For years we’ve been protecting our Canadian friends. They live under our military defenses; they enjoy the benefits of our commerce and wealth; they come and go as they want. They’re nice people and great neighbors.

I worry about them though because where are they going to go now when they need a doctor?

Gerry:

The view from my peaceful perch is getting blocked by the reams of paper that is this latest bill on top of the reams of paper that is the Senate bill for which you are being asked to support this weekend.

As a simple person running a simple business, I know that the devil is always in the details. When someone presents me with a lengthy contract, experience has taught that I must read and study its thoroughly before proceeding. You and all of your staff cannot possibly read and analyze these tomes before proceeding. Your opponents in November will use this analogy as another reason to defeat you. It is an easy ad: “There’s no way Gerry Connolly could have read this 2,500 page legal document that changed health care for everybody. He’s just another politician in Nancy Pelosi’s pocket.”  Putting your opponent into the same picture with a unpopular liberal like Ms. Pelosi is a proven tactic for winning in the South.

Obviously I don’t have the time to read these bills so my information is confined to what is reported. But if it is true that the bill delegates to the IRS the responsibility to insure that all Americans are purchasing approved insurance policies, then there is no other reason needed to oppose the bills.

• The IRS would have the power to “enforce” everybody’s buying an insurance policy from private companies. How does this relate to collecting the governments taxes?
• All an insurance company would have to do to insure customers is get on the “approved” list. Since this list will be supervised by government bureaucrats appointed by politicians, it will soon become an extension of the insurance companies.
• All insurance innovation will cease since to be on the list is all that is required to obtain customers; those on the list would block new comers. Costs will go up accordingly.

You have been strangely silent on health care which I take to mean you are hoping to avoid the issue. This is not leadership for which you have worked so hard to provide. Events will soon overwhelm and prevent your meaningful input into the process.

I remain your friend and wish the best for you.

Gerry,

The whirlwind is intensifying for you, but things are still calm on my peaceful perch. I have more observations which I hope will help you decide.

You have reached the House in your political career. Your freshman (and women) peers have recognized your talents by making you their president. Your seniors have put you on prestigious committees and have you on a fast track to leadership. The President asks your opinions. Things were going great until the Senate passed an awful Health Care Bill which was only intended as a negotiating platform with the House in a Conference. And now you must vote that bill into law before anyone can change it; and when you do, no one knows what changes if any will occur.

If you vote yes, you will lose the next election. Supporters are telling you that polls show people like specific provisions and you need only explain them to win back your constituents. Some provisions are popular, but I doubt you are seeing numbers on forcing people onto private insurance plans, removing $500 billion from an already unfunded Medicare program, adding another costly entitlement to be paid with debt, approving special exemptions for Florida, Louisiana, Nebraska, and unions, buying a House vote with an Appeals Court Judgeship, increasing taxes by $500 billion, and authorizing Federal money (or tax credits) for abortions. The good provisions are not driving the anger that is swelling up in the countryside and your district.

Supporters are telling you that you can claim to not be “voting” for the Senate bill but voting only for a rule with corrections in it. If that were really the case, it would be unconstitutional. In any case, the whole world is watching and knows when you vote for the rule, you voted the Senate bill into law with all of its baggage. The President will sign it and fly off to Asia glorifying in his accomplishment.

You may be hoping your vote isn’t needed for passage freeing you to vote no, but this will not mask your active support and involvement from the bill’s inception and will provide no cover. You are behind in polls, your opponents have staked out their opposition, and my reading from independents and moderate Republicans in your district is that they will not come back to your side in November.

If you vote no and cause the Senate bill to fail, your fast track career as a Democrat in the House under this regime is over. The President and Speaker are saying this publically. It won’t matter that you have carried their water in committee or voted their way on previous measures; you will have broken that cardinal rule for newbies: “To get along, go along” spoken so eloquently by a former Speaker whose name is on either your office building or the other one.  As a lowly first termer from an unsafe district, you will be an easy target for “discipline”.

Being a student of history and politics, you know that a Lyndon Johnson would never have put you in this position; but Obama and Pelosi, whose egos and ambitions match that Texan’s, lack his legislative talent and skills. You are now in that “Profiles in Courage” zone, but what you do may or may not be recorded beyond your friends and family. That is your predicament.

I can tell you what I would do, but I don’t stand in your shoes, so it’s only free advice. I would run right into the guns. I would publically say this bill is unacceptable; despite the Reconciliation cover, there is no way to fix it because of the election of Senator Brown; my friends and constituents sent me here to lead and that is what I am doing. They didn’t send me here to vote against their interests, and this Senate bill is not in their interest or anyone else’s. You might be surprised how many of your colleagues join your cause and frighten your leaders into submission.

In any case, when Hell’s fury does come down on your head from above, you can always use the old George Wallace tactic and run against them. After all this is Virginia.

As always, I wish you only the best and hope these ramblings are of some help.

Gerry:

By your own design and inclination, you are at the center of a great whirl wind; and as your friend and supporter, I am compelled again to write you my view of the evolving situation from my more peaceful perch.

You are being asked to vote for the Senate Health Care bill in its entirety and pass it into law. While no doubt there are good things in it, the bad are more obvious:

• The bill adds another unfunded entitlement to our unsustainable debt burden. Rather than addressing the existing entitlements, it removes $500 million from an already unfunded Medicare as a way to justify this bill. The independent bond rating agencies have been consistently warning that they will reduce our country’s AAA standing if we continue on the folly; doing so will increase the interest rates required to sell our bonds which only compounds the crisis.
• The $500 billion in new taxes used to partially fund the bill start now while the benefits don’t begin in full for 6 years. This may help reach arbitrary money targets for the first 10 years but does nothing to assuage future costs.
• Your own State’s legislature has passed a bill stating that Virginia’s residents may not be forced to purchase health insurance. At the least this sets up a constitutional suit that will only be settled by the Supreme Court. If the mandatory insurance provision is ruled unconstitutional, the government will be on the hook to make up the short falls only exasperating the deficits.
• The bill is full of special exemptions for states, districts, and unions. This corruption is in plain sight of everyone.
• The bill changes 30 years of existing law regarding the use of Federal funds (either directly or through tax subsidies) for abortions; few subjects inflame passions more than this.
• It does not address in any meaningful way the underlying costs of health care.
• It does not insure coverage for all American, a stated purpose for the bill.

You are also being asked to pass a separate Reconciliation bill which will try to correct many of the items described above but which will only come up for consideration after the President has signed the Senate’s Bill. Once the bill that 60 Senators approved becomes law, the smart thing for them to do is ignore the House’s Reconciliation, carve out the sweeteners they like in that bill, and send it back to the House for it to vote. None of the things behind which your Democratic colleagues are trying to hide will be corrected. The President himself wants to sign the bill and leave town; isn’t that a clear indication of his priorities on the House’s Reconciliation ideas?

And now you are being asked to avoid the “yeas and nays on the Bill” through some parliamentary slight of hand. This process is used on routine House matters, but your own leadership decried this process when they were in the minority (http://bit.ly/9Mm5Cj). There are serious constitutional issues that no doubt will be subject of suits and rulings from the Supreme Court. In any case the public perception of these shenanigans is clear.

Why are you being asked to do these things? Certainly it is not to pass  “universal” health care, it is not to contain its rising costs, it is not to bring entitlements in line with available funds, it is not to have your constituents treated the same as those in Florida, Louisiana, and Nebraska or those who are members of a unions, and it is not to bring immediate relief to Americans. For you personally, it is certainly not to enhance your chances of continued service in the Congress; the Washington Examiner has you at 35% behind your opponent who is laying low in anticipation of your falling on this health care sword.

You are being asked to do these things because Obama and Pelosi want to once again be crowned as “historical”. One need only listen to their public statements to confirm their underlying intentions. Apparently, the high from being the first Black or woman to hold their positions has worn off and they want you to anoint them again. It is obvious they don’t care what is in this bill, what it will do to our the government, or the damage it will do to health care. Showing the world again their historical crown is their goal while their loyal lemmings march ever onward.

As the president of freshman Democrats, you are being watched closely by your peers. You are the swing vote. Vote yes and others will join you. Vote no and they will do the same. You have been silent on this, but you must decide and declare your position.

Know that I only wish you the best.

Dick Morris has indicated that Cong. Connolly is moving towards a possible no on the Senates Health Care bill. http://bit.ly/ct2NYz 

I hand delivered this letter to his Prince William County Office earlier. It states my reasons for his opposing the Senate Health Care bill:

Nelson H. Head
13440 Occoquan Road
Woodbridge, VA 22191

The Honorable Gerry E. Connolly
U.S. House of Representatives
327 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Gerry,

Our health care system requires changes to make it more affordable and inclusive, but the current Health Care legislation will do more harm than good. As one of your constituents, I urge you to oppose it for the following reasons:

Republican extremes want private market forces to solve every problem; Democrat extremes want the Federal Government to administer every system. Neither of these two approaches will work for health care. The lack of a single Republican supporter of the present legislation clearly shows that it is too heavily weighted to the public solution and will lead to forced participation through laws and taxes, bureaucratic inefficiencies, stymied innovation, and rationing of services. One need only look at DMV’s, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Post Office, construction permitting departments, etc. to realize where public administration will take us.

The present Federal entitlements – Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – are unsustainable. Americans will not pay taxes sufficient to fund these programs and the country’s lenders will not make up the short falls; the promises made by earlier politicians, however sincere, were bogus. The current legislation adds another expensive, unsustainable entitlement to the list. Rather than inflating the debt bubble and the terrible consequences when it bursts, we need political leaders who work to reduce these entitlements to cover only the most desperate in our society no matter how unpopular that may be.

Press reports and two thousand plus pages indicate that the present bill is full of “special deals” for the friends and supporters of Representatives and Senators. The rest of us who would never ask for nor expect special treatment are left to pay the tab. Many of our present laws and regulations are rendered unfair and unworkable by these practices and there is no justification to further corrupt our health systems.

As a first term Representative, you will face extreme pressure from your leadership to vote the party line. Frankly these career politicians in both parties have gotten us into this unsustainable debt bubble and their insistence must be ignored. 

Vote to defeat the bill, start anew, write one that has support from a substantial number of Members from both parties, and there will be meaningful reforms that will aid in making our health care system more affordable and inclusive without making it less innovative and responsive.

I look forward to seeing you again soon.

 That is of course if he is even listening.

There’s no difference between a Democrat and Republican career politician in Congress when it comes to BS’ing (that’s Big Spending and maybe even the other thing too).

Despite his self promotion as a fiscal hawk, Republican Senator Jeff Sessions sponsored and approved $85 million per year for five years for the Boys and Girls Club. $2.2 million had already gone to the Washington lobbyist who “secured” the money for the club, $1 million went to the salary of the charity’s CEO for his philanthropic sacrifices, and Session’s campaign coffers certainly will get its share from the individuals and Pac’s involved. Everybody was happy and felt good about doing the Country’s work. http://bit.ly/cyJgky

Eric Cantor, the Republican Minority Whip, opposed the Stimulus Bill because of its wasteful BS’ing, but then he takes credit for the hundreds of million dollars being spent on studies that will let someone get from Richmond to Washington in 45 minutes on a train. His excuse is that he and others (i.e. his supporters and contributors) have been working on this project for years and unlike everything else in Washington, his project is worthwhile. http://bit.ly/cdmgmx and http://bit.ly/c46H9N

These may not be unworthy projects but they are two examples of the real issue: All of this BS’ing is not financed with tax dollars but with debt. Our career politicians are having great fun shopping, “doing good”, and strutting about with our country’s credit card and showing absolutely no regard for who’s going to pay it off.

At least we expect Democrats to be BS’ers. (This Health Care bill would be their finest achievement ever.) But the Republicans in Congress were the same bunch who went crazy with our card when they were in charge.  

There’s nothing to be done except turn the whole bunch of BS’ers out.

Dick Morris has reported that Cong. Gerry Connolly, VA 11, is moving strongly from a yes vote towards a no vote on the Senate’s Health Care bill (http://bit.ly/cbtuqp). Connolly, president of the Democrats freshman Congressmen and women, won the long time Republican seat by riding on the anti-Bush coattails of Obama when Tom Davis retired. Independents and moderate Republicans who supported him in the last election are worried about his support of the President’s so called reforms.

A recent poll in the district (http://bit.ly/9ncOe8) has him at 35% and trailing one of the Republican challengers, Keith Fimian, by 5 points.

If it must be now, why this approach to health care reform?

• It adds another inefficient and unpaid entitlement to our national obligations. Taxes won’t pay for our current entitlements, much less this new one; and citizens will never allow politicians to tax them sufficient to do so. That means we have to borrow the short falls. At some point, lenders are going to say enough. Then what do we do? Is this health care bill going to become the “mother of all sub-prime mortgages?”
• It’s 2,500 plus pages are filled with corrupt deals. Every powerful Congressman and Senator has carved out exceptions for their friends and supporters, leaving the rest of us poor mopes picking up the tab. The President just sold an Appellate Judgeship for a vote.
• It is so heavily weighted towards government oversight that we are fashioning our health care into a DMV, INS, the Post Office, or all of the other unresponsive, bureaucratic nightmares run by governments.

Since the Democratic leadership won’t start over, there’s no alternative except to defeat it.  

Dr. Hsieh is correct in his fine post on Pajamas Media.  By linking their Health Care bill to the moral cause of providing medical services to the needy, the proponents can side step any “economic or corruption issues.”

The argument against the Health Care bill cannot be won with just economic or corruption issues .The only way Americans can protect their long-term access to quality medical care is by demanding that the government respect their freedom and individual rights. Any system of “universal” health care necessarily requires a bureaucracy to control who can receive what services and when — if only to control costs. The medical rationing in Canada and the UK are typical results. In these countries, far from being a “right,” health care becomes just another privilege to be dispensed at the discretion of the bureaucrats.

Opponents must bring “moral” arguements to the discussion also. Anyone care to elaborate.

If they are listening, here are three moderate reasons for moderate Democrats to vote no on the Health Care bill:

1. Republican extremes want private market forces to solve every problem; Democrat extremes want the Federal Government to administer every system. Neither of these two approaches will work for health care. The lack of a single Republican supporter of the present legislation clearly shows that it is too heavily weighted to the public solution and will lead to forced participation through laws and taxes, bureaucratic inefficiencies, stymied innovation, and rationing of services. One need only look at DMV’s, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Post Office, construction permitting departments, etc. to realize where public administration will take us.
2. The present Federal entitlements – Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – are unsustainable. Americans will not pay taxes sufficient to fund these programs and the country’s lenders will not make up the short falls; the promises made by earlier politicians, however sincere, were bogus. The current legislation adds another expensive, unsustainable entitlement to the list. Rather than inflating the debt bubble and the terrible consequences when it bursts, we need political leaders who work to reduce these entitlements to cover only the most desperate in our society no matter how unpopular that may be.
3. Press reports and two thousand plus pages indicate that the present bill is full of “special deals” for the friends and supporters of Representatives and Senators. The rest of us who would never ask for nor expect special treatment are left to pay the tab. Many of our present laws and regulations are rendered unfair and unworkable by these practices and there is no justification to further corrupt our health systems.