Proceed With Caution

Last year, we all witnessed our congress at work on health care reform. Well, part of our congress anyway. The other part was not invited. President Obama wanted to fundamentally change the way health care is done in the United States. Although health care in the United States is very expensive, most people who do have health insurance are pleased with their plans. However, the cost is high and many people do not have health insurance. This is the guise President Obama used for his urgent need to pass a law on health care reform.
However, those plans brought about many questions because much of what he promised sounded too good to be true.

Briefly, the most controversial components of the president's bill were: 1. $500 billion in cuts to Medicare (supposedly from waste and fraud, but if that were so easy, they would already be doing it). 2. Policy analysts from the Congressional Budget Office reported that insurance premiums would likely go up rather than down under the new bill. 3. Tax hikes would go into affect right away when any "benefits" from Obamacare would not be seen until 2012. Oh, and under the bill with the public option, Obama promised you would be able to keep your doctor and even your plan if you wanted to. This was proven to be untrue under the public option. It was just one of many untruths we were told. Just like the tax lie.

During a deep recession, the American people cannot afford such tax increases. As it is, the deficit is at a record high. Many people, like myself, were wondering why this could not wait?
President Obama did express his "concern" for "people dying in the streets" because they did not have health insurance. Under his new plan, those hypothetical people would be long dead by the time Obamacare could offer them any benefits. None of the plan made sense. It appeared to be fiscally irresponsible and many Americans objected.

There were town hall meetings, protests and the Tea Party Movement was born. It was no secret that many republican and independents objected to the two, enormous, two-thousand plus-page, bills Pelosi and Reid presented. It became blatantly obvious that the left did not care that so many were opposed to these bills. They pushed forward anyway.

Let's not forget the attacks on the tea partiers. Main stream media mostly did not report on the large protests. The left downplayed the protests. In many cases the tea partiers were attacked and called names by the left. They were referred to as "Astroturf" and "angry mobs" when the protests were always peaceful. The largest protest drew at least one million people to Washington D.C. to protest Obamacare. Reporting on this event was scarce if at all in the main stream media. Much of America was being ignored by President Obama and his cronies. Rather than listen to what the people had to say, they moved forward, full speed ahead.

We all know about the sweetheart deals that were given to senators to vote in favor of the bills. Where I come from, we call that a "bribe." I do not care if it has been done before. I do not care if Harry Reid said, "This is how it is always done." It was not acceptable to many of us. Even some democrats began to take notice. Something was beginning to stink on Capitol Hill. This did not even resemble ethical behavior. More and more people began to open their eyes.

Pelosi, Reid and Obama would probably have gotten that bill through if not for one element we all thought was impossible. A republican senator, Scott Brown, was elected in Massachusetts. We never saw it coming. We thought that could never happen in such a liberal state as Massachusetts. It happened all right. The American people were sending a message to Washington, "Listen to us! We don't want this!" Scott Brown winning Ted Kennedy's old, senate seat was nothing short of a miracle...and it really messed up Obama's plans.

So now the big news is President Obama is agreeing to do what he should have done in the first place. He is agreeing to a bipartisan meeting to get all the ideas on health care on the table. Some of his supporters are saying, "See? He IS a good guy!"

Well, he really has no choice now. He cannot push this through without the democratic super-party he had before. Scott Brown campaigned, promising to vote against the bill.
So now the cool prez saunters around, going to republican press conferences and giving interviews with his number one fan, Katie Couric.

We need to be cautious; we cannot forget the way he tried to push that healthcare bill through. We cannot take this man at his word. Would you trust anyone who repeatedly lied to you before? How about someone who lied and is now desperate? Despite his cool demeanor, the president is desperate. So far, he has not done much since he took office. Liberals will argue that the stimulus package saved the economy from going over the edge. They will insist that without Obama's influence, unemployment would be worse. On the contrary, it is my belief that Obama's policies have drastically added to the unemployment problem.

I believe Obama's Cap & Trade bill and healthcare bill frightened small businesses from hiring. I am a former, small business owner myself. During the eleven years I had my two shops, I went through at least two recessions. Those were times I remember well. I hired the bare minimum and worked as many hours as I could. I can imagine the kind of affect the healthcare bill would have had on my decisions. There is a clause in the HC bill that would have forced me to raise my prices. As far as cap and trade goes, I would have had to go out of business had that passed back then. Small businesses have a lot to lose; it is their bread and butter. They cannot take any chances. If I were still a small business owner, I would not be hiring now either. The man does not realize this because he has never had a business before.

Obama PROMISED unemployment would not exceed 8% with the stimulus package. I do not even know how he can make a promise like that! He warned that without the stimulus package, unemployment would get as high as 10%. Well, with the stimulus package, unemployment exceeded Obama's worst, case scenario. I have my doubts that the very costly stimulus package did anything to help the economy. So please excuse me if I am not feeling warm and fuzzy over Obama's gesture to reach across the aisle.

Many of us are hoping the original bills will be scrapped and the process will start over. After to listening to one of many Obama speeches today, I am skeptical. Today President Obama said and I quote, "Bipartisanship can't be that I agree to all of the things that they believe in or want, and they agree to none of the things I believe in or want."

No kidding, really? Once again, President Obama insults my intelligence. However, by this statement we all know, he still wants certain things from that bill. Unless it is something I have not read or heard of, I really did not like ANY of that bill. There was only one thing I liked; the removal of the preexisting illness clause. He can have that one.I did not like the cuts to Medicare. I did not like the unconstitutional demand that every person must buy health insurance, be fined or go to jail. I do not like that our premiums will go up. I don't like the way they passed the stimulus bill and snuck controversial agendas into it. Many people do not know the government is allowed to electronically receive all our health information. This law was passed in the STIMULUS BILL. I do not like how sneaky they are.

So I urge you, all of you who can, please watch closely. Supposedly much of this will be televised (or so President Obama promised again that it would be). The more eyes watching, the better.

A man who looks you in the eye and lies time after time does not just wake up one morning and become honest and truthful. I do not care if he is a politician and I do not want to hear, "All politicians lie." Nope. All politicians LIED. We are going to stop accepting the norm and start insisting on what is honorable, ethical and right. When politicians start playing chess with the health of my loved ones and myself, I have got to INSIST on transparency. I am not throwing any celebrations because suddenly Obama has agreed to play by the rules.
When I say rules, I mean The Constitution.

There is no referee in congress. We, the American people have to watch and hold them accountable. The stakes our high - YOUR health and the health of your loved ones.