This evening I sent the message below to my two Senators, Warner and Webb. My expectation is that they will respond with the usual form letter about all of the great things they are doing on behalf of their constituents (although their previous responses have caused me to wonder how they define "constituent" - since it doesn't appear they're as interested in the welfare of Virginia's citizens as they are with the welfare of their party and Obama's agenda).
Senators Warner and Webb,
Why are Democrats hiding behind closed doors while crafting the health care reform bill? Obama promised that all debate and discussion on health care reform would be open for public viewing on C-SPAN. Why are you not doing that? What is it that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are trying to hide? Who is actually writing the legislation – and why should the American people trust those authors? Congress has already proven it doesn’t read legislation before passing it so members of Congress surely aren’t writing the health care bill. Who is? And why can’t we watch the debate as Obama promised?
Also, what happened to Obama’s promised “new era of post-partisanship”? Democrats in Congress are literally locking Republicans out of meetings and Obama is going to battle with anyone who dares propose ideas different than his own.
This is no way to build trust and confidence among the American people. And you’d be well advised to tell Obama to stop his incessant whining about what he inherited and blaming everyone but himself for the problems he faces. That behavior is undignified and cowardly and it needs to stop.
The courtesy of a clear, direct response to the questions I posed above would be appreciated.
Respectfully,
Lou
I'll let you know what I hear back from them, but my expectations are pretty low.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Reflecting on Predictions from a Year Ago
Below is a "letter to the editor" that I wrote on October 5, 2008. When it was written I wondered if it was perhaps a bit too pessimistic. Alas, it now appears that things are even worse than contemplated in this letter from a year ago. Take a look and let me know what you think.
Letter to the Editor from October 5, 2008:
“Hope” – untethered from logic and principle - can’t change the world, or our country, for the better. Promises of “change” are meaningless without a clear plan of action. Unfortunately, Barack Obama – without demonstrable logic or principle - seems to have gained considerable political momentum without any clear plan of action to actually create the “change” he seeks and which he has yet to clearly define.
Senator Obama appears to be an empty political vessel, into which can be poured the very worst of liberal doctrine and orthodoxy from the most leftist of ideologues, and from which may flow the class and identity warfare, income redistribution and suppression of alternative thinking that have proven disastrous multiple times throughout history.
Senator Obama has no record of being able to create or lead any substantive change. He’s a great orator, no doubt, but a man who voted “present” 130 times as a state senator clearly has no track record of making tough decisions in crunch time. Neither he, nor his supporters, can clearly articulate any reason Americans should consider voting for him. All they can talk about is what they are against, which is apparently George Bush, a man who is not even running for office. One has to wonder what the liberal democrats will do when they don’t have George Bush to hate, since they are seemingly more driven by hate for him than love for our country.
If Obama is elected, we will have turned our country over to the most liberal senator on record. A man who has taken more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the last 3 years than anyone, and has the failed CEOs of those organizations advising him on economics, of all things, yet blames George Bush and John McCain for their failure. And he will be assisted in implementing his socialist vision by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, a team that has led the most partisan and least productive congress in history. Obama, Reid and Pelosi running the country – so much for checks and balances.
We can avoid this fate, but only if the American public votes on the basis of logic and principle, and not on emotional reaction to empty political platitudes and clichés.
Letter to the Editor from October 5, 2008:
“Hope” – untethered from logic and principle - can’t change the world, or our country, for the better. Promises of “change” are meaningless without a clear plan of action. Unfortunately, Barack Obama – without demonstrable logic or principle - seems to have gained considerable political momentum without any clear plan of action to actually create the “change” he seeks and which he has yet to clearly define.
Senator Obama appears to be an empty political vessel, into which can be poured the very worst of liberal doctrine and orthodoxy from the most leftist of ideologues, and from which may flow the class and identity warfare, income redistribution and suppression of alternative thinking that have proven disastrous multiple times throughout history.
Senator Obama has no record of being able to create or lead any substantive change. He’s a great orator, no doubt, but a man who voted “present” 130 times as a state senator clearly has no track record of making tough decisions in crunch time. Neither he, nor his supporters, can clearly articulate any reason Americans should consider voting for him. All they can talk about is what they are against, which is apparently George Bush, a man who is not even running for office. One has to wonder what the liberal democrats will do when they don’t have George Bush to hate, since they are seemingly more driven by hate for him than love for our country.
If Obama is elected, we will have turned our country over to the most liberal senator on record. A man who has taken more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the last 3 years than anyone, and has the failed CEOs of those organizations advising him on economics, of all things, yet blames George Bush and John McCain for their failure. And he will be assisted in implementing his socialist vision by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, a team that has led the most partisan and least productive congress in history. Obama, Reid and Pelosi running the country – so much for checks and balances.
We can avoid this fate, but only if the American public votes on the basis of logic and principle, and not on emotional reaction to empty political platitudes and clichés.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Who wrote it and who will actually read it?
So now we have the 1,500+ page Senate Health Care Reform Bill. This is yet another bill that no Senator will actually read and that surely no Senator actually wrote. This raises some legitimate questions that Senators - particularly the Democrats driving this travesty - owe their constituents clear, direct answers to.
These questions include:
• Will you once again vote for a bill you haven’t read? If so, why?
• If Senators did not write this bill, which they surely did not, who did?
• Why do you trust the authors of this bill so much that you’d vote for it without reading it?
• Why should the American people trust that the authors of this bill have their best interest, and not the political interest of Obama and his Democrat cronies and sycophants, in mind?
• If there are hundreds of billions of dollars in savings in Medicare thru eliminating waste and fraud, why aren’t you going after those now to prove you can actually deliver those savings?
There is not a single historical example of the U.S. government even coming close to achieving any goals such as those Obama claims will be achieved thru health care reform. Government meddling created the problems we now face in the economy and in health care. Increased government meddling will only exacerbate the problems – not solve them.
There are things that government can do to improve our health care system, none of which involve the government increasing control over our lives or forcing a “public option” upon us.
These include:
• Eliminate the restrictions on insurance companies selling across state lines. This will increase competition and drive down costs, while adding a government insurance option will crush competition and dramatically increase costs and drive up the deficit.
• Equalize the tax treatment of all health insurance policies, no matter where or how they are purchased.
• Allow insurance companies to sell and Americans to buy policies customized to the needs of the insured, rather than forcing Americans to buy coverages they neither want nor need.
Senators need to remember that they are elected to represent and serve their constituents, not Obama and the special interests. They may think that’s an antiquated notion, but that does not make it any less true.
These questions include:
• Will you once again vote for a bill you haven’t read? If so, why?
• If Senators did not write this bill, which they surely did not, who did?
• Why do you trust the authors of this bill so much that you’d vote for it without reading it?
• Why should the American people trust that the authors of this bill have their best interest, and not the political interest of Obama and his Democrat cronies and sycophants, in mind?
• If there are hundreds of billions of dollars in savings in Medicare thru eliminating waste and fraud, why aren’t you going after those now to prove you can actually deliver those savings?
There is not a single historical example of the U.S. government even coming close to achieving any goals such as those Obama claims will be achieved thru health care reform. Government meddling created the problems we now face in the economy and in health care. Increased government meddling will only exacerbate the problems – not solve them.
There are things that government can do to improve our health care system, none of which involve the government increasing control over our lives or forcing a “public option” upon us.
These include:
• Eliminate the restrictions on insurance companies selling across state lines. This will increase competition and drive down costs, while adding a government insurance option will crush competition and dramatically increase costs and drive up the deficit.
• Equalize the tax treatment of all health insurance policies, no matter where or how they are purchased.
• Allow insurance companies to sell and Americans to buy policies customized to the needs of the insured, rather than forcing Americans to buy coverages they neither want nor need.
Senators need to remember that they are elected to represent and serve their constituents, not Obama and the special interests. They may think that’s an antiquated notion, but that does not make it any less true.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
The Ongoing Idol Worship
As I write this Obama is in the midst of his sprint through the Sunday talk-show circuit. His plan is to appear on five programs, including Spanish-language Univision. Conveniently for him, he's avoiding Fox News Sunday - the only place where he might be properly challenged on what he's done, and plans to do.
So the big question is - will anybody on any of the shows Obama is performing on this morning actually ask him any tough questions about his policies, programs and political associations (e.g. Acorn, Van Jones, Jeff Jones, SEIU, etc.)? Or will this be a contest in which each talk-show host seeks to prove he loves The One more than all the others?
Unfortunately for our country, I believe the latter is far more likely.
So the big question is - will anybody on any of the shows Obama is performing on this morning actually ask him any tough questions about his policies, programs and political associations (e.g. Acorn, Van Jones, Jeff Jones, SEIU, etc.)? Or will this be a contest in which each talk-show host seeks to prove he loves The One more than all the others?
Unfortunately for our country, I believe the latter is far more likely.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Exactly where - and what - is the plan?
Obama keeps saying, in his seemingly daily (or is it hourly?) speeches about health care, the words "under my plan.....", which are always followed by a string of fabrications and falsehoods that boggle the mind. But if there really is an Obama Health Care Plan, why can't anyone find it and why can't he show it to us so we can read it? And if he already has a plan - why are multiple bills being worked on in Congress? One would think that if Obama already had a plan then Pelosi and Reid could spare the special interest ghostwriters who wrote the stimulus bill the effort of writing health care bills as well.
Perhaps the saddest part of this whole situation is being faced with the reality that there are many Americans who actually believe the nonsense Obama is spewing. Whatever one's ideological disposition, simple logic would tell anyone who takes the time to read more than a bumper sticker about what he and his comrades are working on that it simply won't work. But then again - liberal democrats have never let facts get in their way. And if anyone disagrees - you can always just call them a racist and change the subject.
Perhaps the saddest part of this whole situation is being faced with the reality that there are many Americans who actually believe the nonsense Obama is spewing. Whatever one's ideological disposition, simple logic would tell anyone who takes the time to read more than a bumper sticker about what he and his comrades are working on that it simply won't work. But then again - liberal democrats have never let facts get in their way. And if anyone disagrees - you can always just call them a racist and change the subject.
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