The mainstream media reports that people protesting at town halls, on the web, and those calling and writing their congressmen are “mob”, organized right-wing extremists and Republicans.
Those same so-called objective reporters suggest that it is the common American that really wants socialized health care. hell, we’ve got Medicare, and that’s government run. If you’ re against government run health care, you must also be against Medicare … the trap is laid … You must be un-American! they claim.
The reality is that “The Left”, which includes the President, the White House, Pelosi and Reid, is extremely organized. The 501 (c) lobby groups do not hide the fact they have the support of the president. Organizing for America has the web url “barackobama.com”. These groups have well-oiled shock troops that are mobilzed to “balance” a protest, and present opposing views.
BarackObama.com is not a big fan of argument, reason or discourse. Subscribers are instructed what to do, what to say and when and where to say and do it.
Here are some of the emails that BarackObama.com has sent out to instruct the troops:
- Aug 12: I had signed up to “visit” a Senator’s office on behalf of BarackObama.com. The emails provided me with “my orders”:
We put together a step-by-step guide you can use to plan your visit and maximize your impact. You can download the guide and additional information to drop off at the office here:http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/HC_OfficeVisits/OfficeVisit_MD.pdf“We put together a step-by-step guide you can use to plan your visit and maximize your impact. You can download the guide and additional information to drop off at the office here: DOWNLOAD YOUR OFFICE VISIT GUIDE“
The Office Visit Guide instructed me to print out the guide, practice my pitch by writing it out, specific steps I should take when I visit the office and, of course, told me what my talking points where. I was scheduled at a specific office at a specific time to “take up my post” in the fight against those who might oppose BarackObama.com
- Aug 13: I received a follow-up email asking me for a report on my visit.
- Aug 18: I received an email from BarackObama.com:
“Frightened crowds have flooded town halls, and the office of a Georgia representative was defaced with a swastika. Check out the site today and then spread the word to your friends. These lies are no accident. They’re part of a deliberate plot by the special interests who profit from the status quo to kill any reform at all.”
Can we recall a time in American history where the President of the United States allowed his name to be used by a political action group to push an agenda. This is highly organized and don’t let The Left’s media shills tell you otherwise.
A lot of buzz has been made that there will be “death panels” (Sarah Palin) that will make life and death medical decisions.
Fortunately, teh end-of-life counselling mandate looks like it is losing steam, if not already dead, in the Senate.
That doesn’t mean the death panels won’t happen!! Let me walk through the logic where government management of “pricing” must lad to rationing. That rationing leads to deaths.
Like the frog who slowly dies in cold water being boiled, no-one rings a bell and says “Mrs. Smith will be terminated.” It is the mind-numbing bureaucracy of government controlled health care that achieves the same effect.
Again, once government assumes the role of paying for a substantial part of health care costs, either through subsidy or direct pay, it has a vested interest in controlling costs.
In Canada, where I immigrated from, the governments response was to restrict the number of practicing doctors, close hospitals and reduce spending on new equipment and procedures until there were well established. (Where would they be well established? In the United States, of course, that encouraged experimentation and development of new cures!)
Since the supply of services is controlled (and therefore costs become predictable and manageable), how do you manage the demand side of the equation? In a free market system, price intermediates. But in a perfect socialist society, we can’t allow that to happen! We will just have people line up for services. We will have a “board of experts” decide the order in which they line up.
This bureaucratic board, combined with a limitation of services, is effectively is the death sentence for many people.
So in Canada, in 2008, you wait 17.3 weeks for your general practitioner. 900,000 people are waiting for hospital beds. Death rates from colon cancer is projected to be 66% higher in Canada.
Government control kills.
I have been documenting the on-going use of Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals by The Left and the President. Never before have we seen such an ideological White House, so well versed in radical practices. It views the pursuit of its agenda as a crusade, and sees the destruction of opposing views as a means to an end.
Ridicule, polarization and the use of power are employed by the White House to attack those who want to debate issues.
Viz:
- In Montana last week, Obama told us that insurance companies are holding us hostage.
“We are held hostage at any given moment by health insurance companies that deny coverage or drop coverage or charge fees that people can’t afford”
- Next, Obama attacks the media, the same people who provided no critical and balanced analysis of his policies. “TV loves a ruckus. You’ve got to be careful about those cable networks.” I guess even friends can be enemies if they don’t play along.
- The numbers prove that Obama’s polarizing efforts are succeeding. Today’s Rasmussen Poll shows 32% of people Strongly Approve of Obama, 41% Strongly Disapprove. (In G W Bush’s final month in office, 43% Strongly Disapproved.)
- Every media outlet, every Democratic “action”: committee, every George Soros radical organization is demagoguing town hall protesters. David Andersen characterizes the attacks:
“The Democrats are losing ground according to the polls and evidenced by the disquiet at town halls from Oregon to New York to Texas to Delaware. They have decided not to address the issues the people have passionately brought up. They have decided to characterize people who differ with them as a staged mob. This is so outrageous that it is beyond the pail.
Since when are people not suppose to express their agreement with a speaker by cheering? Are they not allowed to express their collective disagreement with a proposal with a collective response to a question by saying just say no?”
- Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize winning economists, who has an unproven theory that we can spend, spend spend our way to prosperity, admits that “Obama will deal with the death of his postpartisan dream”.
- Obama attack dog Nancy Pelosi, well trained in Alinksy Rules, said last week that American citizens that exercise their free speech rights are Un-American. This is exactly the same term she used in March 2009 to describe raids on illegal immigrant work sites!!! So let me get this straight … Free speech is Un-American … Upholding the law is Un-American …
Polarization. Avoid the issue. Attack and demonize the other side. Is this the Change people voted for?
Finally, a level headed Senator McCaskill (D-Mo) admits that people who showed up at her towns halls about health care were “real, grass-roots” people.
Now, this seems to contradict the “experts” over at the fair and balanced MSNB Olbermann, always fact based interviews the very balanced Arianna Huffington. (NOT!)
What evidence does anyone have that the concerns are not genuine? (None!) Why not, like Ms McCaskill is doing, deal with the issues, instead of diverting the issue to the messengers?
Again, I fear we are seeing brilliant execution of Salinky’s Rule #12 , gladly supported by media “progressives”.
When I was very young and was learning about money, I would scratch my head when I passed by roadside signs: “Bad Credit, No Credit — No Problem”. So let me think this through …. If I had overspent, had racked up too many loans, and perhaps even started to default on some of them .. but I really really really wanted a new purchase, say a car … my solution was MORE CREDIT!
Wow! If you spend beyond your means, just borrow more!
Reality sunk in as I matured. The ultimate destination for unbridled spending in our personal lives is bankruptcy, not greater prosperity. Unless, of course, I had a magic spring of cash in my basement that would simply print more money when I needed it. Ahh! Fantasy Land … I have since learned that I just have to generate more revenue, or cut my spending to generate and accumulate wealth. What an old fashioned concept!
Along comes our Federal Government, with the ability to create fiat money (print money). And what are they doing in response to the “debt crisis”? You got it! Spend more money!
An excellent article, The Debt Crisis Cannot Be Solved with More Debt by David Saied documents how rapid our expansion of debt has been.
Consumer credit, which in 1950 was only 6% of total gross domestic product (GDP), has by 2009 tripled to 18% of GDP. Bank credit, which in 1947 was 45% of GDP, has by 2009 risen to 67% of GDP. Household debt, which in 1957 was only about 45% of national income, peaked at over 120% of national income by 2007. According to the congressional budget office (CBO), federal debt, which was at an already-high level of 41% of GDP in 2008, is expected to balloon to 200% of GDP by 2038. The CBO expects federal debt to grow to 60% of GDP by 2010.
As simply as this is not sustainable in our households, it is not sustainable at the national level.
