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What I Learned From the 'Mob' (Coburn on ObamaCare)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | September 2, 2009 | Tom Coburn, M.D.

Posted on 09/01/2009 7:47:00 PM PDT by St. Louis Conservative

I spoke with thousands of voters at town-hall meetings this summer. What I gathered from them is that it's not just the proposed overhaul of health care that has them upset. Many also expressed a sense of betrayal. In spite of their hope for change, it still appears that the government in Washington is run for its own benefit and the benefit of special interests—not for the benefit of the American people. The folks I met with also don't trust politicians in Washington to address mounting long-term challenges to our economy.

It's not just the attendees of town-halls meetings in Oklahoma. Voters across the country are telling Washington what's on their mind, if only more people inside the Beltway would listen. A Rasmussen poll released last month showed that 40% of voters said that cutting the deficit in half by 2012 should be President Barack Obama's top priority. Only 21% said health-care reform should be his No. 1 priority.

Notwithstanding these polling results, the administration and Congress have responded by trying to win public support on the strength of an argument that's too clever to be true. They say that the key to saving money is spending money, a lot of money. And they've done just that with a $787 billion stimulus program as well as billions in bailouts and proposals to spend vast sums on health-care reform and other things. Their belief seems to be that every government expenditure grows the economy or can be counterbalanced with cost savings.

It's a confusing argument, and it's flat wrong, particularly with regard to health care. The Congressional Budget Office has said as much when it stated a few weeks ago that the health-care legislation before Congress fails to restrain costs and instead "significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs."

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; US: Oklahoma
KEYWORDS: healthcare; obamacare; tomcoburn; townhalls
God bless Dr. Coburn.
1 posted on 09/01/2009 7:47:01 PM PDT by St. Louis Conservative
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To: St. Louis Conservative

2 posted on 09/01/2009 7:50:31 PM PDT by rlmorel (Mary Jo Kopechne is now available for comment.-August 25, 2009)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Wow. Someone in the government who understands.

Are there any more of him?


3 posted on 09/01/2009 7:54:15 PM PDT by rlmorel (Mary Jo Kopechne is now available for comment.-August 25, 2009)
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To: rlmorel
Are there any more of him?

Jim DeMint (R-SC) is giving it a pretty good shot.

4 posted on 09/01/2009 8:13:01 PM PDT by upchuck (Neuter them in 2010 - Send them packing in 2012.)
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To: St. Louis Conservative
"it still appears that the government in Washington is run for its own benefit and the benefit of special interests—not for the benefit of the American people"

Finally! Somebody gets it. Question is: are any commie libs listening?

5 posted on 09/01/2009 8:39:52 PM PDT by Hillarys nightmare (So Proud to be living in "Jesus Land" ! Don't you wish everyone did?)
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To: St. Louis Conservative

Mob bump...


6 posted on 09/01/2009 9:28:20 PM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is another agitator for republicanism like Sam Adams when we need him?)
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To: St. Louis Conservative
A Rasmussen poll released last month showed that 40% of voters said that cutting the deficit in half by 2012 should be President Barack Obama's top priority.

That's a surprise. I thought it was cutting C02 emissions in half.

7 posted on 09/02/2009 7:00:30 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine (Is /sarc really necessary?)
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