Posted on 9/10/2009, 1:34:52 PM by shortstop
You don't understand, Mr. President. It's not about pre-existing conditions or people without coverage or the price of health care.
It's about the proper role of government, and that's about freedom.
The answer is, "No." We don't want you to save us, we don't believe in your plan, we don't trust you to do it for us.
We'd rather be free.
That's what they don't discuss on the evening news. Amidst all the sob stories about expensive pills and death panels, completely overlooked is the principle involved -- and that is that government should not compete with or replace private enterprise. Nowhere in the Constitution or in our history is the federal government authorized to take over or run health care. It is not an enumerated power and it is not an inferred power, it is an assumed power.
And we all know what happens when we assume.
The problem with a runaway federal government -- the sort of government we've known over recent years and months -- is that it violates the principles upon which our Republic was founded. It's funny, but the most complex problems are often solved by the application of the simplest of principles. When you get the basics right, everything else takes care of itself. If you untangle and encourage the appropriate function of government and society -- if you turn loose individual liberty and the free market -- problems fix themselves and success comes to both individuals and society.
But that's not how things work today, and that's not what the president was thinking last night.
Instead of limited government and maximized liberty, what the president suggested last night was empowered government and diminished liberty.
And it doesn't really matter how many stories he tells to make us feel sympathetic, or how much money he offers us, or how many songs he sings about justice and equality and compassion, the fact is that the government is not an insurance company and it is not a hospital, and it shouldn't pretend it is.
But to the extent that it does, it will fail.
And it will take us down with it.
What the president and many in his party fail to realize is that the purpose of the American government is to safeguard freedom. Our Republic is formed around the premise that liberty is our first priority. It is not meant to protect us from every ill, or take away the possibility of failure, or insulate us from our misfortunes and poor choices. It is meant to protect our liberties.
And anything that takes away our liberties must be resisted.
Even if it is done in the name of "compassion" or "justice."
But you can't do the right thing the wrong way, and you do not liberate one man by enslaving another. To feed one citizen another citizen's bread, you must first steal it from that citizen, and crime in the name of compassion is still crime.
And everything the government touches turns to crap. Each enterprise the federal government puts its hand to turns bitter and failed. Bureaucracy, political correctness and ineptitude breed inefficiency and waste.
But the greatest waste is freedom -- the freedom to live the way we choose and do our business the way we choose. Health care is fundamentally a private concern. It is not a right, no more than a haircut is a right. Yes, private charity may provide health care -- as it has from the beginning of our nation -- but public compulsion sacrifices a right for a want and must never be tolerated.
The president though his TelePrompTered eloquence could sway the public, that his magic words would sweep away the will of thousands shouted at town-hall meetings. He thought that his glorified touch would make everything right.
But he was wrong.
You can't pick up a turd by the clean end, and you can't do nanny government the right way. He is grabbing power for himself and invoking servitude for us.
Government is not to compete with or replace private enterprise -- that includes insurance companies and hospitals.
It is a first principle of our Republic, explained and exemplified by the Founding Fathers and followed by wise leaders since.
It's not about sob stories, it's about freedom. And, simply put, Mr. President, we don't want what you're selling.
Can we get a BIG AMEN???
We’re sinking, and our ‘leaders’ are arguing about the color of the deck chairs....
re: “Comment #2 Removed by Moderator”
Thank you....
That really sums up what this is all about.
This is an excellent editorial and an excellent post. Could not have said it better myself.
I didn’t listen but I checked the transcript. The only truth that anybody heard was from Joe Wilson.
Love listening to Bob in the mornings, he’s got about the best reasoned arguements of anyone, and his manner of delivery is about as inoffensive as you can get.
Why do I like his delivery? Because, even a person who supports Pres.Zero’s plan, can listen to Bob’s opposition and not get himself turned into an emotional, babbling idiot. Bob has a great way of educating the opposition, with real-life examples almost everyone can relate to.
This statement should be the slogan for all who understand that the battle is not about "health care" anyway. That is just the route by which the Far Left sees opportunity to do something far more sinister. It is a battle about freedom and liberty for individuals versus a massive unconstitutional power grab by politicians and bureaucrats who will control trillions of "the People's" tax dollars for the next several decades.
In words that Zero will understand: "Don't 'wee-wee up' my leg and try to tell me it's raining."
I can't believe I actually typed "wee-wee". He said it first, I didn't.
Genius! I'm changing my tag line.....
What the liberal mind is passionate about is a world filled with pity, sorrow, neediness, misfortune, poverty, suspicion, mistrust, anger, exploitation, discrimination, victimization, alienation and injustice.
They are poor, weak, sick, wronged, cheated, oppressed, disenfranchised, exploited and victimized. They bear no responsibility for their problems. None of their agonies are attributable to faults or failings of their own: not to poor choices, bad habits, faulty judgment, wishful thinking, lack of ambition, low frustration tolerance, mental illness or defects in character.
None of the victims’ plight is caused by failure to plan for the future or learn from experience. Instead, the “root causes” of all this pain lie in faulty social conditions: poverty, disease, war, ignorance, unemployment, racial prejudice, ethnic and gender discrimination, modern technology, capitalism, globalization and imperialism.
In the radical liberal mind, this suffering is inflicted on the innocent by various predators and persecutors: “Big Business,” “Big Corporations,” “greedy capitalists,” U.S. Imperialists,” “the oppressors,” “the rich,” “the wealthy,” “the powerful” and “the selfish.”
Liberalism encourages self-pity and other-pity, fosters government dependency, promotes sexual indulgence, rationalizes violence, excuses financial obligation, justifies theft, ignores rudeness, prescribes complaining and blaming, denigrates marriage and the family, legalizes all abortion, defies religious and social tradition, declares inequality unjust, and rebels against the duties of citizenship.”
Your “right” to healthcare at the expense of taxpayers means that they have become rightless serfs, i.e., your slaves. Your right to anything at others’ expense means that they become rightless.
Quote of the day
“The idea was to “reduce our dependency on imported oil.”
And they have locked us exclusively into imported oil!
Heck, I don't think Zero even has a plan. The fascist gnomes in congress might ... though if they do, most of the actual congressthings haven't read it. But Zero the TelePromTer Reader hasn't a clue.
He just does and says what his masters tell him to do.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.