Has anybody looked beyond health care reform?
Should a health care reform bill pass - a bill close to what President Obama spoke about on Wednesday night - what will be next?
With cap and trade looming, the government's involvement in the banking industry and some segments of the insurance sector - then throw in the auto industry, where does the involvement end?
Is life as we know it destined to become an insolvent mess like the United States Post Office?
If health care reform is shoved through in partisan fashion, what will be next?
How about auto insurance for all Americans? Does every resident in this country have a RIGHT to automobile insurance?
How about the right to a free college education for all Americans. Is the government going to mandate that ALL high school graduates get money for college?
How about the right to food?
Housing?
Furniture?
Appliances?
Air conditioning?
Automobiles?
Tires?
Gasoline?
Electricity?
You may think this is an attempt at humor. Sadly, the concerns are legitimate.
Do we want this type of government interference?
More importantly, how in the world do we pay for this type of change?
Right now, every person in this country - ALL OF US - are on the hook for over $40,000 on our debt. That's the amount of money YOUR elected officials have spent OVER what they were authorized to spend. That's what you owe in addition to what you pay Uncle Sam annually.
The government does not run things efficiently. They never have. They operate in the realm of pork-filled policy which balloons the cost of everything they "improve."
The regulation and supervision of health care reform, bailout of large banks, GM and Chrysler - all of the things our government is now involved in takes a huge number of employees. Guess who pays for these employees? YOU AND I!
Like Obama, I also think we should make sure all Americans have health care. The difference is, I think the waste should be eliminated from both the public and private sector before taking on added expense.
Let's get those 30 million Americans covered using common sense and belt-tightening. Let's do it by streamlining what works in the current system and removing or improving what doesn't.
Let's get some measures of tort reform in the bill. If hospitals and doctors were not burdened by the billions it takes to protect them from frivolous lawsuits, there is probably enough money right there to insure millions.
I always thought America was a place to dream big and work your butt off to make those dreams come true. Where is the incentive to accomplish a dream when the government takes the ball out of your hands.
Like most of you, I was taught to work hard and try and accomplish goals.
Today, the only guarantee you have on this planet are air and sun. Everything else you'd better be prepared to work for.
Sadly, I would have like to have written a trusted parent or family member was also a guarantee, but that is no longer the case for many.
Look, unless you believe the government should care for you from the cradle to the grave, you'd better pay attention to what out Congress is working on and how it will be paid for.
Copyright 2009 by Christopher Blackburn
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Alinsky's Influence
Washington Democrats have a playbook and they are sticking to it.
The playbook: "Rules for Radicals," written by Saul D. Alinsky, is at the cornerstone of the pro-left movement in the U.S.
From Sec. of State Hillary Clinton to President Obama, Alinsky's influence can now be felt across the country. Is it the change we need?
Clinton wrote her thesis on Alinsky and was later offered a job from the man as he was looking for a community organizer to move to Chicago and establish grass-roots organizations to reform the city. Clinton declined and chose to attend law school.
Seventeen years later, another young honor student was offered a job as an organizer in Chicago. Barack Obama, a 23-year-old Columbia University graduate, was hired to organize black residents on the South Side.
Both Obama and Clinton, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, have used the Rules as guidelines to attempt to transform the country from what it is, or was, into what they think it should be.
Alinsky's book begins:
What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.
“The first step in community organization is community disorganization,” Alinsky, who died in 1972, said.
Alinsky writes that through hope and resentment, organizers can create an army which continues to recruit from churches, labor unions, gangs and other community organizations.
Here are Alinsky's rules:
RULE 1: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have. Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood.
RULE 2: Never go outside the expertise of your people. It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
RULE 3: Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
RULE 4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
RULE 5: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.
RULE 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.
RULE 7: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Don't become old news.
RULE 8: Keep the pressure on. Never let up. Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
RULE 9: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
RULE 10: If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive. Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
RULE 11: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem.
RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
The rules are simple and are being followed by some Democratic leaders. Example: Rule 12 in relation to the health care debate.
"Mobs," "Right-wing extremists," "Nazis," "Un-American" - these are what you are called when you question health care reform. This is said by our leaders about hard-working Americans with questions. It was said of our elderly who are worried about Social Security and Medicare.
As Americans, it is incumbent on us to watch our political leaders and demand they hear our voices. It becomes even more important when the mainstream media fails to play watchdog for us.
Copyright 2009 by Christopher Blackburn
The playbook: "Rules for Radicals," written by Saul D. Alinsky, is at the cornerstone of the pro-left movement in the U.S.
From Sec. of State Hillary Clinton to President Obama, Alinsky's influence can now be felt across the country. Is it the change we need?
Clinton wrote her thesis on Alinsky and was later offered a job from the man as he was looking for a community organizer to move to Chicago and establish grass-roots organizations to reform the city. Clinton declined and chose to attend law school.
Seventeen years later, another young honor student was offered a job as an organizer in Chicago. Barack Obama, a 23-year-old Columbia University graduate, was hired to organize black residents on the South Side.
Both Obama and Clinton, along with First Lady Michelle Obama, have used the Rules as guidelines to attempt to transform the country from what it is, or was, into what they think it should be.
Alinsky's book begins:
What follows is for those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be. The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away.
“The first step in community organization is community disorganization,” Alinsky, who died in 1972, said.
Alinsky writes that through hope and resentment, organizers can create an army which continues to recruit from churches, labor unions, gangs and other community organizations.
Here are Alinsky's rules:
RULE 1: Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have. Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood.
RULE 2: Never go outside the expertise of your people. It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone.
RULE 3: Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty.
RULE 4: Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules.
RULE 5: Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.
RULE 6: A good tactic is one your people enjoy. They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones.
RULE 7: A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Don't become old news.
RULE 8: Keep the pressure on. Never let up. Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new.
RULE 9: The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.
RULE 10: If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive. Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog.
RULE 11: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem.
RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.
The rules are simple and are being followed by some Democratic leaders. Example: Rule 12 in relation to the health care debate.
"Mobs," "Right-wing extremists," "Nazis," "Un-American" - these are what you are called when you question health care reform. This is said by our leaders about hard-working Americans with questions. It was said of our elderly who are worried about Social Security and Medicare.
As Americans, it is incumbent on us to watch our political leaders and demand they hear our voices. It becomes even more important when the mainstream media fails to play watchdog for us.
Copyright 2009 by Christopher Blackburn
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