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The "You Lie!" speech
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Last night’s speech by President Obama (his 29th speech pimping nationalized healthcare) set a new low in civility. And I’m not referring to Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-SC) “you lie!” outburst, I’m speaking of our Commander-In-Chief himself.
Right off the bat, our president contemptuously dismissed the concerns of millions of Americans: (full transcript available here)
“Well, the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed. Now is the season for action.”
Excuse me? Bickering and games? Voicing concerns to our elected officials is bickering? Honest disagreement over policy is a game? Well, maybe to a dictator. But to an elected official whose job it is to serve the public, listening to constituents should be first and foremost (apparently, Obama’s ears are just for show). It would have served the entire country well for the president to begin his speech by saying “I’ve heard you. I’ve listenend to your concerns. Let’s start this discussion over, taking both sides into account.” If he had said something like that, I could regain a measure of respect for the man. But no, Dear Leader would rather toss out more sob stories and fearmongering, as if the world will come to an end if we don’t allow him to seize control of our health care system.
“Everyone in this room knows what will happen if we do nothing. Our deficit will grow. More families will go bankrupt. More businesses will close. More Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it most. And more will die as a result.“
He also used sharp rhetoric, mischaracterizing Republican concerns as “false” and “lies.” He even went so far as to fire a shot across the bow of his political opponents:
“But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it’s better politics to kill this plan than to improve it. I won’t stand by while the special interests use the same old tactics to keep things exactly the way they are. If you misrepresent what’s in this plan, we will call you out. And I will not — and I will not accept the status quo as a solution. Not this time. Not now.”
It’s absolutely despicable for our president to slander vocal citizens as “special interests.” And nobody is arguing for status quo. As Doug Powers quipped, “…just because we don’t want a deaf, dumb and blind thief to take the wheel of the school bus doesn’t necessarily mean we’re thrilled with the current driver.” Americans aren’t opposed to health insurance reform, they’re resisting a quintessential change to the size and scope of their government.
The prospect of making improvements to the world’s greatest health care system would be a good thing. But the massive overhaul being proposed is completely unnecessary. And if Obama wants to threaten his critics that he’ll “call out” anyone who dares to read the content of the bill currently being prepared in the House, he shouldn’t be surprised when someone called him out for misrepresenting the facts contained in the plan.
And that’s precisely what Rep. Joe Wilson did.
While I don’t believe that the Democrats’ heckling and booing of President Bush during his 2005 State of the Union speech necessarily merits a tit-for-tat, I do believe Obama’s contemptuous tone and combative rhetoric set a poor example for civility. Sauce for the goose, Mr. President.
(For what it’s worth, Wilson immediately apologized, unlike the Democrats in 2005.)
I am one of those Americans Obama referenced as “one accident or illness away from bankruptcy.” Yet I stand here telling you that although it is a struggle to pay for my own healthcare every month, I strongly believe it is wrong for the government to attempt to provide it to me. Our federal government literally has NO business getting involved in everybody’s health care. For one thing, WE ALREADY HAVE universal health care available for anyone who truly needs it; it’s called Medicaid. We don’t need a new, larger government bureaucracy implemented by the IRS to force health care insurance on everyone.
If President Obama wanted REAL health care reform, he’d immediately lift the state restriction on insurance companies and make it legal for them to compete across state lines. That single move could be accomplished easily and would increase consumer choices as well as healthy competition within the marketplace. And if he wanted to truly reduce health care costs, he could make individual insurance plans tax-deductible, just like employer-provided plans.
But Obama won’t do either of those things. Because he doesn’t want marketplace competition. Nor does he want to bring down health care costs.
He wants more government control over Americans’ lives. Period. And he’s getting increasingly frustrated that 29 speeches on the same subject haven’t accomplished it for him.
For all his criticism and demagoguery, there was an unintentional nugget of truth nestled in one of his accusations:
“Instead of honest debate, we’ve seen scare tactics. Some have dug into unyielding ideological camps that offer no hope of compromise.”
Democrats are just as entrenched in their position as Republicans. But only the GOP is fighting to maintain a free market approach. The Democrats will continue to hawk their “sky is falling” stories until they scare (or berate) America into becoming a clone of Cuba or Venezuela.
I count myself among the ideological camp that will NEVER yield to a socialist reconstruction of my country. And although Joe Wilson was rude to interrupt the president, “playing nice” has proven to be ineffective against Democrats. It’s nice to see a Republican with intestinal fortitude for a change.
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UPDATE: Thanks to Rep. Wilson’s outburst, illegal immigrants receiving taxpayer funded health care is front and center today. But unlike the dishonest arguments of President Obama and the Democrats, Rep. Wilson’s indignation is fact-based:
While Section 246 (page 143) of the bill expressly prohibits illegal aliens from receiving government-run healthcare, the bill does not include a specific requirement that a person prove his or her citizenship in order to obtain affordability credits, which means that illegal aliens could obtain coverage.
Posted by FullMetalPatriot
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT
12th gen. American, Constitutionalist, Harley-riding Texan, gun owner & NRA member, blogger, illustrator, Florida Gator alumnus. #TCOT
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