General

The freedoms that America has enjoyed for over 230 years are under ominous attack this weekend. An ideologue president and brazen House of Representatives leadership are hell-bent to usurp the United States Constitution in an unprecedented power grab that could have disastrous consequences for decades to come. I strongly encourage you to fast and pray this weekend for your beloved nation and let your voice be heard in the heavenlies. Continue to call and e-mail your Congressmen and women and tell them to have the courage to defeat this assault on liberty. If you live within driving distance of Washington, D.C.,  please attend the noon rally at the Capitol steps on Saturday. Our future is at stake.

The following article by columnist Jeffrey Kuhner tells the plain truth about today’s events. May it encourage you to act and pray. RB

By Jeffrey T. Kuhner – March 19, 2010

The Democrats are assaulting the very pillars of our democracy. As the debate on Obamacare reaches the long, painful end, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is confronting a political nightmare. She may not have the 216 votes necessary to pass the Senate’s health care bill in the House.

Hence, Mrs. Pelosi and her congressional Democratic allies are seriously considering using a procedural ruse to circumvent the traditional constitutional process. Led by Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, New York Democrat and chairman of the House Rules Committee, the new plan – called the “Slaughter Solution” – is not to pass the Senate version on an up-or-down vote. Rather, it is to have the House “deem” that the legislation was passed and then have members vote directly on a series of “sidecar” amendments to fix the things it does not like.

This would enable House Democrats to avoid going on the record voting for provisions in the Senate bill – the “Cornhusker Kickback,” the “Louisiana Purchase,” the tax on high-cost so-called “Cadillac” insurance plans – that are reviled by the public or labor-union bosses. If the reconciliation fixes pass, the House can send the Senate bill to President Obama for his signature without ever having had a formal up-or-down vote on the underlying legislation.

Many Democrats could claim they opposed the Senate bill while allowing it to pass. This would be an unprecedented violation of our democratic norms and procedures, established since the inception of the republic. Article 1, Section 7 of the Constitution stipulates that for any bill to become a law, it must pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate. That is, not be “deemed” to have passed, but actually be voted on with the support of the required majority. The bill must contain the exact same language in both chambers – and in the version signed by the president – to be a legitimate law. This is why the House and Senate have a conference committee to iron out differences of competing versions. This is Civics 101.

The Slaughter Solution is a dagger aimed at the heart of our system of checks and balances. It would enable the Democrats to establish an ominous precedent: The lawmaking process can be rigged to ensure the passage of any legislation without democratic accountability or even a congressional majority. It is the road to a soft tyranny. James Madison must be turning in his grave.

Mr. Obama is imposing a leftist revolution. Since coming to office, he has behaved without any constitutional restraints. The power of the federal government has exploded. He has de facto nationalized key sectors of American life – the big banks, financial institutions, the automakers, large tracts of energy-rich land from Montana to New Mexico. His cap-and-trade proposal, along with a newly empowered Environmental Protection Agency, seeks to impose massive new taxes and regulations upon industry. It is a form of green socialism: Much of the economy would fall under a command-and-control bureaucratic corporatist state. Mr. Obama even wants the government to take over student loans.

Yet his primary goal has always been to gobble up the health care system. The most troubling aspect of the Obamacare debate, however, is not the measure’s sweeping and radical aims – the transformation of one-sixth of the U.S. economy, crippling tax increases, higher premiums, state-sanctioned rationing, longer waiting lines, the erosion of the quality of medical care and the creation of a huge, permanent administrative bureaucracy. Rather, the most alarming aspect is the lengths to which the Democrats are willing to go to achieve their progressive, anti-capitalist agenda.

Obamacare is opposed by nearly two-thirds of the public, more than 60 percent of independents and almost all Republicans and conservatives. It has badly fractured the country, dangerously polarizing it along ideological and racial lines. Even a majority of Democrats in the House are deeply reluctant to support it.

Numerous states – from Idaho to Virginia to Texas – have said they will sue the federal government should Obamacare become law. They will declare themselves exempt from its provisions, tying up the legislation in the courts for years to come.

Mr. Obama is willing to devour his presidency, his party’s congressional majority and – most disturbing – our democratic institutional safeguards to enact it. He is a reckless ideologue who is willing to sacrifice the country’s stability in pursuit of a socialist utopia.

The Slaughter Solution is a poisoned chalice. By drinking from it, the Democrats would not only commit political suicide. They would guarantee that any bill signed by Mr. Obama is illegitimate, illegal and blatantly unconstitutional. It would be worse than a strategic blunder; it would be a crime – a moral crime against the American people and a direct abrogation of the Constitution and our very democracy.

It would open Mr. Obama, as well as key congressional leaders such as Mrs. Pelosi, to impeachment. The Slaughter Solution would replace the rule of law with arbitrary one-party rule. It violates the entire basis of our constitutional government – meeting the threshold of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” If it’s enacted, Republicans should campaign for the November elections not only on repealing Obamacare, but on removing Mr. Obama and his gang of leftist thugs from office.

It is time Americans drew a line in the sand. Mr. Obama crosses it at his peril.

Jeffrey T. Kuhner is a columnist at The Washington Times and president of the Edmund Burke Institute, a Washington think tank.

Webster’s Seventh Collegiate Dictionary

Definitions

1. Patriot: One who loves his country and zealously supports its authority and interests.
 
2. Tyrant: An absolute ruler unrestrained by law or constitution in the harsh use of authority or power.

Many of us are making phone calls, sending e-mails, staying constant  in prayer—and sitting on pins and needles this week– as we watch the liberal progressives now in charge of our government try to force national health care upon the American people.
 
At least Barack Obama’s obsession with controlling one-sixth of the American economy—which would push the Federal Government near the ominous threshold of 50% control of the US economy—has exposed what many of us feared: that he is a rigid ideologue who has no regard for centrist or bi-partisan politics, but rather is about radical change of our national moorings.

The current president and his allies want the United States to head down the road of European social democracy—what Jonah Goldberg rightly calls the path to smiley-faced fascism.  And they’re willing to bend the US Constitution and use any means possible to get there including:

• Bribing Senators and Congressmen and women on a level never before seen in our Republic. No—this is not politics as usual as the mainstream media would have us believe. It’s “arm-twisting on steroids” that has no equal on a major piece of US legislation.
• Neglecting the American economy, mired in deep recession, while they push, push, push for over a year to pass their Holy Grail of health care takeover.  Yes, they threw nearly a trillion dollars of stimulus money at combating the recession, but don’t think they’re naive enough to believe that would create jobs and bring down the unemployment rate. They know that only tax and spending cuts would accomplish that—but that is not the goal.
• Circumventing the normal check and balances of government to achieve their ends. A fascinating study came out today showing how the Obama Administration has systematically been side-stepping many of the restraints on power that the US Constitution wisely places on human government to achieve their ends.  It’s a frightening abuse of power, and one acknowledged openly by Senator Chuck Schumer in a recent secretly-taped Democratic strategy meeting.
• Refusing to consider the wishes of the American public whom they represent. No matter which poll you look at, there is ample evidence that some 80% of Americans are satisfied with their current health care plans,   70% are against government controlled care, over 60% disapprove of the Senate bill now under consideration in the House of Representatives, and clear majorities want  the government to scrap the current bill and take incremental steps to improve health care in the United  States.
• Using the “nuclear option”—a Senate practice called “reconciliation” with a 50% threshold to pass a major piece of legislation that should require the 60% threshold of a deliberate Senate body.  This choice to bend hundreds of years of legislative protocol was the final ominous sign that foul play is at work here—not normal vote-getting and taking.
  This is a very serious moment in American history.  We are not fighting an agonizing Civil War, nor engaging in World Wars that greatly try the human spirit.

We are facing a government-led cultural war on our faith and freedom-based ideals and way of life that could have immense ramifications for our children and grandchildren.  In the midst of this danger, I am praying for even one patriot—ONE courageous Democratic Congressman or woman who will have the nerve to say NO to the culture of corruption and rise up and defeat this bill.

I’m praying for a modern-day Paul Revere to arise—and warn us again that the Redcoats are coming.

The Redcoats of old—the British Empire in the 18th century—stood for tyranny in the American colonies. That tyranny took the form of over taxation, taxation without representation, use of force to accomplish their objectives, and political intimidation. Not all the American colonists initially saw King George as a tyrant—but those most in tune with biblical concepts of liberty gradually began to understand that their freedoms and prosperity were worth defending.

It was Paul Revere, among many, who stood up on April 18, 1775 to warn the American colonies what lay over the horizon.   Revere had the vision to see that tyranny was coming—in his case, in the form invading armies that would squelch the infant American dream of freedom under God. Revere got on his horse, sounded the alarm, and woke of the sleeping nation to its impending crisis.

Another legendary American hero—Benedict Arnold—did the opposite. He betrayed his nation during their time of need, and attempted to sell out her soul.
 
Let’s state clearly that those voting for a federal takeover of health care should be viewed as the Benedict Arnolds of our day. They may believe they have a noble cause and that they must do their duty whatever the cost–as Arnold did.  But their approach is nothing but economic and cultural tyranny. We must pray they will be defeated.

We need one patriot—at least one Paul Revere-like Democratic Congressman or woman—to vote for liberty and defeat the progressive strategy. That person could be more important to the process of good government in American that the election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts or the courageous action of Paul Revere in 1775.

Here’s some current information for your prayers and e-mails.

Where your Congressmen/women stand

 Pierre Bynum who authors the Family Research Council’s regular prayer letter, gives the following information in today’s e-mail alert:

“Democrats need 216 House votes (GOP members will all vote no) to gain a 216-215 majority — only 37 Democrats can defect and the bill still pass. On Sunday, trackers at The Hill newspaper reported that 35 Democrats say they will, or will likely vote no; 73 remained publicly undecided. House Majority Whip James Clyburn also admitted that he does not yet have the necessary votes. USA Today says the bill’s fate “rests with a handful of House Democrats,” in their view: Representatives Jason Altmire (Pa.), Michael Arcuri (N.Y.), Jim Cooper (Tenn.), Raul Grijalva (Ariz.), Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (S.D.), and Bart Stupak (Mich.).”
 
I’m praying this week for one patriot among tyrants. Will you join me?

Now that the showcase health care summit is over, the progressives in charge of the US government are threatening to ram through Congress a federal takeover of medicine via a a little used Senate process called reconciliation. It’s a procedure that’s been used sparingly before, but only to “reconcile” the details of budgetary bills.

The liberals want to use this “nuclear option” to turn America away from free enterprise and toward the embrace of socialism.

Reconciliation in this context is branded the nuclear option because it will probably cause the average citizen in America to go “nuclear” over this abuse of power.  Every poll in America shows that the citizens of our great nation don’t want this 2700 page bureaucratic monster to burden one-sixth of our economy. If our representatives were democratic they would vote the will of the people.

But they’re not.

Barack Obama was the first presidential candidate in the history of the United States to declare that people have a right to health care. His primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, agreed with this amazing statement–never before heard in thoughtful American political discourse.

Why were these words over the top? Because the US Founding Fathers took a 5000 year leap in  understanding in 1776 when they stated in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Notice how, according to the Declaration, our legislators are first of all throwing out the “consent of the governed” in the current health care debate. More importantly, we need to be reminded which God-given rights governments are supposed to protect.

They would be: life, liberty, and property–which is the historical meaning of the phrase “pursuit of Happiness.” These are the ONLY God given rights to be protected and promoted by government. Not health care, not jobs, not homes, not immorality, not sex change operations ad nauseam.

These new kinds of  progressive “rights” are made up by people. They do not come from God and always lead to poverty and tyranny. Pursuing these “rights” starts revolutions in nations.

Championing God-given rights and their corresponding responsibilities, on the other hand, lead to spiritual and moral revivals in nations. Which one of these–revolution or revival–do you really think America needs right now?

We need to ponder this truth about rights in the current health care debate: There is no right to quality of life or choice of lifestyle. If we think that there is, then many multi–thousand page bills will coming out of Washington, D.C. in subsequent years that will destroy our lives, our economy and our freedoms.

On a February 10, 2010 Medved radio program, Michael Medved was discussing with a certain Veronica in New York about her eighteen year old friend who desired to have a sex change operation and have the state pay for it. Veronica was convinced that people should have a “right” to have the government pay for this quality of life or lifestyle choice. If the person wanted it, the government (or someone besides the individual) should pay for it.

Mr Medved tried to explain that’s not the proper concept of rights. Our founders knew well that there were only three basic human rights that God has given to all people. These rights are the only things that governments exist to protect:

Governments are ordained by a Higher Power to provide justice, or protect our:

• Right to LIFE from DEATH
• Right to LIBERTY from SLAVERY
• Right to PROPERTY from TYRANNY

When governments stop protecting basic human rights and start providing all types of quality of life and so-called lifestyle choices, they leave their proper domain and open a Pandora’s box of societal demands that can never be paid for or met. Government was never designed to be your provider–only your protector from evil. Other than writing checks (which anybody can do), government is lousy at providing goods and services for people because of the lack of incentives and accountability that free markets provide.

Plus, once you believe you have a right to a certain quality of life or lifestyle choice, where does the list end? It doesn’t. That’s the foolishness of the position. If Veronica’s friend has the “right” for the government to pay for his/her preferred identity via a sex change operation, then why not pay for his or her preferred house, preferred job, or preferred entitlements of any type? This is the absurdity of the Obama-Clinton position. It expands human rights to include anything you want that will improve your circumstances.

Let’s see how this works out in the real world. A few years ago I flew to Europe to have hip surgery  through a process not allowed at the time in the United States. My roommate in Belgium was a gentleman named Graham who was part of the socialized medical scheme in Canada that the progressives admire. He, too, needed hip surgery. I paid mine out of pocket. I didn’t have a “right” to the surgery–it was a quality of life or lifestyle choice for me. It painfully cost our family $15,000.

Graham and his nation took a different approach. Graham had been a chain-smoker all his life. In his late forties, his lungs were so destroyed by his lifestyle choices that he needed a double lung transplant to maintain his quality of life. The transplant had been paid for by the Canadian tax payers to the tune of $250,000. Then there was the thousands of dollars that needed to be spent on anti-rejection medicines for the rest of his life. That, too, was covered by the tax-payers. But there was a problem. The anti-rejection medicine caused hip joint deterioration, and so he needed the same surgery that I did to correct the problem. He was looking for the Canadian government-run system to cover it as well. Now they are going broke and rationing care.

I think you get the idea. Graham had bought into the illusion that he had a “right” to a certain quality of life. Never mind that he had smoked himself into bad health. He wanted someone else to fix it. When that fix caused other problems, then he had a “right” for those problems to be fixed too. And on and on.

Now you know why socialized medicine never works but rather bankrupts treasuries. It may be a nice idea to have the government pay for my quality of life, but the truth is, either my choices or circumstances in life determine quality of life–and I don’t have a right to have government improve it. I have a responsibility to seek out private, voluntary or charitable means to meet my needs. I need to learn to trust God, be accountable for my life–and not assume that anybody owes me anything.

Governments were designed by God to protect my right to life, liberty, and property. Nothing else. The moment we expand the list, then we end up in absurdity and societal poverty. 

Can you imagine if I had tried Graham’s right-to-quality-of-life approach in my neighborhood or town instead of the federal government? What if I’d gone door-to-door demanding my “right” from my neighbors to pay for the $15,000 surgery. After, all, I have a right to quality of life! So here’s a bill for your portion of it! Pay up or else.

I don’t think that would have worked because on a local level it’s easy to see that none of us has a right to demand a certain quality of life from others. That’s up to us and the charitable choices of others. I did have some friends contribute to my hip surgery–but it was voluntary–not coerced.  Government power is not voluntary–it’s the power of force. That’s another reason why it should only be only used to protect life, liberty and property.

The progressives are wrong about health care because they don’t look to God as our source of human rights and they want to change the role of government from being a protector to a provider.

That would be a foolish mistake–as unwise and detrimental as believing in a non-existent right to quality of life.