Last night, the U.S. House of Representatives pulled a Hugo Chavez on the American people by voting (once again) to nationalize America's health care system.
Welcome, brothers and sisters, to the Unionized States of America. Welcome to "change you can believe in."
Last night, union bought-and-paid for politicians did their buyers' bidding in true one-party ruling fashion. In fact, the only bipartisan aspect of the union government's takeover was the opposition to it.
Thirty-four Democrats bucked the union-led, left-wing blitzkrieg that has bombarded them for the last several years and especially in the last two weeks. And, for those 34 Democrats, they will pay dearly for betraying their union comrades as surely as Sen. Blanche Lincoln is paying for it in Arkansas.
Last night, union thuggery and threats of retaliation paid off but, as AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka positively gleefully stated yesterday, the health care bill is a "historic first step." [Not the final step, but the first step.]
Now that the dirty deed is all but done, President Obama, his fellow Democrats, and their union bosses are fanning out across this once-great land to "sell" the package to the American populace.
This leads to a very important question: Why?
After all, if the plan is so good, Republicans or no Republicans, mid-term elections or no mid-term elections, the plan should sell itself. Right?
Despite the "seedy campaign of intimidation, bribery, and back-room deal making," 32 million Americans now have health insurance.
They keep telling us that, you know...
Be happy because 32 million Americans now have health insurance!
All Americans should be happy.
You are now, officially, your brother's keeper...and he is yours. Why? Because the union-led federal government says so.
"It is a new day," Andy Stern declared. Like Trumka, he is positively giddy too.
The Queen of Labor, SEIU's Anna Burger proclaimed victory on a YouTube video to hers and Stern's members last night and according the Huffington Post's Robert Creamer, Sunday night's uni-partisan vote is the beginning of a new age:
It brought us into the company of every other industrial nation by establishing that from this day forward in America - health care is no longer a privilege or a commodity but a right.
Never mind that "every other industrial nation" is going broke, this is more important...
In the two-century-long battle between progressive and conservative values in our country, last night's victory was momentous. Progressive values now define the fundamental frame of reference for a massive new sector of our economy: health care.
And even more importantly:
Barack Obama's victory in 2008 was like the Normandy invasion - the beginning of a forceful progressive counter-offensive. Today we have secured a whole new massive chunk of real estate.
So, with this new, massive chunk of real estate, why does the AFL-CIO now need to bolster the Democrats who voted for health care nationalization?
Is it because, perhaps, like all cockroaches and con artists, they know that what they did on Sunday night cannot withstand the light of day?
Perhaps they do not want more Americans to find out about these numbers:
19 million | Number of people predicted to lose their employer plan (Lewin Group) |
| 8 to 9 million | Number of people predicted to lose their employer plan (CBO) |
| $11,543 | Employer incentive to drop coverage for a $30,000 a year worker with family [Tax subsidy in the exchange minus tax subsidy at work minus $2,000 fine] (IRET) |
| 8.5 million | Number of seniors and disabled people at risk of losing their Medicare Advantage plan (Medicare Chief Actuary) |
| 3 million | Additional people who will likely lose Medicare Advantage plan benefits (Medicare Chief Actuary) |
| $816 | Average annual benefit loss for 11 million seniors and disabled in Medicare Advantage plans (CBO) |
| 33 million | Number of people in traditional Medicare at risk of losing access to care because of $523 billion in cuts in Medicare spending (Medicare Chief Actuary) |
| 20% | Fraction of hospitals that would become unprofitable after Medicare spending cuts (Medicare Chief Actuary) |
Or, perhaps, is it because that before Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Bart Stupak's baby of socialized medicine can reach full maturity, it will be aborted by the American voters?
Whatever the case, when Barack Obama signs the nationalization of America's health care into law sometime in the next week, America will be crossing a line from which it will likely never return.
As one British newspaper called Sunday's vote "a dark day for freedom in America," it also noted:
It is also a great leap forward by the United States towards a European-style vision of universal health care, which will only lead to soaring costs, higher taxes, and a surge in red tape for small businesses. This reckless legislation dramatically expands the power of the state over the lives of individuals, and could not be further from the vision of America’s founding fathers.
This is what today's union bosses have been after for decades and this is what they have achieved.
Now, as the costs begin to mount, all they need to do is to keep selling it...and selling it...and selling it, until one day there will be nothing left to sell, except an empty lot where America once stood.
Welcome to the brotherhood.
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"I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes." Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
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Cross-posted.
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