Rattrap’s Rants

Obama Care and America’s Entitlement Kids

Okay here are my ideas, so that we can, once and for all, put to bed the notion that all we conservatives haven’t put any ideas forward.  I believe that single payer means that the consumer pays for their health care directly and the only exception would be catastrophic events.  Health savings accounts would provide a vehicle for consumers to have available funds for routine and/or non-emergency events like the sniffles or a twisted ankle.

1. Insurance should be made available across state lines. This increases competition and drives cost down.  This is also one of the few things that congress can do constitutionally (interstate commerce clause). 
2. Health insurance should model auto insurance, it should not cover routine visits, or non emergency/life threatening instances.  These should be paid for by the consumer directly.
3. Health insurance should be purchased cafeteria style.  One of the biggest factors increasing insurance costs is state mandated coverages.
4. Two words: Tort Reform!

I would like to see someone find the place in the US Constitution where congress has the authority to fine the citizenry for not purchasing something.

Alexis de Tocqueville famously wrote that if America were to lose its freedom, it would not be through violent foreign conquest, but rather through the “soft despotism” of innumerable governmental mandates and prohibitions, gradually whittling away at liberty and lulling the people into a sense of dependence upon the state.

It’s way past time to wake up America!

How is it that the government which:

• Forced the ponzi scheme called social security on the country – now broke
• Forced medicaid on the states – now unsustainable.
• Forced medicare on us.  Caused them to go broke.
• “Manages” the post office – never broke even.
• Created Amtrak – also never broke even.

Now wants to force government run health care/insurance on us?

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red ..

If the Army &Marines are in IRAQ , it’s because they want them in IRAQ

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it………. Is up to you.

The Second American Revolution

It’s obvious now…

H/T John Locke Foundation

Okay, I’m tired of the liberal talking points on energy, so let’s dispel a few:

1. “We can’t drill our way out of the problem” – Well no, not any more! If we had drilled in ANWR and the OCS some time ago then we would be fine. But we also can’t NOT drill. It would be the epitomy of stupidity to sit on 1.5 trillion barrels of oil and not go after it.
2. “Even if we did drill now we would not see the oil for 7-10 years.” – If we had drilled 10 years ago when Clinton vetoed the bill to go after ANWR we would have it NOW! The most pessimistic estimates put the oil in the market at 5 years, 3 years is more likely.
3. “If we invest in alternative/renewable energy, it will reduce our need.” – Time to market for those technologies is 5-7 years at it’s most optimistic, then the infrastructure has to be built, and people have to buy them. And if they don’t buy them, no infrastructure. doesn’t sound like that plan will help now, or later.

The US sits on vast reserves of oil in ANWR, the OCS, and in shale. Yet, the short term thinking in Washington DC, FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS, has left us dependent on despotic regimes in far away places filled with people who loathe us. If we started exploring and drilling 15 years ago, we would be paying a small fraction of the cost for energy that we do now. Additionally we would have developed technologies that extracted the shale oil economically.

And don’t tell me nuclear power would help with oil costs in the US, Oil produces such a small fraction of our electricity that it wouldn’t have an effect.