As a vice president for a local small business, I want you to know that I, my family, and the friends and co-workers I have asked are all *strongly* opposed to the current health care bill.

As currently written, this bill will be a terrible blow to small businesses like us at an already difficult time. It will result in job losses and pay cuts at my company and many like us! We cannot afford the mandates and taxes on health insurance which are included in the current bill.

As an officer of a small business, I know the importance of keeping a balanced budget, especially in times of financial stress. The idea of raising ongoing expenses of the government by additional trillions of dollars during a recession is an IRRESPONSIBLE use of tax payer money. If I came up with such a plan for my business, I would likely be fired on the spot!

This bill will only deepen the current recession, draining vital money from the economy which could have been used to continue our rapid pace of medical advancement. In the end, we will be poorer with worse health care than if you had simply done nothing.

Apart from financial and practical issues, this plan moves government and health care in the wrong direction — namely towards one another.

As freedom loving Americans, we do not want the government involved in our health care, whether by forcing us to buy insurance we don’t want, manipulating the market even further through government involvement in insurance (the so called “public option”), creating huge deficits or raising taxes.

We do not want the government deciding when someone should terminate their own life to save the government money.

We do not want government bureaucrats coming between us and our doctors.

We do not want to pay taxes for medical procedures to which we are deeply morally opposed (such as abortion).

We do not want doctor visits that remind us of the frustrating experience of visiting the DMV.

This is the WRONG bill at the WRONG time.

Our health care system has some serious problems, true. But it is also true that we one of the best health care systems in the world. For a country our size, we have THE best, by far. Availability of treatment and standard of care are second to none — so not surprising ours is also the most expensive.

US Health Care has problems which need to be remedied — problems like our crazy malpractice system which enriches lawyers while doctors are unable to pay off their school loans due to expensive malpractice insurance. Problems like the regulation-ridden Medicare/Medicaid programs that distort the market and drive up costs. THESE are the major problems in our health care system, and the “reform” bill does not even address them!!

How about a real reform bill, one that gets government out of our doctors offices instead of inserting them permanently? One that helps doctors and patients rather than lawyers? One that can actually pay for itself rather than one that will cost $2.4 Trillion Dollars (!!!) in its first 10 years of operation? (We all know that the $1 Trillion number being batted around is a gimmick. That is the cost for the 10 years starting now, but the program doesn’t go into operation for 4 years.)

It’s time to go back to the drawing board.

One more thought.

Please convey to the Whitehouse and to Democrat leaders of congress that when I hear our government calling citizens unruly mobs for calmly expressing their opinions; when they ask supporters to inform on citizens who speak against the bill (go ahead and report me — flag@whitehouse.gov); when labor union goons attack peaceful protesters at town hall meetings; when the Whitehouse tells its supporters to “punch back twice as hard” — this only encourages me to speak more loudly, and often, and to make sure all of my friends know what a disaster this health care “reform” has turned out to be.

I have not been politically involved much to this point in my life. For the most part, I’ve kept my thoughts to myself. But with the recent tone of all this “hope and change,” many of us are about to begin speaking out.

Sincerely,
A Citizen of Florida’s 24th District

I’ve been lurking on Redstate for the better part of two years… If “refreshing Redstate every 30 minutes like an addict” can be called lurking. More like stalking.

I’m a social and fiscal conservative, in that order. Fred was my initial pick, and when he dropped out I reluctantly switched to McCain.

Yesterday evening, after watching Palin’s speech at Dayton, I made a donation to McCain’s campaign. So I suppose I was a part of the one-day $4.49 million haul inspired by her selection.

Read on for why I’m suddenly excited about this race.

Read More →