attack on traditional American individual freedoms and economic principles is part of the broader systemic ideological assault on all of traditional American society and must be resisted on all fronts.
We have reached a defining crossroads in our nation’s history. We can sit back and watch the “enlightened” progressive economic and moral principles insidiously supplant our traditional American principles and values; or we can each step up, and actively participate in an unprecedented grass roots political movement that embraces and promotes traditional American free market principles, individual freedoms, and morality. Please read the Manhattan declaration. It is a compelling and lucid statements. Aand, if it conforms to your beliefs, add your signature (http://manhattandeclaration.org/images/content/ManhattanDeclaration.pdf). Forward the document to those who care for traditional America. Write your congressman and senators (contact info found at http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm). Join and contribute your time, energy, and money as you are able to grass root organizations such as the American’s for Prosperity http://americansforprosperity.org/national-site, American Liberty Alliance http://americanlibertyalliance.com//, and other traditional American values based grass roots organizations.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Reclaiming the American Vision of Freedom and Prosperity
Regardless of our political affiliation, Republican, Democrat, or Independent, most of us would agree America faces serious issues with regard to the economy, healthcare, poverty, morality, education, and the aging population. Further, many of us, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, share a similar vision for our country. It is a vision of America with a strong and sustainable economy in which individuals and families can be secure in their ability to provide for themselves. It is a vision of America based on economic and personal freedoms, allowing individuals to decide what sacrifices they will make, education they will pursue, opportunities and talents they will use, and risks they will assume to succeed. It is a vision of America with the ability and commitment to make us secure from those within and outside our country who would do us great harm. It is a vision of America as a shining model of individual freedom, economic and societal success for the rest of the world. It is a vision of a compassionate America that provides a safety net of basic housing, education, and healthcare. It is a vision of America of our generation passing on not only a better society, economy, and environment to the next generation but also the opportunity for our children and grandchildren to be able to choose how to live out their American dream. Most importantly, it is a vision of American government that fosters, rather than impedes this vision.
There is another vision, that of President Obama and the far left. Theirs is a vision of government taking over more of our economy and lives to provide a “fairer” society. Theirs is a vision of government limiting individual decisions and opportunities and instead providing “equality” of economic outcome, of healthcare, of education, of standard of living. Theirs is a vision of America being just another country, renouncing and even apologizing for the principles of individual and economic freedoms that have made our country great. Theirs is a vision of government abandoning the traditional American virtues and morality and instead espousing broad societal moral tolerance based, not on an absolute standard, but rather on the “enlightened” morality agreed upon by contemporary “intelligent” society. Most importantly it is a vision of American government (tyranny) that imposes this vision on us.
We must recognize the current political upheaval is not simply a debate between the Republican perspective and Democrat perspective within the traditional American economic and political society but rather a well-veiled effort to overthrow our traditional American society. In actuality, it is a struggle between those of us (Republican, Democrat, or Independent) who believe in the goodness and efficacy of traditional American economic principles, individual freedoms, and moral values, and those who would renounce those principles, freedoms, and values and remake America into a European-style social democracy.
Without a doubt, at this time in our country’s history, we find ourselves with significant economic break down and social difficulties. Yet these troubles are not a result of the failure of traditional American free market principles and personal freedoms in a more complex modern world, but instead the result of the erosion and corruption of those principles. Our economic and societal troubles can only be successfully addressed by again embracing the traditional American free market principles, traditional American individual freedoms, and traditional American morality that made our country the greatest of the modern world, the shining light on the hill of liberty, freedom, and prosperity.
Our country has come to a defining moment. We (Republican, Democrat, or Independent), who love freedom and liberty, must recognize the stakes. We must pick sides. We must join the fight. Our children’s and their children’s futures depend on what we do now. Though it may initially strike you as hyperbole, the “Great Generation” fought and died to protect the very liberties and freedom that we risk losing because of a well-organized “progressive” minority and a corrupted political process.
Every individual can make a difference. We must fight those who would denounce and remake traditional America. We must take back the corrupted political system through historic grass roots pressure to force transparency and accountability on the politicians and bureaucrats. Write your congressman and senators (contact info found at http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm); and join and contribute your time, energy, and money as you are able to grass root organizations such as the American’s for Prosperity http://americansforprosperity.org/national-site, American Liberty Alliance http://americanlibertyalliance.com/, and other free market based grass roots organizations.
There is another vision, that of President Obama and the far left. Theirs is a vision of government taking over more of our economy and lives to provide a “fairer” society. Theirs is a vision of government limiting individual decisions and opportunities and instead providing “equality” of economic outcome, of healthcare, of education, of standard of living. Theirs is a vision of America being just another country, renouncing and even apologizing for the principles of individual and economic freedoms that have made our country great. Theirs is a vision of government abandoning the traditional American virtues and morality and instead espousing broad societal moral tolerance based, not on an absolute standard, but rather on the “enlightened” morality agreed upon by contemporary “intelligent” society. Most importantly it is a vision of American government (tyranny) that imposes this vision on us.
We must recognize the current political upheaval is not simply a debate between the Republican perspective and Democrat perspective within the traditional American economic and political society but rather a well-veiled effort to overthrow our traditional American society. In actuality, it is a struggle between those of us (Republican, Democrat, or Independent) who believe in the goodness and efficacy of traditional American economic principles, individual freedoms, and moral values, and those who would renounce those principles, freedoms, and values and remake America into a European-style social democracy.
Without a doubt, at this time in our country’s history, we find ourselves with significant economic break down and social difficulties. Yet these troubles are not a result of the failure of traditional American free market principles and personal freedoms in a more complex modern world, but instead the result of the erosion and corruption of those principles. Our economic and societal troubles can only be successfully addressed by again embracing the traditional American free market principles, traditional American individual freedoms, and traditional American morality that made our country the greatest of the modern world, the shining light on the hill of liberty, freedom, and prosperity.
Our country has come to a defining moment. We (Republican, Democrat, or Independent), who love freedom and liberty, must recognize the stakes. We must pick sides. We must join the fight. Our children’s and their children’s futures depend on what we do now. Though it may initially strike you as hyperbole, the “Great Generation” fought and died to protect the very liberties and freedom that we risk losing because of a well-organized “progressive” minority and a corrupted political process.
Every individual can make a difference. We must fight those who would denounce and remake traditional America. We must take back the corrupted political system through historic grass roots pressure to force transparency and accountability on the politicians and bureaucrats. Write your congressman and senators (contact info found at http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm); and join and contribute your time, energy, and money as you are able to grass root organizations such as the American’s for Prosperity http://americansforprosperity.org/national-site, American Liberty Alliance http://americanlibertyalliance.com/, and other free market based grass roots organizations.
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