Congress

12 Comments Posted on Democrats, Liberals

honest debate

That’s all the citizens opposing this health care reform want here – an honest debate where we are told the truth about the proposals currently being discussed for transformative changes in the way health care works in this country.  We want our representatives to know and understand what they are voting on at least — if they can’t be bothered to do their job and read the entire bill. (And BTW, if the bill’s too long for Congress to read or understand, why not have some non-lawyers write bills in plain English?  Controversial suggestion, I know.)  Many Congressional Democrat “leaders”  have been writing off their constituents as some uninformed rabble-rousers who are driven not by principle, but fueled by lobbyist cash. This is an extremely elitist, arrogant way for them to approach the conversation with us on health care reform.  If you have the proof, show the evidence that citizens are being paid to protest and ask questions at town hall meetings by the insurance industry.

The Democrats in Congress don’t seem to care what we think, even though I suspect they know public opinion has been steadily turning against them on this issue.

I’m going to say a little something to my fellow conservatives who join me in opposition to ObamaCare, in whatever form it ends up taking.  We can be passionate in our opposition without resorting to name-calling and personal attacks.  I know that there is so much anger and frustration out there with the policies of this administration, but in this, we must continue to fight these policies with civility and confidence.  We must not allow our passion to be used by the media to discredit our views because this issue is too important to surrender.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let’s get back to the conversation.

1 Comment Posted on '08 Election, Conservatives, Republicans

sanford to the feds: no thanks

I love this guy. Send him to D.C.

Governor Sanford says — we don’t want your money, feds:

In 2008 bailouts became the first resort. Over the past year the federal government has committed itself to $2.3 trillion (including the tax rebate “stimulus” checks of last February) to “improve” the economy. I don’t see how another $150 billion now will make a difference in a global slowdown. We’ve already unloaded truckloads of sugar in a vain attempt to sweeten a lake. Tossing in a Twinkie will not make the difference.

However, there is something Congress can do: free states from federal mandates. South Carolina will spend about $425 million next year meeting federal unfunded mandates. The increase in the minimum wage alone will cost the state $2.6 million and meeting Homeland Security’s REAL ID requirements will cost $8.9 million.

Based on what I saw in Washington, the bailout train is being loaded up. Taxpayers will have to speak up now to change its freight, tab or departure.

Everybody wants a free lunch.  It’s hard for governors to turn down money from the feds, especially because, as Governor Sanford says, there are plenty of federal mandates that state governments are responsible for implementing even if they have to pay for them out of their own state budgets.   I applaud Sanford for continuing to do the right thing, and for standing up for the taxpayers of this state.  We need more Republicans like him at the federal level.  I suspect this will be a tough goal to reach, because the Democrats will be given another chance to prove that this Congress will not be as worthless as the last one was.  The national Republican party has some work to do to regain the trust of the country, and it can start with its own membership.

As long as Republicans refuse to learn from 2006 and 2008,  continue to bury their heads in the sand, and continue to reshuffle the deck chairs of the SS GOP to put the same people who gave us John McCain in charge of our next election campaign, WE WILL CONTINUE TO LOSE ELECTIONS.

More on this in a future post…