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Ben Kinlaw: Healthcare bill is sick legislation

The following was written by Barnwell County Chairman Ben Kinlaw and published in The People-Sentinel.

I am writing in opposition to the U.S. House Democrats approving a government take over of the health care system March 21, voting over unanimous Republican opposition by 219-to-212.

There is no debate regarding the issue that the health care system needs some type of reform.

The House gave final approval to legislation passed by the Senate Dec. 24. The only bipartisanship demonstrated occurred when 34 Democrats joined Republicans in voting against the bill.

Americans have disgust when an abuse of power is demonstrated by any political party. Obama and the Democrats have continually pushed a totalitarian form of government since gaining the majority in Congress.

When Scott Brown won the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts Jan. 19 by running on a platform that he would be the 41st vote to block the health care bill, then the political path forward in Washington, D.C. began to change.

Our political process was circumvented by a reconciliation measure used to promote personal agendas. This is not governing, this is ruling.

The American voters knew that the Democrats drafted their health care bill behind closed doors and did not allow any Republicans to be part of the process.

Obama ran on a platform of openness and transparency, but his campaign promise never came to fruition.

On Jan. 31, 2008, then Sen. Obama said about healthcare deliberations; “That’s what I will do in bringing all parties together, not negotiating behind closed doors…and broadcasting those negotiations on C-SPAN so that the American people can see what the choices are, because a part of what we have to do is enlist the American people in the process.”

Even after being elected President, Obama on Nov. 14, 2008 told an audience; “I respect what the Clintons tried to do in 1993, in moving health reform forward, but they made one really big mistake, and this is they took all their people and all their experts into a room and then they closed the door. We will work on this process publicly, it will be on C-SPAN; it will be streaming over the net.”

After the American voters flooded congressional offices with calls opposing this bill; spoke out through town hall meetings and turned out in record numbers at Tea parties — then the current administration appeared to be listening to the people.

Additionally, we saw a record number of voters protesting the bill in many states and Washington D.C. We have seen no demonstration in large numbers in support of the health care legislation.

It was not until the American voters began to demonstrate disgust for the Democratic health care bill, that Obama held a health care summit with Republicans Feb. 25.

During the summit, Washington’s most powerful Democrats and Republicans gathered for a remarkably detailed, deeply felt and occasionally sharp exchange on one of the most important and complex issue facing our country.

Republican lawmakers remained staunchly against the Democrats bid to use the federal government to regulate health insurance; subsidize coverage for millions of Americans and force change in the way medical care is provided.

Leading up to the vote on Sunday, every news organization was reporting back room deals that were made and political arm-twisting to ensure passage of the health care legislation.

During the final debate, Obama signed an executive order to defuse the controversy over abortion to secure support of nine Democrats led by U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) to give party leaders the votes needed to pass the reform.

Under the agreement, the executive order ensures no federal funding will pay for abortions under the health reform plans.

No executive order can override a law passed by Congress, so this won’t be worth the piece of paper it’s printed on. There is no one in politics today more viciously pro-abortion now than Obama and every statement he makes comes with an expiration date.

If Obama misrepresents his position to the Pope, he certainly has no compunction about misrepresenting his position to Bart Stupak and his pro-life stalwarts.

Earlier this year, Obama signed an executive order authorizing use of federal funds for international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the procedure outside the United States.

Obama continues to pay “Hyde”-and-seek on taxpayer-funded abortion in this health care bill.

Here were some key quotes by Democrats revealing their secret agenda.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): “Some of our critics on the other side of the aisle have said, ‘You know, they’re [Democrats] going to cut hundreds of billions of dollars out of Medicare.’ And the simple answer is, yes.” (floor remarks, 3/4/10)

Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), on the reconciliation bill House committee, said: “when the deal goes down, all this talk about rules, we make them up as we go along.”

Hastings should know something about changing the rules. Hastings is a former federal judge impeached for accepting a $150,000 bribe. Hastings became the sixth federal judge in history to be removed from office by the Senate.

Sincerely,

Ben Kinlaw
Barnwell