America, as a free nation of liberty and opportunity is rapidly approaching the point of no return. If we continue to allow our professional career politicians to lead us in the direction we are now going we will very soon find ourselves living in a country where our personal freedoms and our opportunity for personal success depends on the whims of an elite ruling class rather than our own abilities and ambitions.
The next two election cycles may be our last opportunity to take back our country and our government from the statists who are threatening our liberty and our economic well-being. As with charity, politics begins at home. The state of Illinois is near the bottom of the list in personal freedom, and near the top of the list in corruption. Our economy is in shambles, with jobs leaving the state, rampant crime, an education system in shambles and a burden of taxation that grows harder to bear every year.
It is imperative that we take advantage of the growing unpopularity of the Obama administration and the Democratic Party in the next two election cycles. It goes without saying that we are where we are today because of the decisions our citizens have made in the past. Too many people wrongly believe that the role of federal government is to solve our problems and that the role of the state government is to provide personal favors in exchange for political support.
We need to make some drastic changes in 2010 in order to set the stage for the battle ahead in 2012. The place to begin is in the primary elections. It is important that we replace those politicians in the Republican Party that do not adhere to the principles of republicanism. It is equally important that we get rid of the politicians who continue to show allegiance to the party and their own career goals instead of the people they represent.
I believe that enough Illinois voters are fed up with petty, power hungry politicians who use their opportunity for public service only for service to themselves and their political cronies, that we can really make a difference in the next elections. Voters are tired of watching those they support and vote for using their offices as stepping stones either to the accumulation of personal wealth and power or stepping-stones to federal prison. They do not like the political dynasties being built by the Daleys, Strogers, Madigans and others.
2010 is likely to be a year of confusion and misery for many Americans, including Illinoisans. It can also be a year of opportunity for patriotic citizens who wish to return government to the principles that have been shown to work for the past two hundred and twenty years. Hopefully it will not be a year for third party “spoilers” to stifle reform by siphoning votes away from conservative candidates in the Republican Party who might have a chance otherwise to replace a statist candidate already in office.
We will not be supporting any political party in 2010, Republican or otherwise. Instead, we will be supporting candidates who subscribe to the republican principles as articulated by the Founding Fathers; candidates who show they understand and support the purpose of government as set forth by the Declaration of Independence; who recognize the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for everyone, and will promote and protect those rights. Most of all we will support candidates who demonstrate the knowledge and willingness to defend the Constitution of the United States.
Admittedly, there is not an overabundance of candidates at the present time who meet these qualifications, but it is early yet. It is too early, in fact, to formally endorse any candidate. However, there are at least two candidates who seem to have these qualifications that we will be watching closely in the months to come.
The first one is Adam Andrzejewski, Republican candidate for Governor. He alone stands out among the seven Republicans running for Governor as someone who understands the principles of government as fought for by the patriots during the Revolutionary War and contended for so diligently in the first four decades of the young republic. He has some innovative ideas for solving health care problems at the state level. He also advocates some practical approaches to education, taxes, corruption, job creation and budgetary policy.
Another candidate that is worthy of our attention is Jeff Danklefsen from the 14th Congressional District. Jeff is a newcomer to the political arena. And while he does not seem to have the business background or entrepreneurial spirit so many successful candidates possess, he is a rock solid conservative and represents the type of thinking we need from those representing us in Congress.
We will be gathering more information on these and other candidates as the primary season progresses. In the meantime, we urge everyone to get involved in the coming elections, especially the primaries. This is by far the most important election of our lifetime. The future of the nation and the future of our children and grandchildren depend on the outcome.
Healthcare Bill Derailed?
Everyone seems to have accepted the underlying premise of the debate that fixing healthcare is the duty of the federal government. No one is pointing out that the problems with healthcare, like most of the problems with the economy in general, can be laid at the feet of Congress. More than anything else, the unaffordable cost of healthcare today is caused by the distortions in the market created by the fact that government is the single largest purchaser of healthcare.
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If we are to make any headway in getting the cost of healthcare under control, we have to begin with a debate as to whether or not healthcare is a proper function of the federal government. The Founders, taking into account the expanse and diversity of America, deliberately limited the functions of the federal government. They understood that attempting to govern citizens in a variety of states covering a large geographical area with differing customs, problems and needs could not be accomplished by a central government without major sacrifice of liberty.
Nowhere in the Constitution do we find any authorization for the Federal Government to be involved in healthcare. Neither do we find any indication in the writings of the Founding Fathers that they would be in favor of government involvement in healthcare if they were alive today.
That is not to say that government has no role in the health of its citizens, just not at the federal level. A good first step in solving America’s healthcare problems would be accepting the intentions of the Founders when they proposed and ratified the tenth amendment. The proper place for public health issues, including medical care for the indigent and the regulation of insurance, if necessary, is at the state and local level.
If we continue to accept the premise of the statists that healthcare is the proper role of the Federal Government it is only a matter of time until we have socialized medicine. Obama and the Democratic Party may not be successful in getting a nationalized health plan this time, but they will be back again. Each time they propose it they get another step closer to succeeding.
Control of the nation’s healthcare has been the goal of left leaning politicians since the administration of the Progressive-Republican President, Theodore Roosevelt. Franklin Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson and Clinton, each in turn, made an attempt to institute universal coverage. Johnson signed into law the Medicare and Medicaid programs which eventually led to government control of some forty percent of the nation’s healthcare.
The increased demand for healthcare services brought about by these programs led to an inevitable increase in price. That, added to the customary employer provided healthcare plans instituted a couple of decades earlier as a way of getting around wage controls and exorbitant taxation, helped to create an expectation on the part of the public that they should never have to pay for any health care “out of pocket”; someone else should always pick up the bill.
We may accept a bill for hundreds of dollars from our local mechanic for minor repairs on our car without complaint, but panic at the thought of paying for a routine trip to the doctor for treatment of a common cold. Until the expectations of the public changes in this regard and until we get the overall government involvement in the healthcare system out of the hands of Washington and back into the hands of the state and local governments where it belongs, we are going to continue to deal with repeated efforts to socialize medicine.
If we do not change the way we think about the question of healthcare, Obama wins.
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Posted in Barack Obama, commentary, constitution, founding fathers, Politics, scope of government
Tagged constitution, healthcare, obama, Politics, socialized medicine, states rights