Obamacare: The Bridge to Nowhere (or nowhere you want to be)

Purchasing and Consumption

First let me say, I desperately have been trying to find the article that inspired this post, but alas I cannot. So I apologize to that gentleman (or woman) for ripping off part of his (or her) intellectual property. I'll make amends if and when I can locate it.

But one of its important points pertained to the critical link between purchase and consumption-- this is the relationship that must be present for any market to control costs. In other words, individual consumers making decisions in their best interest, weighing the benefits of a good or service versus their associated expense, in a universe of choice, is the only force in existence than can contain inflation without triggering adverse consequences. If you are a lover of liberty and free markets, there simply is no other way to control costs-- anything else leads to rationing, diminished choice and quality, stifled innovation, and punitive taxation--all of this, and the trampling of one's civil liberties to boot. This is why conservatives and libertarians are so committed to free market principles-- they work every time, and everywhere, they're tried!

Belly Up to the Buffet

The ultimate folly in healthcare today is 3rd party payers-- be they government entities at the state or federal level, or even private insurance companies with their system of copays and coinsurance. Think about it-- those of us with insurance: We go to the doctor, we pay our copay, and then what? We stop acting like consumers and start imitating cruise ship tourists that want to get their money's worth on the 24/7 buffets. And we wonder why our premiums go up 15-20% every year?

Furthermore-- the fact that most of us aren't examining the charges in detail, the way we would were we reviewing a car repair invoice or a bank statement, means that the seller isn't being held accountable for holding down their costs. There is a lack of transparency about the entire transaction-- we don't know why an x-ray costs $250, we just handle the copay and move on. The involvement of the 3rd party payer adds the needless red tape and processing/handling charges to a transaction that should be taking place between a true buyer and seller. That isn't happening-- instead the negotiation is taking place between the insurance company or government bureaucracy and the seller, and that is a recipe for the disaster that is healthcare today.

A good rule of thumb: Anything that the government spends a lot of money on increases the cost of that item-- not just in the obvious way of driving up artificial demand, but due to the nature of government itself in that it always seeks to control the process and remove the role of the individual-- this despite the fact that only the individual can effectively control costs in a free market. The obvious irony is they end up making things more expensive and, thus, more people become dependent on them for assistance. The downward spiral is then triggered, something that is occurring in other sectors as well (e.g., college tuition).

Back to healthcare: Any program that neglects to fix the disconnect between purchasing and consumption will fail to contain costs. Not only does Obamacare ignore this, they are unconstitutionally forcing some 30 million Americans without insurance to enter the same doomed system, and their greater numbers will actually amplify the problem.

Conservatism: Results vs. Intentions

The thing about conservatism-- it looks past feelings and intentions and cares only about results. Here's what I mean: The fact is, as a society we would actually be better off swelling the ranks of the uninsured so that more and more Americans began paying their doctor bills à la carte. In the short run it would cause many good folks some pain, but in the long run the market would correct itself-- either with lower insurance premiums, or lower actual healthcare costs negating the necessity of insurance altogether, except for a household policy covering us in the event of medical catastrophe-- the kinds of policies our grandparents held. Why on earth should Americans need insurance for routine medical needs? The answer is... we shouldn't!!

If we insist on seizing the assets of some Americans to redistribute to other Americans to pay for their healthcare in a transitionary period, it makes much more economic sense to simply deposit the stolen money into individual Health Savings Accounts-- whatever the recipient doesn't spend in a year they get to bank for future medical needs. This, along with catastrophic medical coverage, is all they ought to get from the taxpayer-- the rest comes out of either their own pockets, or those of willing charitable organizations. At least in this instance, the consumer is ostensibly face to face with their consumption insofar is they have a finite medical allowance to manage (or mismanage).

The bottom line is simple-- if you give a human being access to an all-you-can-eat buffet, they're likely going to overeat once they pay their cover charge. And, of course, if government's picking up the cost of the cover charge to boot, well look the hell out-- your costs are headed for the stratosphere, and the taxpayer will be drained until he or she gives up and joins the rest of the crowd at the government trough. And then you'll have the end of America.

For those that missed it last August, Whole Foods CEO, John Mackey, wrote a great piece that I continue to reference on the issue of healthcare and what can be done within a free market framework to reduce costs. I'll reference it again here, it's a brilliant read that got him in a ton of trouble with the Maoists among his consumer base.

The Real Agenda

The idea that Barack Obama and his despicable accomplices in Congress are trying to sell to the American people is simple-- we can do it better than you. I literally want to spit up all over my computer screen as I type this, but I'll try to resist. Nevermind the fact that they're acting completely without constitutional authority in the first place, which should lead to his prompt impeachment if there were any justice in this world. Just contemplate the notion of a bunch of suits in Washington D.C., most of whom have never managed so much as a payroll in their entire lives, possessing the arrogance to think they can create efficiencies in ANYTHING at all, much less a healthcare system that accounts for a sixth of the American economy. But they go further than that-- by this legislation they are saying that they can create efficiencies superior to those of a free market, meaning us. Why? Well... only they can fight the eeeeevvvilll insurance companies conspiring to screw us, that's why.

Well here's what I say: I've met the enemy, and the enemy isn't a faceless insurance company, it is, in fact, the Left Wing radicals that control Washington D.C. at the moment. They see America and the freedoms and liberties her citizens enjoy and feel contempt. They look at history's experimentations with socialism and actually say to themselves-- "yep, let's recreate that here"... and they are in the process of doing just that-- instituting the soul-crushing, top-down government infrastructure to make it a reality. Every conservative and libertarian running for office in 2010 worth supporting must commit to repealing this monstrous legislation, and begin work at replacing it with reform predicated on free market principles.

Let me say one more thing-- they (the Left) know this legislation won't work, and that's the point. For the reasons I've identified (and more) it will not only fail to control costs, it will exasperate the problem. This will allow them to theatrically throw up their hands and institute the complete transformation to something that resembles the UK's National Health Service. This bill-- Obamacare-- is, in a sense, a patsy... a bridge not to nowhere, just nowhere that you or I want to be. This bridge must be blown to pieces by the next Congress, with the same urgency that they used to create it in the first place.

A Time for Offense

A Bitter Pill

The latest Washington sellout, Ben Nelson, should illuminate for us just how urgent the call of history has become. My fingers are almost quivering as I type this, when I think about Harry Reid using tax dollars that should, at a minimum, be applied toward our staggering debt service, if not outright returned to the hardworking people of America-- people that would lose EVERYTHING were they to operate their households the way their government manages their money-- to buy off Senators to get this disgusting piece of legislation through the that dishonorable body. I'm not sure how you feel, but I'm tired of this shakedown. I'm tired of the arrogance. I'm tired of politicians that want to remake the United States in the image of the worst of Western Europe and call it progress. The gall of these men and women, who have ballooned our national debt making us ever more beholden to foreign powers, who have only too gleefully pursued more entitlements to make the American people more dependent on they, the would-be puppet masters in Washington D.C., who use our hard-earned dollars to bribe and threaten and control like filthy mobsters, who flaunt their use of power in our faces just daring us to do something about it, is too much to swallow.

But most of all, I'm tired off reacting to these punks in the first place. They trot one disastrous piece of governance after another, we howl in protest, and they walk away with merely an arm of our liberty... or a leg, or a torso. Don't worry, they'll be back for the rest of the body, their thirst for absolute control over our lives only whetted for a brief moment in time. Unfortunately for us, these punks have acquired terrific power-- power that the founding fathers never intended a politician to have in the first place... EVER. And I'm ready to get proactive about returning that power to its rightful owners, starting in 2010.

What Now?

Our generation needs to put forth a game changer, something to turn back the dark, post-FDR tide in a fundamental way and set our country on a major course correction. History is calling us. And let me be clear, this is a bigger task than triumphing in an election or two. We all bought into the false hope of 1994-- that was a politician-engineered revolt that, although backed by the people, turned the Republican party into the feckless, wobbly-kneed institution of insiders and stiffs that it remains today. We are worse off in 2009 than we ever were in 1993. The revolution that begins in 2010 must not be merely supported by the people, it must be led by the people. To borrow a well-worn cliché, it is time to take our country back.

This effort must not be merely about obtaining political power, which is short-term thinking with a natural beginning and end (a craven goal worthy of our political opponents). I'm speaking of a long-term, wholesale reshaping of our governmental culture, powered by a massive educational endeavor. The American people are opposed to what is taking place in Washington DC and in state capitals across the country, but this opposition is instinctive-- meaning, they don't have the tools (understanding of history, our constitution, and the required vocabulary) to articulate exactly why they oppose it. This weakens their ability to take a firm stand and explain their opposition with conviction and clarity and persuasion to their friends and family, and thus their resolve, and our movement along with it, is hindered. We can't take heart in polls that show opposition to the Far Left's agenda, a sentiment that is an inch deep and directionless, which is why the ruling elites in Washington DC are willing to risk cramming through their gangster agenda in defiance of it. If we give people the knowledge to properly understand the depth of depravity taking place among our supposed representatives they will rise up with us in opposition, and at that point these scoundrels in DC will lose their power to harm America, not just for an election cycle or two, but for a generation or two. And only then will we begin to repair the damage to our formerly great Republic.

A Bold Alternative

The current grassroots movement of conservatives and libertarians-- be they Tea Party or otherwise-- need to coalesce in 2010 behind an alternative to the Far Left's agenda that can, at the very least, lay the groundwork for this grand political education. Tea Party Patriots has started this effort already (http://www.contractfromamerica.com/Idea.aspx), and efforts like this beg your thoughtful attention and participation. In my opinion this agenda needs to address the immoralities present in the following areas:

• Taxes: We can argue supply-side vs. demand-side economics until the cows come home, but nobody in Washington seems to care about deficits anyway. Therefore taxes should be immediately cut across the board. Return the people's money in the short-term to revive the economy and defund the Congressional thieves, and in the long-term investigate alternative taxation systems that do away with the IRS and the associated arcane annual filing exercise that consumes so many families.
• Spending: In the short run, place limitations on Congress' ability to raise the debt ceiling in relation to the size of our economy, except in periods of true national emergency. Consider also proposals like zero-base budgeting that require accountability in all taxpayer-funded programs, and an end to so-called Congressional earmarks that contribute so much of the pork that buy off whores like Senators Nelson and Landrieu.
• Federalism: We must bring about the end of the usurpation of power by all 3 branches of our federal government, returning it to state and local governments. In the short run consider the Enumerated Powers Act that forces Congress to establish constitutional authority before taking action. In the long run unreasonable and unconstitutional regulation needs to be gutted, along with several federal agencies. Also, on a related note, the so-called presidential czars need to be stripped of any and all regulatory ability, which make a mockery of separation of powers.
• The Washington D.C. Career Path: This is at the root of all the corruption, these troublemakers attaching their anchors to the taxpayer trough seemingly for life, completely detached from the way things work out here in the real world-- those of us with jobs and businesses that have to some how make ends meet and survive under the trash these elitists shove down our throats. No more! We need to blow up the taxpayer-funded career path and associated lifetime perks and salaries these people draw. They need to start living like we do-- immediately. In the long-run we need term limits, you aren't supposed to live in Washington D.C. forever, go back to your districts and try to make it under the laws you pass.
• Energy: No more games, drill for our national resources now, and wait for the green market to establish itself on its own merits, not on the backs of working men and women in the form of high prices and a reduced standard of living. No more roadblocks, no more wackos setting the agenda and sabotaging capitalism, so long as common sense safeguards are in place there should be no limits to obtaining as much of our own energy as their are entrepreneurs willing to risk their own skins to go get it.
• Environmental Policy: The re-establishment of fact-based environmental policy that isn't solely reliant on voodoo models that can substantiate just about anything the modeler wants to prove; and a suspension of all further global warming-related regulation until such time as "Climategate" is investigated to the satisfaction of the American taxpayer.
• Sovereignty: In the short term, a formal declaration by Congress that reasserts America's sovereignty and rejects forevermore intrusion into our internal affairs in the form of global taxation, regulation, or other hinderences on our ability to both prosper and defend our interests. In the long term, a re-evaluation of our commitment to the United Nations, which has evolved into a virtual country club for radical leftists, dictators and thugs that live off U.S. taxpayer support only to spit in our faces. Personally speaking, I've about had it with this crowd.
• English as the Official Language. We welcome all legal immigration, but learn our language as the generations who preceded you did. Our language is part of our identity and critical to your prospects for success here. Political correctness will no longer dictate national interest.
• Repeal of any Healthcare Legislation Enacted by this Congress. Replace it with a genuine, free-market down payment on healthcare reform, such as that exquisitely articulated by Whole Foods CEO Jeff Mackey in his Wall Street Journal op-ed from last August (http://www2.wholefoodsmarket.com/blogs/jmackey/).

Road Trip

I say, don't ask for the whole enchilada on this first pass. Stick with an easily digestible breadbasket of reforms that lay the foundation for the long-term education of America, then take the liberty baton on the road. I recommend a national tour, city by city, that puts forth a common sense alternative vision to the madness and tryanny of the Left. Assemble a core group of charismatic fresh faces that rotate on the tour, mixed in with local leaders with traction in their particular regions of the country. The tour would be part political rally, part revival, part rock concert-- get people confident, pumped up, connected and committed. Recruit, energize, galvanize and set them loose in their communities to rally their friends and neighbors behind the call of history. Give every candidate running for office the opportunity to endorse this new vision, regardless of political persuasion. As far as I'm concerned, they're all fired-- but they have the right to re-apply for their jobs under a new accountability.

To accomplish this we need top notch promotional tools-- polished mediums of communication, crisp merchandising materials, branded apparel, you name it. This isn't merely a political movement, it's the call of history to this generation of Americans. It needs to move with confidence and principled boldness in the face the inevitable taunts and threats and demonization by the Left Wing and their allies in media, entertainment and academia. And more than anything, it needs courageous LEADERS ready to direct a nation of patriots and write a new chapter in future history books. Is there a Jefferson out there today? A Madison? A Franklin? Perhaps yes-- let's get this revival started and hope they bubble to the surface.

A Long Term Campaign

These tyrants in our government have forgotten for whom they work. They don't love America, they want to remake it into a socialist nightmare. This isn't just about election cycles or temporary victories anymore, this time we need to play for keeps as we begin to drive these people to the fringes of society where they belong. But it won't happen by prayers and wishes alone, it will take bold action by all of us, reaching beyond our comfort zones, digging deep, and laying it all on the line for our country. My idea for a road trip is only meant to be the kickoff of a long-term endeavor, perhaps spanning 40, 50, even 75 or more years. It will take generations of commitment to right the course, but ours must ignite the flame. How do we get this started?

Gross Miscalculation

The Left seems to have soothed themselves by few notions:

• They will pay the price at the ballot box only if they fail to pass their revolting agenda.
• Opposition to their agenda is largely unauthentic... a ruse orchestrated by a small handful of unseen, capitalist powerbrokers rather than a genuine, grassroots swell.
• Opposition to their agenda is solely a means for their opponents to regain power, not a legitimate disagreement on the merits of their ideas.
• Demographics are working in their favor regardless by way of illegal immigration. Thus, their cause will only strengthen with time.

They have grossly miscalculated. Their opponents are middle class America-- real families, with jobs, bills, front yards, a dog, soccer practice... you get the idea-- people that are not typically political, yet have been drawn into activism in a desperate bid to get the attention of their elected leadership in state capitals and in Washington D.C.. You may ask, so why did they allow these officials to be elected in the first place, only to rise up in opposition less than a year later? There isn't one answer... fear of the financial crisis, preoccupation with their own problems, gullibility, the persuasive power of a media-hyped Obama campaign, a desire to prove they aren't the racists the Left makes them out to be. But one thing is clear, the middle class-- the people that make this country work-- are waking up to the discovery that they are losing their country.

As for the illegal immigration calculation, anyone with designs on joining the middle class, on improving their lot in life through hard work and perseverance, on the defense of religious freedom and the sanctity of life, will find themselves, sooner or later, in opposition to the agenda of the Left Wing. It is not an agenda of compassion or enlightenment, it is an agenda of cruelty and tyranny and misery. And it doesn't matter what color your skin is, if you have a brain and are paying attention the truth will reveal itself. In other words, if you come to this country looking for prosperity and liberty, you will eventually find yourself in our majority camp of patriots.

The ironic thing is they, the Statists currently in control of our government, could likely defuse the opposition by merely abandoning the more radical elements of their agenda, and probably survive intact-- as most folks would gladly go back to life before the Obama era. But the 'powers that be' won't do this, for reasons related to the gross miscalculations I have outlined above. Thus it is time for real America to rise up-- not just in opposition to their agenda, but in their support of leaders committed to our constitutional principles. COMMITTED. Leaders that love their country more than they do acceptance by Left Wing pop/academic/media culture. Leaders that don't mind laying their jobs on the line for principles that they know to be just and truthful and transparent. Leaders that are loyal for the long haul, that reject the lure of power and control over the lives of Americans, that recognize that the money they appropriate belongs to the taxpayer, and that they are meant to be good stewards of those resources-- taking only enough to fund the legitimate functions of our government, and sending the rest back to we the people! Real America, rise up. Don't be afraid to be criticized for defending the principles that made this country great, for which so many of our forefathers fought and died. History is calling-- pick up the damned phone.

The Left Wing is going to reap the whirlwind in 2010 and 2012. But it can't stop there-- they must beaten back, again and again, to the fringes of society from which they came, as it will take a generation to undo the damage they have caused to this country, to piece back the elements of a republic that will stand for constitutional principles. Until then, this is the time for organizing and communicating and planning. Get off the sidelines and onto the playing field. Apply whatever God-given resources you have at your disposal to this majority movement. The time is now.