In Obama-world, opposing health care "reform" is bearing false witness.
When President Obama held his conference call with leaders of the Religious Left last week I wondered if he was dressed as one of The Blues Brothers. The President, after all, seemed to be on a mission from God.
Obama told his religious supporters, "I know there's been a lot of misinformation in this debate, and there are some folks out there who are, frankly, bearing false witness, but I want everyone to know what health insurance reform is all about." Then with the fervor of a community organizer he implored his flock to rein in the heathens. "I need you to knock on doors, talk to your neighbors," said the President, "I need you to spread the facts and speak the truth."
After hearing the President's sermon from the mount one could easily think that it was a sin to oppose Obamacare. One it appears that the President will not easily forgive. During his weekly radio/internet address, President Obama again cast aspersions on opponents of Obamacare albeit in more secular overtones. The President called for "an honest debate, not one dominated by willful misrepresentations and outright distortions."
While President Obama never, in fact, specified any particular individual bearing false witness by name, it seemed clear his remarks were directed at former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. "As every credible person who has looked into it has said, there are no so-called death panels – an offensive notion to me and the American people," said Obama with more than a hint of defensiveness.
Yet a majority of the American people would seem to be more offended by Obamacare than by Palin's assertions, including feminist scholar and Obama supporter Camille Paglia. In an article she wrote at Salon.com, Paglia notes Palin's acuity in the health care debate:
When I first saw that phrase, headlined on the Drudge Report, I burst out laughing. It seemed so over the top! But on reflection, I realized that Palin's shrewdly timed metaphor spoke directly to the electorate's unease with the prospect of shadowy, unelected government figures controlling our lives. A death panel not only has the power of life and death but is itself a symptom of a Kafkaesque brave new world where authority has become remote, arbitrary and spectral. And as in the Spanish Inquisition, dissidence is heresy, persecuted and punished.
Simply put, it is not for the federal government to play God. President Obama might not agree with Paglia's observation. But does this mean she is suddenly no longer a credible person? Has she fallen from grace in the eyes of The Anointed One?
Here's another way to look at President Obama's divine intervention. Suppose President Bush had a teleconference with representatives of the Religious Right to discuss a specific issue he wanted to implement such as reform of Social Security. Let us also suppose that President Bush had accused his critics of bearing false witness. Well, I think it is safe to say that liberals and progressives would have unleashed a response of biblical proportions. The Left would insist to the high heavens that America was well on its way to becoming a theocracy.
Come to think of it, in March 2005, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, commenting about GOP efforts to save the life of Terri Schiavo wrote, "Oh my God, we really are in a theocracy." Yet curiously Ms. Dowd has no objection to President Obama invoking The Ten Commandments when it comes to those who might not accept his teachings. Her scorn is unsurprisingly reserved for heretics like Palin who she dismisses as "dizzy." Yet at the same time Palin "managed to hijack the health care debate from Mr. Obama." Will wonders ever cease?
Dowd might believe President Obama has a monopoly on the truth when it comes to health care but most Americans aren't prepared to worship at that altar. There's no doubt President Obama believes his vision of health care is best for America. As such President Obama would be wise to tell us why he thinks Obamacare is better than the system that we have in place right now. It would serve him far better than casting aspersions against those who do not see a promised land at the end of the tunnel.
One would hope that a week of leisure in Martha's Vineyard would enable him to see the light. Yet there is every indication President Obama is looking to have his health care agenda passed in Congress even without Republican support. President Obama will leave the Cape with a full tank of gas and half a pack of cigarettes. It's dark out, he's wearing sunglasses and The First Lady will say, "Hit it." In which case it would appear America is getting Obamacare come hell or high water.
Those same 10 commandments that are illegal to put up on a wall in our public schools?
Telling the truth about health care
Let's review some of the lies that are buried in the health care bills being considered in the House;
We will have to pay for abortions.
Page 30 of HR3200 states that once this legislation becomes law, a government committee will be established to determine the range of benefits to be covered under the plan. None of the benefits have yet to be enumerated, or excluded. The words 'Planned Parenthood' don't have to appear in the text. All benefits will be decided after the bill becomes law. If benefits are to be decided only after the plan becomes law; then literally any medical procedure, including abortion, can be placed on the list any time the committee desires. In this case NOT writing it down has everything to do with it. Apparently; at some future point in time, I guess the government WILL expect the taxpayers to eventually fund 'family planning (read abortion) services' on demand.
Obama will ban all private health insurance.
On Page 149 of HR3200, in esoteric “contribution” language, any employer with a payroll of $400,000 or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll as a penalty. The 8% penalty will most certainly be cheaper for the employer to pay than to pay the premium for an employee's health insurance. So apparently while HR 3200 does not make private health care illegal; it stacks the game against the continued existence of private insurance. This is effectively a BAN on private health care.
Illegal Aliens will not be covered in the program. While there is language within the legislation that states that non-citizens will not be eligable; there is no mechanism in the bill for checking immigration status of anyone applying for the program. Without a specific method for excluding illegal aliens, any alien applying for the benefit risks no chance of exposure. So it looks like a universal health care law WOULD cover illegal aliens.
The government can't possibly run a healthcare program.
We won't have to go to the bill to debunk this one. All we have to do is look at history. Medicaid is going broke; Medicare is headed for bankruptcy, as is Social Security. Yet the same people that have run these entitlements into the ground want us to believe they are capable of operating the country's health care system. The federal entity that brought us the US Post Office and Amtrak wants to control and manage our health care?
The ultimate liar is the President himself
Why be scared of a government program? Barack Obama says that "Medicare is a government program that works really well." And if we're able to get something right like Medicare, maybe we should have more confidence about being able to do such a thing for everyone.
On the other hand, the president says that Medicare is unsustainable and running out of money. By the way, unlike your run-of-the-mill politician's contradictory statements, which are usually separated by months if not years, these weren’t made a year or even weeks apart. They were made in the same speech he gave in Portsmouth N.H.!
Anyway, in order to control costs Obama says we need a new $1.6 trillion government entitlement. It's a good thing he's the smartest president ever, not to mention being the greatest orator since Socrates because otherwise one might easily confuse him with some conservative bird-brained holdover from the previous administration.