Our politics and policies have regressed to a level that threatens democracy.

Political Spittle: A recent email from Jim Messina, Barack Obama.com has the subject “This is some sick crap.” This guy leads Obama’s political efforts. He is not some small time leftist blogger. The tone and purpose of this stuff is to enrage the gullible and motivate their hatred of some object of scorn, in this case the Koch brothers. That this language goes out under Jim Messina’s name is the same as if it went out directly from Barack Obama.

The purpose of the spittle is to inspire hatred, resentment, and envy to motivate action.

While there is nothing new about political spittle there is something new about the number of voters dependent on government to whom the spittle is targeted.

Vested Financial Interest:

• About 63 million people receive social security benefits. Of these, 42 million are 65 or older while 21 million are under age 65.
• About 50 million people 65 or older receive Medicare benefits.
• About 55 million people are enrolled in Medicaid, 43% of whom are ages 19-64.
• About 50 million people are enrolled in the food stamp program. About half of food stamp recipients are 18 or older.
• There are about 225 million Americans eligible to vote

I could find no study that measures the number of people eligible to vote who also receive benefits from federal programs, but can extrapolate from the above that about 90 million voters, 40% of all voters, depend on government aid and many more have family members who depend on government aid.

Stated another way, at least 40% of current voters have a financial vested interest in voting for candidates who promise to maintain or expand federal aid programs. Now add in 20 million public sector employees and about 50% of all voters have a direct vested financial interest in growing government.

Political Spittle + Financial Vested Interest = Votes

Those with a direct financial vested interest in an election outcome easily embrace false and fabricated arguments supporting that vested interest.

Fomenting hatred and resentment among those dependent on government largess is unethical, yet it has become the standard modus operandi of Democratic politics.

A republic that is trusted by the citizenry depends on independent individuals voting based on their conscience, not their financial interest. The reason conservatives must get control of the Federal government is not to lower spending, it is to lower dependency and in the process preserve our republic.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

The realities of Obamacare bring to light the failure of our health insurance and health delivery systems, systems built on government rules rather than patient needs. This reality predates, and is only made more oppressive due to, Obamacare.

One of the big deals about Obamacare is that individual health insurance policies must be “guaranteed issue” meaning that that coverage cannot be denied due to pre-existing conditions. The other big deal about Obamacare is that every individual not covered by an employer plan is supposed to be forced to buy coverage or pay a tax (they call it a “Shared Responsibility Payment”). When you combine these two key attributes you are supposed get everyone in the game so, while everyone shares in the cost of everyone’s medical problems, the risk pool is very large and the costs therefore spread across almost all healthy and sick people.

Nice concept. Lousy reality.

Little discussed is the more important reality that no one in America has market driven choice of health insurance and delivery. Government mandates across the spectrum of health care insurance and delivery limit choice of products and procedures, and also disincentivize doctors and other medical professionals.

This post has the numbers. The realities are:

• You are stuck with your employer’s plan, which may be very good for you but you better check the plans of a potential new employer before you change jobs. Further, many employers may drop coverages under Obamacare, forcing you into an individual “Marketplace” policy.
• You are stuck with an Obamacare “Marketplace” policy. Use of the term “Marketplace” is something out of a George Orwell novel. There is no marketplace. There are just paper pushers selling one set of government approved coverages and requirements with add-ons that cost even more.
• You qualify for Medicaid. You get what the government tells you are are going to get and you must go to doctors and medical facilities the government tells you to use.
• You are 65 or older and qualify for Medicare. The government forces you to take Medicare under penalty of a rising premium for every month you qualify that you don’t enroll. Another interesting twist to Medicare Advantage and Supplement plans is that they are (with few exceptions) only “guaranteed issue” during the initial six month enrollment period beginning when you are about to turn 65. After that, you may be denied the right to coverage if you want to change your Medicare Advantage or Supplement plan or insurance provider. As a practical matter for most people, you are stuck with the Medicare choice you make when you turn 65, for the rest of your life.

Contrast the realities above with other consumer driven market based insurance products such as auto, life, home, and liability coverages. We must ask why health care is treated with such an over bearing government presence both before and after Obamacare.

You need to ask the question, “Why don’t I have any choice in the matter?”

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org

Values implicit in American principles continue to be destroyed in service to power.

The source of government funding and thus power is compulsion, the threat of loss of your assets or freedom if you don’t comply.

In an American world this very power to compel carries with it the responsibility to serve for our government is of, by, and for the people. Implicit in serving the people is respect for diversity of beliefs, free markets, ownership, and rule of law.

It is clear, however, that the concept of public service is now corrupted to mean getting elected for the purpose of imposing your will on those who disagree with you.

What world do we live in when our government compels us to financially support people so they can choose not to work, compels us to buy healthcare coverage we don’t want, compels us to accept Medicare as the only healthcare choice when we turn 65, limits the amount of money we can spend speaking, selectively prohibits political speech, maintains a digital history of our personal behavior, and in the case of our current President, unilaterally changes laws to suit a personal agenda?

The world we live in now is definitely not American. It has many of the characteristics of cronyism and fascism. Large businesses, trade groups, and unions seek rents with explicit government approval while the government seeks to control the economy and control political opposition. If you have doubts see the recently passed farm bill, the 2009 stimulus bill, the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank bill, the Federal Reserve, and the IRS as starting points.

We do not live in America.

Our political leaders have sacrificed our freedoms, our opportunities, and our futures to political expediency of the moment, to getting re-elected at any cost in dollars and principle, to political bribes, to a false promise of human security that can never be purchased and can only be earned.

Where are the leaders who will stand for individual freedom and individual responsibility? Where are the voters who will elect them?

We must apply our time and treasure to the continual pursuit of American leadership if we believe in these principles for, even in America, freedom is never free.

Find candidates for political office who are committed to American principles then work and spend to get them elected.

Regards, Pete Weldon
americanstance.org