The Heavy Hand

My blog-fodder for this rant comes from the following news article at foxnews.com: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/20/white-house-cites-opinion-shows-basis-fox-news-complaints/

There has been a lot of complaining coming out of the White House lately with regards to Fox News that could be seen as laughingly childish if it wasn't so serious with deadly consequences.

It all boils down to Obama and his administration not being able to handle media that disagrees with him and wants to call him on the carpet for those he associates with and the beliefs he espouses. I think probably every president in the history of this country has had to deal with unfriendly media and opinions. Some have even lashed out. I seem to recall Bush Sr. ready to throw a punch at a disrespectful reporter.

So let me get a few preliminaries out of the way. First of all, I do watch FoxNews regularly so go ahead and brand me now. I used to watch more of CNN and MSNBC until I began to notice the rediculously left-leaning slant on their opinion shows and News that wasn't always covering things fairly. Does FoxNews do this all perfectly? Of course not. But I will say, in general, they lean the same way I do. I'll also say I think their coverage is more thorough and fair. Statistics seem to show this to be true as well.

With all that said, we can all admit that the Fox News Opinion shows very much lean to the right and the Opinion shows of all the rest seem to lean very much to the left. The fact that Fox News is as loud as they are only brings some semblance of balance to the overall picture. So all this talk about them not being a legitimate news channel is pure bologney. Even if you lean way to the left you will have to allow for Freedom of Speech which is a foundation of this country.

And now we get to the heart of the issue: Freedom of Speech. I have no problem with the president disputing the opinions of Fox News. But the current tactic falls perfectly in line with what we've been seeing from the big names in the Democratic Party over the past year. That tactic is to do everything possible to marginalize and silence critics. We are dangerously close to losing the freedom to debate opinions and ideas in this country. The health care debate is a prime example. At every turn we hear about the so-called nuclear option the Democrats are hanging over the heads of the Republicans. Do what we want or we'll do it for you.

Now we see an attempt by the Obama administration to silence the loudest conservative voices on television. Rather than battle with words, the administration resorts to heavy-handed attempts to marginalize and silence the opposition. The problem is Freedom of Speech and the attempt not only to silence an opposing voice but perhaps the loudest outlet for the American People to speak. Obama is attempting to silence FoxNews, he's attempting to silence EVERYONE who opposes him.

The Heavy Hand is dropping. I still remember the interview a Fox News affiliate in Florida did with Joe Biden during the campaign. "Marxism" was the term being thrown around to describe the beliefs of the campaign. Biden acted like he couldn't believe anyone would dare accuse the campaign of such an unAmerican thing like that. The black pot isn't black but really more of a gray. It may look black but it isn't so stop saying it is. And if you keep calling that black pot black, then we're going to call you a fool and anything else we can come up with until the world has pushed you aside. And then, when all the voices saying the black pot is black are silenced or marginalized, the world can finally live in peace and harmony knowing and believing what we tell them.

No more freedom of thought, idea, or opinion. Freedom of Speech will still be there. You can say whatever you want as long as it's what we want. If you don't agree with us, we'll treat you like an idiot.

I no longer believe Barack Obama is a marxist. I now believe he is a communist. His desire is to be dictator of America. His ideology is shown in his actions and words. It's obvious now that he's taken to attacking Freedom of Speech, one of the bastions of America. A pillar. A foundation.

All this starts with a war of words backed by ideologies. If the words win, the ideologies win.

America is being tested right now. We are on the brink of leaving our foundations. We've been heading there for years. Which way will America choose to go? Will we turn away from the edge of freedom and travel back to our founding fathers? Or will we go over the edge and start down a long path and handing control of our lives over to this government and every government that follows?

Health Insurance Subsidies

Today's blog-fodder comes from President Obama in regards to how to pay for health insurance reform. This quote comes from foxnews at:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/14/obamas-health-care-quest-heads-west/

"Obama agreed that he couldn't insure the estimated 46 million uninsured Americans for free. But he told the man there are steps that he would take to avoid raising taxes on 95 percent of Americans, as he has pledged. One option, he said, is to eliminate subsidies to insurance companies and instead shift the subsidies to low-income Americans to help them buy insurance."

So here's my thought: if the insurance companies are already receiving subsidies, aren't those subsidies helping our insurance costs to stay lower? And, if not, why is the government subsidizing in the first place?

With all this in mind, if the subsidies are indeed helping to keep our costs lower, then it would follow that removing those subsidies would cause my rates to go up and make it harder for the Health Insurance industry to compete with whatever government options become available. And if the industry isn't allowed to compete, then we're going to see the government options grow more and more over the years until they've pushed private healthcare out of the market.

The president is not just using fuzzy math, he's using fuzzy logic.

The smart insurance company right now is Aetna, held out by Obama as an example to follow. Here's another quote from that same article above: "The president says his intent was not to target all big companies. He said some, like Aetna, are working with the administration on overhaul. But he said others are spending money to oppose his efforts to remake the system."

Aetna is positioning themself to be the channel for government health insurance. They'll get the biggest piece of the pie. I guess I should be investing in Aetna. Unfortunately I believe in fighting against this new system and so I find myself allied with the other insurance company, including my own.

I still believe in reforming - not remaking. The system needs fixing, maybe even overhauling, but throwing the system out, which is what we're doing, is going to create a fully government-run insurance industry eventually. It may not begin that way but it will end up that way and future presidents will be forced into placing the whole bill onto the American taxpayer. We will see our taxes reach that 50% to 60% level (at least) just to pay for it. And when that happens our transformation to socialism will be nearly complete. With the governement reaching that deep into the pockets of the average American, what will we be left with to pay for everything else in life? How many more private industries will fall to the government to subsidize and takeover?

We are on the slippery slope away from democracy and freedom. Private Health Insurance is a freedom (not a basic right - see earlier blogs) we now have and we are in the process of handing that freedom over to the government. And I thought the presidents influence on the auto industry was a gross abuse of presidential and governmental power. As the government takes much more control over the insurance industry, it will begin calling more of the shots.

My primary concern is giving away the freedoms we have. The more we allow those freedoms to slip away, the sooner we're going to see the loss of our basic human rights. This health care debate is about more than health care and this is where the president and congress are missing the point. This debate is about giving away (taking away, losing) the very foundations of our country. The government should not be running anything that could be handled in the private sector. Government is a necessary evil. It can be a good presence in the lives of it's ciitizens if stays where government should stay.

Wake up, America! We're giving away the rights and freedoms of our children on a much greater scale than anything we will experience ourselves.