Final vote 220-215

Saturday night, I was at a fundraising event when I received the Tweet about the traitorous actions of 219 Democrats and 1 Republican, passing HR 3962 with their YES vote. By a mere 3 votes (220-215; 3 votes transferred from the left to the right would have resulted in a defeat), the House gained a socialistic victory over free markets, capitalism, personal responsibility, freedom, and more. See their votes at the clerk’s desk.

In that YES Vote, they trampled on 222 years of the Constitution being the guiding Law of the Land, and in it, the very straightforward and unequivocal boundaries set forth on Congress via Article 1, Section 8, and the 10th Amendment. They GROSSLY overstepped their authority, and voted YES on an unconstitutional act.

This is not good for Americans. The only people to benefit are special interest groups and those getting the kickbacks. They have already admitted that they don’t yet know how this will be paid for. We know! The same way you pay for any other government program…. On the backs of law-abiding, productive individuals like you and me. This is nothing more than another tax.

Companies right now that provide health insurance for employees are now paying out about 10-13% for coverage. With this passage – they can opt for the public option and be only charged 8% surcharge. Do you believe that this will allow you to continue the same coverage you already had?

Of course – what they don’t want people to know – is if you don’t have private insurance, and you don’t have the public option, when you go to pay your taxes, you will be fined a couple thousand dollars, to meet that mandate. This will specifically hurt the middle income families and workers struggling to just get by as it is. So let’s see…. Tax us to pay for it, and then tax us to buy it and if we don’t comply with that fine us (another tax)! No new taxes on the middle class, right?

My opponent, Non-Rep. Peter Defazio (D-OR4), voted YES on this Act. He said back in August 2009, that he would when it came to the floor. It was his assertion that HE knew what was best for his constituents, completely disregarding the tens of thousands of emails, phone calls, letters and such we have all sent his office to say no. He said “I will vote my conscience”. Is that what we are paying him for? To vote his conscience? He has a job description and nowhere in that job description does it give him the authority to force you and me, his employers, to buy anything! He also made an oral contract with us when he took his oath of office to “defend and protect the constitution”, yet in Town halls, he admitted that Congress does not have Constitutional authority to do anything with healthcare.

He has proven AGAIN that he is no longer fit to serve as our representative. He no longer cares what it is that we want done in Congress, only that which most benefits him. However, what I don’t think Mr. Defazio has taken into account is that a great number of those identifying themselves as Democrats, are Conservative and Moderate Democrats, fed up with out of control spending in Washington. Like the Republicans and a vast majority of Americans they wanted to see Change that means less Federal spending, more transparency in their administration, and protection of our God-given rights. All that has come about is a spending spree that has brought America closer and faster to fiscal failure and insecurity than ever before. There has been no transparency!

Independent conservatives and moderates that helped elect Obama, are fed up with the “Business as usual” as well. And Defazio votes along Pelosi’s instructions and supports every spending bill and program that Obama has called for except for the Stimulus plan that did not give him the money that he wanted and Cap & Trade which he considered “too capitalistic” and because there “weren’t enough regulations” included.

Come 2010, we have an opportunity to begin reversing this damage, as well as the damage put on us by the previous administration. America, and specifically, all the citizens of Oregon’s 4th Congressional District, need to wake up and realize that nothing will change unless we change the way we elect our representatives. Stop with party politics; this is not about what is best for the party, but what is best for America and our citizens.

We need to repeal this act – and do it in 2011 after we take back Congress by electing Constitution and Liberty minded representatives. We can bring about true health care reform, but we do not need to nationalize it to see it happen. I am not saying “no”. I am offering Constitutionally sound alternatives that will not further burden the people of our district, of our state and of our country. Reform tort laws, allow interstate competition between private insurers, and offer tax credits to providers providing pro bono care for the indigent are all ways in which to make health care affordable for all of our citizens. Defazio and his colleagues like to use the Interstate Commerce clause to justify their unconstitutional actions, but used appropriately, the commerce clause enables them to open up the borders to the importation of pharmaceuticals thereby decreasing prescription costs.

I am calling on all Conservative and Moderate voters, whether you are a Democrat, Independent, or a Republican, to stand with me as your Congressional candidate of choice. Even my primary opponent believes that the federal government has the responsibility and the authority to be a “facilitator” for healthcare. Let’s send a message to DC that we won’t stand for “politics as usual”. If you hire me as your representative in Congress for US House district 4 my first act will be to form a coalition of Independent, Democrat, and Republican representatives that will submit legislation to immediately repeal the AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA ACT. This Act will not help to recover this economy. It will destroy it. I ask you to support me and vote for me. Together, we can save our country.




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Healthcare plans

According to FoxNews, Andrew G. Biggs, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank said, "Congress has to be able to tell people they are not getting everything they want." Although he was talking about Social Security at the time, it applies as readily to “free” healthcare. There is no such thing as “free”; it always costs somebody something.

Here in Oregon, we already have a form of Socialized medicine in the Oregon Health Plan. It is to my great embarrassment that Oregon’s plan is often held up as an example of what we don’t want in our country! One of the stories often quoted is The one about Barbara Wagner, who is covered through the state of Oregon's government health care plan, and was denied an important cancer drug she requested and instead was offered a drug for assisted suicide. Her doctor offered hope in the new chemotherapy drug Tarceva, but the Oregon Health Plan sent her a letter telling her the cancer treatment was not approved. Instead, the letter said, the plan would pay for comfort care, including "physician aid in dying," better known as assisted suicide.

Even Joe Lieberman calls for a stop to pushing through this nationalized health plan. He urges a more gradual movement because of economic concerns.

My healthcare platform includes the following planks:
• Bring insurance companies under the Sherman Anti-trust laws like every other business.
• Make insurance portable so that it can be purchased across state lines. When I moved from Michigan to Oregon 5 years ago, my car & health insurance premiums each decreased by exactly one half. If we could buy across state lines, the competition would force prices to drop ~ if used in conjunction with the Sherman Anti-trust law.
• Tort reform. Those who have been injured permanently and catastrophically should never be left without medical coverage, but no one should get rich on a malpractice suit including the lawyers. Tort reform has worked remarkably in Texas and doctors flocked to the Lone Star state in the first 3 years since Tort reform was enacted in 2004.
• It is also within the scope of Congress’ enumerated powers to allow providers who provide pro bono care to indigent patients a federal tax credit equal to the Medicare/Medicaid payment that would otherwise be paid.
• We also need to make sure that all recipients of non-emergency care are citizens. We cannot afford to continue to provide “free” care, which as I stated before is not free.

Whatever we decide, we must not rush into a plan that has not been well thought out regarding outcomes. It can be compared to going to the doctor for chest pain and being rushed into open heart surgery without testing. Something needs to be done, but we need to make sure that we are doing the right thing at the right time.