Back to Basics

By JOHN SHADEGG AND PETER HOEKSTRA

We are nominating Sen. Baucus’ health care reform bill for the Pulitzer Prize — for fiction.

John Shadegg

Like works of great fiction writers such as Ernest Hemingway, Joseph Conrad and F. Scott Fitzgerald, the story line of the Baucus bill is not what it seems and is in fact a clever subterfuge of what health care reform will mean for the American people.

Hiding behind this facade is another story about a massive power grab by the Washington political establishment.

The bill is loaded with fiction. To begin with, it purports to reduce the deficit. This is really an Enron-style scam with the bill’s massive new taxes starting on day one and its dramatic new health care expenditures, which will far exceed the tax revenues, beginning in year four.

Hence its favorable score: 10 years of revenue, seven of expenditures. In the private sector, people go to jail for this type of accounting; in the U.S. Senate, they trumpet it as good news.

The Baucus bill claims to treat all Americans equitably, yet four states receive Medicaid exemptions — the federal government will pick up the state’s share of Medicaid costs — for five years. That means taxpayers in 46 states will subsidize other states, including Nevada, so Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid can bring home the bacon and get re-elected.

Sen. Chuck Schumer put in a little-noticed provision that exempts New Yorkers and taxpayers from some other states from the bill’s tax on gold-plated insurance plans. The result: The rest of the nation will subsidize the health care of New Yorkers and a few others.

If you’re lucky enough to live in one of the favored states, you win. If not, you lose. Guess how many of those states are blue and have Democratic senators up for re-election? Hardly seems fair, does it? Huge earmarks and health care favoritism for states served by powerful Washington elites.

Corruption in government – it starts with the election process.  Special interest groups, labor unions, big pharma, all making campaign contributions supporting the candidate that is going to give them the back room deals they are after.  Why do you think this country is in this much trouble!  They have all basically bought and paid for the candidate of choice, the one who is looking out for their special interests instead of the interests of the American people.  The corruption needs to stop now, and reform needs to start with the funding of political campaigns.

The democrats seem to want to make everything equal – take from the rich and give to the poor.  So let’s start with campaign funding.  Let’s implement this equal for all system for the politicians, right from the start of the campaign process.  It’s time for a radical campaign funding change.

Instead of companies and individuals supporting one candidate over another, campaign contributions would be made to a government fund for each elected position.  There would be one fund for the president, one for each state senator race, one for each representative of the house race.  All campaign monies would go into this fund and NO OTHER funding for campaigns would be permitted.  The money from these funds would then be divided equally to all candidates running for that position, whether it be two or more.  Everyone would have an equal opportunity in campaigning for the desired position.

How the campaign spends this money would be up to them, but they would have to limit spending to only the money received from the fund.  It would be restricted, of course, to legal activities only.  At the end of the campaign a full disclosure of the money would be required within a specific timeframe and an audit would be completed on the final campaign funds.  Any money remaining from the election would be returned to the fund for the next elections.  There could be no “outstanding balance due” at the end of the campaign.

A radical move, but the problems we see in the government today are because every special interest group and every company has their own agenda and they have all made deals with the politicians to get what they want.  They donate and expect to receive benefits in return – and they don’t just mean a thank you letter.  The government is no longer run by the people, for the people.  It is being run by special interests and big business.  This has got to stop!  Start the reform where the corruption begins – the campaign funding.  Equal opportunity for everyone.

Maybe we should take a lesson from history. Maybe it is time to take radical action against a government that is no longer for the people, is run by special interests, where taxation is out of control, and where corruption is going unchecked. Maybe it is time to take a stand.

Our forefathers believed in a free America. They made a statement of taxation without representation in their demonstration at the Boston Tea Party. At that time the British government was taxing them 14% and that was outrageous! The country went to war to declare our independence and established a democracy – one that was supposed to be for the people, governed by the people.

…As corruption continues and the Chicago style gangster government takes over, this country is no longer for the people, nor governed by the people. When taxation is reaching 50% who is in control? When do we finally say enough!

As the country continued down the path of growth, another obstacle surfaced – the question of slavery. Isn’t it ironic that the person who is abusing his power now only became a free person because of a radical uprising among the people. The battle between the north and south became so intense that the southern states decided to secede from the union and create their own country. The Civil War broke out to settle these differences.

…Are we on the path to a civil war? When the battle lines are drawn down the middle in changes that mean our very lives are at stake, do we cave or do we fight?

It wasn’t all that long ago when this country was at war and people were out protesting. The blacks were demanding equal rights and they were out protesting. Women wanted equal rights and they were out burning bras in protest. If there was a cause, there was a protest, because that was the only way to get anyone’s attention. It is only because of the dedication of those radicals that many of our top government officials have been given their opportunity today.

…Have your forgotten what you once stood for, what you once fought for? You are of the right age to remember those days, and if you lived in the United States, potentially participated in those protests that brought about the changes you now reap the rewards from. Yet the very abuses you fought so hard against are some of the same types of abuses you are embracing today. What happened in your journey to the top?

Then a presidency with the biggest scandal in history – Watergate. The secrets, the scandals, the corruption! How could this have happened? Illegal break-ins, improper tax audits, campaign fraud, illegal campaign contributions, the refusal of the president to release information…and the list went on. The Watergate Scandal brought about changes in campaign financing, laws requiring financial disclosures by key government officials, expectations that certain types of personal disclosure were made. Watergate exposed lies, crimes and corruption and the investigation established that no president is above the law.

…Or did it? Why hasn’t our president released information like those before him? What happened to the expectation of personal disclosure? What about the campaign funding…why haven’t those records been released? Why is this president refusing to release information? Why are all of his documents sealed?

…What about all the corporate bailouts – the letters sent by top government officials to states threatening to withhold federal funding to keep their representatives from voicing a difference of opinion – the “bonus” given to elected officials for voting the “proper” way.
…Our president is now asking Americans to spy on their neighbors and report anything they may hear to see about the proposed healthcare reform that seems “fishy.” What about his appointment of his 32 czars (more than Imperial Russia) who have no accountability to Congress. What’s next? “Let me make myself perfectly clear…NO president is above the law.”