Posted on 04/01/2010 5:15:08 AM PDT by Kaslin
The history of the United States begins with a rebellion against unfair taxation.
In 1767, a distant and unresponsive government in London, led by an out-of-touch leader in King George III, implemented the Townshend Act. That measure slapped taxes on many popular items, including tea. The law didn’t, however, provide representation in Parliament for the taxed colonists.
Unable to make their voices heard in the halls of government, a group of American patriots dumped tea in Boston Harbor. The punishment for that first Tea Party was a series of intrusive laws so oppressive that they were described as the “Intolerable Acts.”
History, as they say, tends to repeat itself. On March 21, the House of Representatives passed an unpopular health care measure, which the president swiftly signed into law.
Obamacare is today’s “Intolerable Act.” It too should be opposed and repealed. Fortunately, this time Americans are represented, so we can overturn this misguided law without resorting to violence.
Much of the fight against this bill will be led by the individual states -- as it should be. Our Founding Fathers wanted states to retain most of the governing power. They realized that states were better positioned to find ways to solve problems close to home. Hence, they gave the federal government a very limited role.
So far, 33 states have taken steps to challenge various aspects of Obamacare, including its unprecedented mandate that every American purchase health insurance or face a steep penalty. Four additional states will have this question on the ballot in November.
It’s important for Americans to push back at the ballot box, because it’s clear many of our leaders in Congress aren’t listening to their constituents.
Obamacare is the most significant piece of social legislation since Social Security passed seven decades ago. But the way it passed is different.
The Social Security Act was drafted in the open and widely debated. And that “transformative” bill enjoyed broad popular and solid bipartisan support. Obamacare passed without a single Republican vote, and polls show a majority of Americans oppose it. They realize that this new law would accelerate Washington’s intrusion into our daily lives.
Supporters of this law argue (hope?) that popular hostility will recede now that it has passed. And yes, 32 million people will gain the theoretical right to health insurance. But half of that coverage comes from placing at least 16 million more Americans into Medicaid, an unpopular and overextended welfare program that already rations care. As Americans feel the bite of higher taxes and notice they’re not benefiting, opposition to the law will only increase.
There’s a reason government-run health care has been the holy grail of the Left for decades: It represents a giant step toward the creation of a European-style welfare state. This is an evolution Americans have resisted since our beginnings because it is alien to our national character.
Americans instinctively dislike the ugly deals and kickbacks used to pass this law. They’re aware that the actual law signed by the president contains payoffs for Florida, Nebraska, Louisiana and other states. But those deals are useful in that they’ve educated people as never before about the differences between the liberal and the conservative visions for America.
Our health care system requires reform.
We can and should strengthen the ability of American families to choose the coverage they want, rather than giving that power to Congress and its agency bureaucrats. We can also spur competition and choice to bring efficiency and lower costs to the health system, in place of Obamacare’s deadening regulation and damaging price controls. And, above all, we should foster state innovation rather than Washington-based central planning.
There are no permanent defeats in Washington. Things looked bleak for the colonists in 1776, and they prevailed. The forces of freedom will do so again.
Round two of the struggle to improve health care is underway.
I stole this from another Freeper months ago......The United States of America was created by the people who rose up against their standing oppressive government, and shot the bassturds!
Why, in the name of Jahosephat, is everyone so averse to the threat of violence as PART of getting this abomination overturned? You get more with a smile and the scent of violence about you than with a smile alone.
And while I’m on the subject:
1. Gordon Smith loses the Oregon Senate seat because of a third party out to “teach a lesson”.
2. Norm Coleman loses the Minnesota Senate seat because of third party out to “teach a lesson”
3. Where is the Democrat’s sense of fair play when Ted Steven’s arrest and conviction turns out to be a fraud?
The Democrats should be walking on eggshells.
If the left REAALY cared about health care reform they would give out health vouchers to the poor just like they give out school vouchers to the inner city poor and let the voucher recipients make their OWN choices./sarc
But we all know this health care boondoggle was never about choices nor reform but was always about control.
The dems are not trying to IMPROVE health care (or even health insurance).
They want to CONTROL it.
Bullcarp!
The GOP is already showing their invertebrate selves by saying that there is risk in overturning the healthcare. Also, we would have to have 2/3rds of Congress to overturn this monstrosity.
Also, if amnesty is passed, there will be no chance for the Republicans to regain the House and Senate. We are losing our representation to people who want to rule us and not serve us.
healthcare == healthcare bill.
History question. Wouldn’t the Founding Fathers be considered the business leaders of their day. These guys were not the “average” citizen as most of us here on this forum or attending tea parties are. Wouldn’t they be considered the Bill Gates of their day? Franklyn, Washington, Jefferson, and the rest of them were the top of the food chain. Where are these Leaders today. Not politicians, but “common men”.
Controlling healthcare is pretty much the final brick in the wall.
“You wouldn’t want to speak out against the ruling class, would you? I mean, you or your children might need a doctor some day, ya know?”
The time is coming where the first two boxes have failed, if it is not already a truth.
My belief is people are so adverse to violence because political correctness has harmed our society to a point people are afraid to stand up and fight for what they believe in. It’s time to get back to basics and remember what the founding fathers were doing and fighting for when they wrote our great Constitution and fought the great war for our freedom. It’s time we used them as an example and take back our freedom.
To be opened in that order.
"The foundation of every government is some principle or passion in the minds of the people." - John Adams (Signer of Declaration of Independence & President)
Yesterday, Michael Barone's "Washington Examiner" column contained this statement:
"Over the past 14 months, our political debate has been transformed into an argument between the heirs of two fundamental schools of political thought, the Founders and the Progressives. The Founders stood for the expansion of liberty and the Progressives for the expansion of government."
Barone has appropriately articulated and framed the current debate. Is the passion of a significant enough portion of American citizens today ordered LIBERTY?
Or, is there a majority whose motivating "passion" buys into the "Progressive" philosophy for expansion of government?
If the latter view prevails, America is on the sure path to the tyranny and oppression which has dominated in all parts of the world through most of recorded history.
The "Progressives" are not progressive at all. Theirs is the most "regressive" idea to surface in America since 1776. Their premise is flawed, because it relies on a counterfeit idea.
America became a place of refuge for the oppressed because its "passion" was for Creator-endowed individual liberty.
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