Aftermath (also After Math)

Well the predictable republican cave took a awhile but finally happened. Being civil is admirable but being spineless is deplorable. As a student of psychology I do understand the behavior. Human beings, by nature, seek acceptance by others. Its part of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and basically occupies the first four foundational levels of the needs pyramid to various degrees.

Washington D.C. is as deep blue as it gets. Liberals get on their knees and pray to D.C. like Muslims pray towards Mecca...... the centers of their separate religions. Thus when a republican or conservative (yes.... there is a difference) is sent into Washington they hit culture shock immediately. They are immersed in liberalism 24/7 with no escape. As far as the left and the media (same thing) are concerned there is no America outside of the I-495 beltway. All news is inside the beltway. Everything important is inside the beltway.

Since liberalism is the center of everything..... IF you want to be accepted...... if you want to be a part of the social life....... if you want to get along...... you will gradually begin to change your attitude and positions in order to not be excluded or denigrated for not "reaching across the isle." It's a slow process... like the frog in the pot of warming water. Before they realize it they have been turned to the dark side.

Which brings us to Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, among others. These two guys are taking the most flack from the inside the beltway gang because of their stand against the funding of ObamaCare. So what are those two guys doing that makes them the focus of such animus?

Both are guilty of doing exactly what they said they would do when they campaigned for office in their respective states. (Texas & Utah) They said they would do their best to represent the interests of the people who sent them to Washington..... and that's exactly what they are doing!

The vast majority of Americans did not want ObamaCare and still don't. I'm sure as the sun will rise tomorrow that as sticker shock hits those who weren't engaged and were okay with the bill that they will suddenly oppose it too. You have to be 100% anti-American and 100% pro-destruction of the nation to support it! (That or not have a sufficient number of functional brain cells and are completely unable to form a cogent thought on your own)

Everything that Obama told the nation on coast to coast TV has proven to be lies. NO! You cannot keep your insurance if YOU like it. NO! You cannot keep your doctor if YOU like him. (or her) NO!! Your insurance rates will NOT go down by $2400 a year. Hell.... in a lot of cases you can't even keep your full time job!

As the program continues to roll out the horror stories are mounting up...... so much so that soon it will be obvious to even the most ignorant that the bill IS the nightmare the majority of Americans said it was all along. We told that to Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and they voiced our concerns to the other representatives in the nations capitol.

For that they were excoriated. For doing their jobs they are hated by everyone inside the beltway. Liberals hate them because they refuse to support the liberal agenda. Republicans hate them because they make them look bad by comparison. Both side call them crazy and stupid..... obstructionists... wacko-birds.... etc. BUT! Both stood strong and set an example to be followed by others.

How did all this mess come about anyway? Why all the bickering and fighting over these CR's? (continuing resolutions) It's because the party in power, democrats, have failed since 2008 to submit a budget to the House as required by the Constitution. Here is the item of interest.

USC 31 §1105 declares that “(o)n or after the first Monday in January but not later than the first Monday in February of each year, the President shall submit a budget of the United States Government for the following fiscal year.” After that it is up to the Congress to pass budget legislation and the president to sign it into law.

The president has failed to obey the Constitution since taking office........ and for a purely political reason too! (Yeah.... I know.... you're shocked by that too.) IF he submits a proper budget then he is obligated to clearly spell out exactly what his intentions are and thus exposes his agenda for all to see.

Without a budget then the House has no choice but to continue the last submitted budget (which was from George Bush) through the continuing resolution (CR) process. In practical terms the CR's end up being a budgetary Frankenstein. They are a conglomeration of individual funding requests mashed up and typically passed without comment in order to keep things running smoothly.

This CR was different though..... because if ObamaCare was going to be implemented it required funding. Here is the catch. The House is under NO requirement to allocate funding for every item contained either in a formal budget or in a CR.

It's like being a kid and going to your mother and saying..... "Mom! I need a quarter for an ice cream bar and $8997 for a motorcycle!" Mom opens her purse and hands you a quarter and shuts the purse. You can ASK..... but the one controlling the purse has the final say. THAT is the role of the House of Representatives as defined by the Constitution in as simple an example as I can make. (See the 14th Amendment)

Knowing that, and not liking it one little bit, the head democrat in the White House and the head democrat in the Senate decided that they would REFUSE to accept any CR from the house that did not give them 100% of what they demanded. (This is known as negotiating by liberals. They get everything they want and the other side caves.)

Thus.... when the deadline for passage came and went 25% of government was shut down. (and as a side point..... was anyone other than me curious about the fact that every single one of the agencies which went along with that farce already had ON HAND all the neatly printed closure signage??)

The reasons for the closures can be found in Obama's bible... Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky. Alinsky taught that once you have a crisis.... either natural or artificial..... do all you can to make it as painful as possible for as many people as possible. Then constantly place the blame for the crisis on the people you wish to either eliminate or marginalize. Even if you created the crisis the public will begin to focus their rage on the people you are consistently blaming.

What did both Obama and Reid (as well as RINO republicans) do daily during the entire CR run-up and shutdown process? They all pointed fingers of blame at Ted Cruz, Mike Lee and anyone else who was trying to stand up for the American people. And the 5th column media gladly echoed every word multiple times a day until..... as Alinsky predicted..... almost everyone was blaming the wrong people for the shutdown.

As for the math..... as usual things just do not add up. (once again..... I'm shocked!) ObamaCare had one goal and ONLY one goal..... to help speed American down the road to full blown socialism. The Patient Protection part?  ......  A steaming pile of male bovine solid emissions. Patients are required to turn over all manner of personal and private information which is to be entered into a massive government data base.  John McCaffee, who makes security software, says the government system is so secure they might as well publish the data in the NY Times.

Those data can be legally accessed by any government agency which feels it has a need and used for any purpose they choose.... up to and including your prosecution in court. Also the "navigators" who enter this data do not have to pass any sort of background check and can even be felons. Yep.... that sure makes ME feel like I'm being protected!  I really want a felon to have access to things like my SSAN and credit card information. Am I the only one who can see an opportunity for massive fraud coming?

Then there is the Affordable Care Act part. How's THAT working out so far? Under the employer mandate we have already seen millions of workers dumped from their previously employer provided health insurance into the government pool. (which seems to be most toxic) The average increase in cost to these workers is just shy of 400%. Deductibles are also increasing.... some by over 300%. This is NOT what Obama promised.

Combine that with companies scaling back from traditional 40 hour work weeks to 29.5 hours and the workers are really taking it in the shorts! More money going out.... less money coming in...... what money they have being devalued by the FED printing presses running non-stop.... and it's a nightmare. See the following:

The Weimar Republic - devalued currency
Weimar Republic - History

Top all that off with a $570 million dollar web site for people to sign up on that is so poorly coded that it might have well been a 5th grade computer science class project. (Although the 5th graders probably would have had a workable site for far less money) The administration had three years to get it right.... and blew it badly. Yet.... the left still expects ObamaCare to solve ALL of America's health care problems WHILE cutting spending too! That qualifies as a clinical case of acute self-delusion.

And.... the icing on the budgetary cake this week..... a 1 TRILLION dollar increase in the debt ceiling. (Okay.... around $800 Billion but close enough) Here's the analogy...... You have a credit card and you have blown right through your card limit because you just can't stop spending money! You're addicted to spending because it makes you feel powerful and important. Rather than come to terms with the fact that you're spending way more than you earn and cut back so as to reduce your growing debt problem..... you DEMAND that the credit card company raise your card limit so you can spend more! Does that really make sense??

And please.... do not try to give me that "We'll default for the 1st time in history!" BS either. The 14th amendment stipulates that the legally incurred National debt be serviced....... have at least the interest paid each and every month.  To service the national debt requires around $20 billion dollars a month. (and you think YOU have credit card problems!) Revenue flowing into the treasury runs in the range of $230 billion a month. The ONLY way American could possibly default on a debt payment would be if the President..... in CLEAR violation of the intent of the 14th Amendment..... ordered the treasury to not make the service payment. That would be another in a LONG list of reasons to at least impeach or at most remove the president from office.

SO! What the media is now happily saying is that Obama WON!!! Yippie!!  But did he really??? A recent survey indicates that more people than ever consider themselves to be conservatives. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee proved that people with a spine representing the WILL of the electorate CAN make a difference in Washington.

More people are seeing Obama for what he really is.... a childish and petty little man with no concern whatsoever for the people of America. More people than ever are seeing the democrats as a mean and vindictive bunch who will stop and nothing to get their way. More people than ever are discovering that they were sold a load of BS about how wonderful ObamaCare was supposed to be. More people than ever are starting to wake up to the fact that America has got a serious spending problem that puts them, their children and their grandchildren in jeopardy.

It's kinda like the Emperor of Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor when he said.... "I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant." News flash to the left..... YEP! We're awake alright..... and we're righteously pissed too!

Quality Health Care........... Government is the problem......

The following is my reply to a person named Paul who commented on the ObamaCare system. I think as you read this you will figure out his take on things:

Dear Paul, This is not meant to be critical of you personally but to simply point out an error in your thinking and provide an alternative thought process. Here is the part I wish to concentrate upon:

" If we can afford wars, and afford to give mega corporations large
amounts of money, and afford 2billion bullets, and afford 2400 armored
vehicles, and etc etc, We can afford to give quality healthcare to our
citizens that are being bankrupted over skyrocketing costs. I have
argued with many liberals that agree that this is not the best program,
but there is no alternative."

What has happened to your thinking is the same thing that is wrong with the majority of Americans these days. You have all been gradually conditioned into accepting the premiss that government is the solution to all problems. This is the position that big government types want you to believe but it's NOT what the Constitution said the roll of government is.

The roll of the federal government was deliberately specified to be minimal in it's affect on the people by being limited to national defense and managing our relationship with other countries via treaties and such. Then the Constitution stated that all power not given to the federal government was reserved for the people and the several states. No mention of a department of health, education, interior, agriculture or anything else. Those are all more modern creations and served only to increase the power of government over the people and the states which runs counter to the Constitution.

There was and is an "alternative', Paul. It's call the free market system and it works each and every time it's tried without the heavy hand of government attempting to "regulate" everything. Why does it work? Competition for your dollars and mine.

We have Hospitals A, B and C all operating in the same city. For the sake of the Illustration we'll stipulate that all are the same size, offer the same services and have exactly the same number of people on staff.

Word on the street says that Hospital A has a staff that is pretty rude to the customers (if a place offers a service in exchange for money then the person paying for the service is a customer..... NOT a patient) There are long waiting periods for services and customers are often ignored while the staff talks among themselves.

Hospital B has had many complaints about the quality of their services. Operations take a long time to get except in extreme emergencies. Surgical incisions are sutured too tightly resulting in large ugly scars. Several mal-practice law suits have been filed against the hospital. 

Hospital C gets glowing reviews from it's customers. The staff is friendly, highly professional and communicates well with their customers. Services are provided in a timely, efficient manner with no complaints. Additionally they manage to do everything at a cost which is slightly below the other two facilities.

In the above scenario which facility is likely to get the most business and why? Which facility would YOU go to and why?

That is the free market system at work. The facility offering the best combination of customer service and satisfaction for the best price will earn the most customers and thus... the most income. The others will either have to improve their customer service and become competitive or they will eventually go out of business. (or be bought up by Hospital C so that facility can expand its already popular services to more people in more locations)

Competition for customers and their dollars drives businesses to become better at what they do and challenges them to do it more efficiently than the other guy. Together those two things drive innovation and that makes everyone better in the long run.  The bad apples will weed themselves out as the people won't do business with them.

If you check back through history the intrusion of government, via regulations, was what initiated the rise in cost of medical care and the gradual decline in effectiveness of service. The more government intruded into the business of health the worst and more expensive it became...... until the government pointed it's boney finger at the industry and told them they had to have even MORE government intervention. If some government intrusion made it bad how is more government going to make it better? It's not.  

The cost of health care continued to grow because hospitals had to employ more and more people who were NOT medical professionals and who provided NO medical services or support. Now all hospitals have to have entire wings employing dozens and dozens of people devoted to NOTHING but "government compliance,." Tens of thousands of pages of rules and regulations mandated by government...... and a government that is ready and willing to sue a hospital out of business for failure to comply with any one of those rules and regulations. As Ronald Reagan said so very well all those years ago..... "Government isn't the solution.... government is the problem!"

Now then.... fast forward to today. One party is throwing a temper tantrum that would make my 6 years old grandchildren embarrassed..... and is shutting down all sorts of things for the purpose of inflicting as much pain and inconvenience as possible on the general population. They have gone as far as hiring additional people to erect barriers around PUBLIC MONUMENTS which stand on an open air mall so as to keep THE PEOPLE away from THE PEOPLES monuments and sacred places! That is so far beyond childish that it has ceased to be funny.

And here is the point....... if we have a government that will go so far as to try to close an OCEAN....... keep the greatest generation from visiting THEIR war memorial....... throw elderly people out of their homes..... and all the other stupid childish stuff they are doing........ would they not also shut down hospitals if THEY were in complete control of them??? Is there a lower limit to how infantile they would act to get their way even when that is clearly against the will of the people?? 

As with almost everything else.... the less government intrusion there is in our lives and our businesses.... the better things are for all of us.

Problems on the Right

The problem on the right is threefold. Number one. We are constantly being wrongfully maligned by the fifth column liberal media. The DNC might as well just put the majority of the media under its wing because they are a wholly owned subsidiary of the democrat party

.

Number two. There is NO leadership in the republican party. Right now one of the most junior Senators, Ted Cruz, is demonstrating more leadership THAN the leadership! Without cohesive leadership the people don't get the representation we voted for..... our voices fall on deaf ears.

And Number three. Republicans and democrats have two different visions for America..... one Constitutional and one socialist at best and dictatorial communist at worst. Yet.... when liberals propose legislation to take us farther down their road to destruction all the right does is offer up their version which 1) indicates passive agreement and 2) does nothing to advance what should be THEIR agenda. How about WE advance OUR ideas for a change? What is wrong with looking at liberal legislation and saying: "NO!" That is what opposition parties do! They oppose. The left never misses a chance to say NO to us, do they?

Consider today's headlines. The Republicans have offered multiple funding resolutions keeping 100% of government operational but not providing one cent for ObamaCare. The left from the president all the way down the line as screamed NO! Yet WE caused the shut down? We are to blame? By what twisted logic does that happen?

The president said he won't negotiate. Harry Reid said HE won't negotiate..... yet we're supposed to???? With whom? If we give them 99% of what they want haven't we given enough? In their minds.... no. WE must surrender our principles. Our congressmen must shirk their responsibilities to represent the people who elected them. We must cave to the will of the liberals..... not just this time... but EVERY time. NO!

The majority of republicans in Washington wrongly assume (after their indoctrination briefing) that they are there to forge alliances, be nice, not make waves and pass lots of legislation. WRONG! They are there to REPRESENT US! Heck.... the majority of them are even CALLED representatives and they still can't figure out why they are supposed to be there and what they are supposed to be doing!

There needs to be a movement to repeal the 17th amendment and return the appointment of Senators to the states as the Constitution set forth originally. Our bicameral form of governance was established for very specific reasons. The House was created as the body which represents the population at large. That is where the voice of the people is heard. The Senate was established to represent the rights of the States in legislative matters which affect them. (and the majority do)

For example.... ObamaCare. The MAJORITY of the states are refusing to establish the "Exchanges" that ObamaCare mandates. Why? Because the operational costs were unconstitutionally thrust upon the states without their consent! States don't have a FED..... States can't fire up the presses and create money from thin air like the federal government can. States have to operate within a budget. (Something Obama has either never submitted or failed to submit by the Constitutionally mandated time since assuming office)

Thus one of the first designs of ObamaCare is to bankrupt the states. Question. IF Senators were appointed by the states as their representatives in Congress.... do you honestly think that the law would have seen the light of day? How many states would honestly instruct THEIR REPRESENTATIVE to vote in favor of a piece of legislation that would, by design, bankrupt the state? NONE! Why do we have a 17th amendment? Totally Progressive idea. Sold as giving the people a bigger voice in government. How's that working out? 62% of America was against ObamaCare before it was signed into law. Dang sure doesn't look like our voices are being heard at all, does it?