Thursday, July 30, 2009

What's good for the goose...

...ought to be good for the gander.

Though they are getting some intelligent resistance and opposition, members of Congress appear to be near passing the Health Care Plan proposed by President Obama. The infuriating thing to me, however (besides that it will ensure that more of my tax dollars fund abortions, that the quality of health care that Americans are currently able to enjoy will be severely compromised, and that billions more dollars will be added to the deficit as a result of its passage) is that while my family and I - and you and yours - will be forced to accept this Health Care Plan, the members of Congress who are voting it into existence will not.

"Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) offered an amendment in the Ways & Means Committee that would have required Members of Congress to enroll immediately in the government-run health plan that would be established under the Democratic bill. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) offered an amendment to put his committee on the record in support of enrolling Members of Congress in the government-run plan as well. While the Wilson amendment was approved by voice vote in the Education & Labor Committee, the Heller amendment was killed in the Ways & Means Committee at the behest of Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Rangel."

This is from a web post by Republican House Leader John Boehner, where he acknowledges the "long list of common-sense changes House Republicans proposed this month while the bill was being considered by the Ways & Means, Energy & Commerce, and Education & Labor Committees. These amendments, which were designed to make the health care bill more palatable to the American people, were unceremoniously crushed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her committee chairmen with little public attention or debate."

(Apparently, by the way, union workers who helped Democrats win Congress and the White House and whose support will be key in getting a health bill signed into law may also be getting some exemption perks...)

There isn't much to be done, but since I do believe that Edmund Burke quotation which acknowledges that,"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing," I wrote a letter to my Congressional Representatives:

Dear [recipient names were inserted here],

It is unbelievable to me that any members of Congress are considering
voting for and approving the Health Care Plan proposed by President Obama, yet are also planning to refuse to require Congress to be covered by said health care. If you think ObamaCare is good enough for all Americans, it ought to be good enough for you. If you vote for a plan you refuse to participate in, you will verify a lack of integrity and a lack of concern for your constituents. The American people will not put up with a government that foists upon its people policies that they themselves will not endure.

Sincerely,



Of course, this last sentence isn't entirely true, since we put up with the fact that they establish their own payraises using taxpayer money, that they are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, and that they even consider themselves above a city-council imposed city-wide smoking ban in the capitol city. Note also that very few of them choose the public school system which they so graciously endorse for "all Americans," opting rather to send their own children to private schools using their hefty taxpayer-provided salaries.

Yes, I would like for all Americans to have access to affordable health care, but socialized medicine won't help anybody.

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