After much anticipation, at least by the so-called mainstream media, the White House has released the new and improved version of Obamacare. Since I have already had to read two previous versions of these monstrosities in the House and two more in the Senate, I call this version Obamacare 5.0 and it is actually an easy read. It is not hundreds or thousands of pages long and it doesn’t take long for people to realize that it really changes very little. 

It must be remembered that this is not a Congressional Bill, but simply the President’s proposal to make the bill more palatable to the American public and even some members of Congress who have grown increasingly more concerned about the implications that these proposals have for freedom in this country. In that regard the proposal fails miserably. Despite the use of smoke and mirrors to hide what is really going on with the proposal and the spin that is put on it by the Whitehouse to make it sound like Obama is the smartest man in the world and has found a solution to the problems that couldn’t be resolved by the 535 members of the House and Senate the White House proposal is basically Senate Bill 3590 with a new hairstyle and thicker makeup. This is all an attempt to hide the fact that the bill is still blatantly unconstitutional.

The proposal leaves intact the mandatory provisions of the Senate bill that require every resident of the United States to buy health insurance and to further only buy that insurance approved by the Federal government. Sections 1301-1302 of the Bill set forth the requirements that each approved plan shall have, leaving consumers with no choices about what is best for their needs. Sec 1501 requires that everyone have insurance and provides stiff penalties for failure to comply. In fact, under the President’s proposal the penalties get higher and progress eventually to 2.5% of a person’s income.  All of this exceeds the authority granted to Congress in Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution and violates the 9^th and 10^th amendments that protect the rights of people and the states.

The Obama proposal also leaves intact the provisions under Section 3403 that establish an “Independent Medicare Advisory Board” that will oversee the severe cuts in Medicare and the services provided to seniors. In other words, the Executive Branch of government will ration healthcare for the elderly while at the same time controlling how much everyone else pays for health insurance and what treatments they can be provided with.

Obamacare 5.0 doesn’t eliminate any of the massive tax increases already in the Senate Bill. It plays games by delaying some of them for a short time or changing the name of the fee or tax. For example, the proposal calls for changing the fee to be charged on all medical devices to an excise tax that will raise the same amount for money. The stated purpose for that is to make it easier for the IRS to handle. (Doesn’t that make you feel better about this legislation?).

By the way, one of the new taxes established in the Senate Bill and left in under the Obama proposal is the “Indoor Tanning Service” tax. This is provided for in Sec. 10907 that amends the Internal Revenue Code to set up a 10% tax on the use by consumers of indoor tanning services. I can only conclude that this came about because of the frustration in Congress over the fact that they have not yet been able to find a way to tax the American people for enjoying the sunshine. Therefore they have gone to the next best thing, taxing tanning booths. I would love to hear someone try to explain what that has to do with health care reform.  

The Obama proposal delays the implementation of taxes on the so-called “Cadillac” health care plans in order to appease the labor unions but still will ultimately result in massive taxes on people who have good health care plans and place additional taxes on businesses that don’t provide government approved health care plans to their employees, even if both the business owners and employees are satisfied with what they have in place.

The plan also calls for increases in fees on brand named pharmaceuticals. It sets this increase to be administered by the IRS. Who will ultimately pay for these increases? The American taxpayers of course, and frankly I am losing count of all of the new taxes being imposed on our citizens under the health care proposals.

In addition, while the Senate and House versions of the bill add layer upon layer of new Federal bureaucracies to control our access to health care, this is apparently not enough for President Obama. He would add still another new bureaucratic agency called the Health Insurance Rate Authority to “provide Federal assistance and oversight to States in conducting reviews of unreasonable rate increases and other unfair practices of insurance plans.” The definition of oversight is obvious; it means Federal control of State regulations of insurance companies and is a clear violation of the 10^th Amendment to the Constitution.

So, what is the bottom line of Obamacare 5.0? It places control of our personal health care decisions in the hands of unnamed Federal Bureaucrats who care nothing about us or our individual needs. It provides instant access for these same bureaucrats to see or medical and financial information, it massively increases our taxes and ultimately our insurance premiums, and it reduces our access to the health care that we need. It takes away our choices and our personal freedoms and it increases the Federal deficit that will eventually land on the backs of our children and grandchildren.

I believe that the Obama proposal is in fact a ruse. It is designed to lure us into believing that the health care bill is actually about affordable health care when it is really about taking control of our lives and limiting our freedoms. It is a cover for the fact that the Senate will try to pass this bill as a “budget reconciliation act” that will only require a simple majority in the Senate instead of the usual 60 votes. We must act now to let our representatives in the House and Senate know that we are not buying into these deceptions and that they will pay a price in November at the polls if this is forced on us.

If it passes, this legislation will be challenged in the courts. I am currently working with the U.S. Justice Foundation that is preparing to file a lawsuit to challenge the Constitutionality of the legislation if it is adopted. We will not go down without putting up one heck of a fight for our freedom as Americans.

Michael Connelly

http://michaelconnelly.viviti.com/

mrobertc@hotmail.com

As we wait for the Obama Administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress to make their next moves to force unconstitutional legislation like “Health Care Reform” and “Cap and Trade” down the throats of Americans there are other battles dealing with our Constitutional liberties that need to be addressed. Many of these assaults on our Constitution, our traditions, and even our history are occurring at the local and state levels and in our educational institutions.

            It is most often being done under the guise of “political correctness” a movement that has rapidly evolved from trying to encourage individuals to be more polite to each other and more sensitive to the use of language that might offend someone to an attempt by the far left to control the speech, thoughts, and actions of the American people. These blatant attempts to turn us into unthinking drones who only parrot the ideas that are deemed correct by the PC movement are aimed almost entirely at those who support the American way of life and the freedoms that most of us cherish. The effort has proven to be far reaching with PC edicts being enforced not only on public property but in private areas such as business offices and even homes.

            Some of the more recent examples include:

            A pastor and his wife in San Diego County, California were ordered by the county to stop inviting friends to their home to have dinner and engage in Bible study unless they pay thousands of dollars to the government for a permit to hold a “religious assembly”. It should be noted that the school district in this same county has set aside special times during the school day for Muslim students to engage in prayer on school property. No students of any other religions are granted the same privileges.

            In May of 2009 a woman who worked in a hospital in Mansfield, Texas proudly put up an American flag in her office prior to Memorial Day in order to honor the service of her husband and two sons who had served in the U.S. military and her daughter that was currently serving in Iraq as a combat medic. However, the flag did not stay up long because when she came into work one morning she found that the flag had been removed, wrapped around its pole, and unceremoniously tossed onto the floor in a corner.

            The lady in question, Debbie McLucas, learned that the flag had been declared offensive by another woman who worked in the office, an immigrant from Africa, and therefore the hospital had ordered it removed. When the media picked up on the story the hospital responded to the public outcry by letting Mrs. McLucas put the flag back up.

            During that same week a disabled Marine and a veteran of the Vietnam War was ordered by the President of the Homeowners Association where he lived to remove bumper stickers form his car that supported the Marine Corps. They were deemed to be “unacceptable advertising” and he was told that if they were not removed his car would be towed and he would be fined for any further displays.

            There are many more examples of this type of action around the country yet they almost pale in comparison to what is happening in our institutions of public education from elementary schools to universities. The so called “progressives” have taken almost complete control of many of our schools and are enforcing their version of political correctness on students and teachers and even trying to rewrite textbooks to alter American history to make it more politically correct.

            One of the most extreme examples involves a battle in the State of Texas where the 15 member Texas State Board of Education is currently considering changes to the American history textbooks used in the public schools. These same textbooks will be used not just in Texas, but in school districts throughout the United States. Radical left wing organizations such as the Texas Freedom Network, which is the state affiliate of the People for the American Way, and other similar groups, are demanding that all mention of American heroes like Nathan Hale, Daniel Boone, and General George Patton be removed from the history books.

            They are also insisting that any references to Columbus Day, Independence Day, and Christmas be removed. Other actions include replacing the term American with “global citizen” and replacing the reference to “expansionism and free enterprise” with “imperialism and capitalism’. In fact, many of the changes are designed to portray the United States as an evil force in the world. However, as outrageous as this is, the demands go even further. The progressives actually want to rewrite some of our most revered documents to make them politically correct. For example, has been proposed that the wording of the Declaration of Independence be altered.

            According to Mat Staver, founder of the Liberty Council, one of the most important portions of the Declaration will be eliminated in these textbooks. The section that states: “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” will be changed by removing everything in that sentence following the phrase “that all men or created equal”. In other words, American school children are to be prohibited from reading any reference to our “Creator” in the Declaration of Independence. As I write this article, the vote by the board is considered too close to call.

            Of course, these efforts to serve up political propaganda to our students in the public schools is exactly in line with what has been happening for years in many of our institutions of higher education. Many universities have managed to eliminate most professors who do not adhere entirely to progressive ideas being promoted on the campuses. There are a growing number of cases where universities are attempting to force groups of Christian or politically conservative students off of the campus entirely.

            In addition, left wing professors are openly attacking students in the classrooms who profess beliefs contrary to the beliefs espoused by these so called educators. Students are either being forced to go along with the left wing ideology they are being fed or risk receiving failing grades and in some cases denied their hard earned diplomas. Nowhere is this more evident than in a recent action being considered by the administration at the University of Minnesota.

            The university has formed a “Race, Culture, Class, and Gender” Task Force that has proposed that any student applying to get an education degree from the university will be screened to make sure they comply with the political and ideological views of the Task Force that are of course far to the left of the mainstream of America. If it is found that students do not conform to these “politically correct” beliefs they will either be denied admission or forced to attend “remedial” education courses to correct their beliefs. If they still refuse to conform they will be denied a diploma. In other words, freedom of speech, thought, and action protected under the 1^st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution will be officially eliminated at this taxpayer funded institution. If this takes hold I suppose we can all look forward to the “reeducation camps” that have always been a way that communist countries dealt with those who disagreed with the established order.

            It is time for Americans to stand up and proclaim that we are not willing to let our Constitution die for the sake of political correctness or any other catch phrase that will deny us the liberties that the members of our military have fought and died to defend for so many years. Our fight for the preservation of our heritage of freedom does not begin or end in the halls of Congress or the confines of Washington D.C. It must be fought in the State Legislatures, in the City Councils, and even in the local school boards. It is a fight we can’t afford to lose. It must be fought for our sake and those of our children.