The Freedom Bulletin

The House of Representatives voted against extending some portions of the Patriot Act which were set to expire at the end of the month. The provisions include “court-approved roving wiretaps, granting the FBI access to library archives and anything else considered relevant to a terrorism investigation, and the ‘lone wolf’ provision, which approves surveillance of suspected terrorists not linked to a specific terrorist organization.” Thirty-six Democrats and twenty-six Republicans voted “no,” including some veterans and some Tea-Party-affiliated newbies.

I applaud all the representatives who voted against the extension. What I find funny is that the media has been calling this a “defeat” and a “failure” for Republicans. Speaker Boehner even said, “We’re not going to be perfect every day.” Yes, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor wanted the extension to pass, but I think this is a good sign for Republicans. The GOP is known as the party of conservatism, which ought to mean limited government and respect for the constitution. After all, as Ronald Reagan said, “Libertarianism is the heart and soul of conservatism.” Yesterday’s vote showed that at least some Republicans are standing up for privacy and civil liberties, and returning to their libertarian roots, which is exactly what the GOP should be doing. If only Speaker Boehner and the rest of the GOP would join them…

Edit: Above, watch an awesome speech by Congressman Ron Paul before yesterday’s vote. Favorite quote: “Perfect safety is not the purpose of government. What we want from government is to enforce the law and to protect our liberties.”

As everyone knows, the House of Representatives voted yesterday to repeal the health non-reform bill. All 242 Republicans voted for the repeal, as well as Democrats Mike Ross, Dan Boren, and Mike McIntyre. Although, sadly, the repeal has little chance of passing the Senate or overcoming President Obama’s veto, all who voted for the repeal yesterday should be commended for standing up for individual rights. Here are a couple of my least favorite and favorite moments related to yesterday’s vote.

Least favorites:

Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) said on the House floor, “They say it’s a government takeover of health care, a big lie, just like Goebbels. You say it enough, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie, you repeat the lie and eventually people believe it.” So after Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement have been dragged through the mud for the past week and a half for using “divisive” military metaphors, a Democrat compares his opponents to a Nazi propagandist. Nice.

Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) argued that the “pursuit of happiness” part of the Constitution (it’s actually the Declaration of Independence) justifies the health non-reform bill. “I think people should be required to get health insurance,” he said. What about people who decide that it would make them happier to pay separately for each health procedure they receive than to buy health insurance?

David Lazarus of the LA Times compares the GOP to “a bunch of spoiled children throwing a tantrum because they didn’t get their way” and tells them to have “the maturity to deal with the new status quo and move on” and to ”Deal with it. Work with it. Grow up already.” So let me get this straight: Lazarus thinks it is mature to accept whatever happens to be the current policy, regardless of how good or bad it is? I’m not sure what a person’s age has to do with any of this, but if by maturity he means mindlessness and cowardice, then he might make sense. What is the point of having a legislature (or a brain for that matter) if you aren’t supposed to debate whether a policy is good or bad? Unfortunately, the previous Congress decided to pass a law that violates the rights of every single person in the United States. The best way to deal with such a law is to get rid of it.

Favorites:

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) said (above), that by passing the health non-reform bill, “We broke with some of our finest traditions – limited government, personal responsibility, and most profoundly the consent of the governed.” I love this speech!

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) said (above), “Anybody who contends that Obamacare would save jobs and money must be an Enron accountant.”

And finally, in other Obamacare-related news, there are now 27 states suing the federal government over the health non-reform bill. Hooray!

Edit: I should mention that Rep. Pence’s speech above is from two weeks ago. His (also awesome) speech from Wednesday can be heard here, along with those of other Republicans (and some Democrats).

The new members of Congress were sworn in today, including the new Speaker of the House, John Boehner (R-OH). Before she handed over the gavel, former speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) gave a fairly classy speech, in which she complimented Boehner and congratulated him and the new Republican majority. Boehner’s speech (below), although not the most exciting I’ve ever heard, was short, sweet, and straightforward.

The representatives will read the Constitution aloud tomorrow, which I think is pretty cool.

Also, some of my favorite politicians were on the news to weigh in with their ideas for the new Congress:

Ron and Rand Paul discussed the national debt in a great interview with George Stephanopoulos of Good Morning America.

The father-son duo were also on Anderson Cooper 360 on Monday.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) talked about spending and the health non-reform bill on the Dylan Ratigan Show.

I hope that this new Republican majority can get some good things done!

More coverage of today’s events from the usual sources: CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and AP.

Here is the roll call for HR 3962, the ill-named Affordable Health Care for America Act.

This is not a health reform bill – all it will do is take the bad things about our current health system and make them even worse. There are two main problems with the health system in America (and much of the world):

First and most importantly, people have no freedom. Doctors give orders and unsolicited advice, we need their permission in order to have the medicines that we need, and they write notes on us that we don’t see or have any control over. HR 3962 doesn’t even attempt to do anything about this.

Not quite as important, but still very important, the system of paying for health services is unjust. Socialist government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP steal money from people in order to pay for health services for other people. Doctors charge exorbitant prices, and insurance companies will not tell you for sure whether or not they will cover a service until after you’ve already received it. HR 3962 forbids insurane companies from discriminating on the basis of pre-existing conditions, which is good, but it also forces everyone to get health insurance, which is terrible. If insurance companies had any incentive to keep their costs down and quality up before, they certainly won’t now, if everyone is required to buy their product.

Thanks to the courageous Democratic reps who voted against this bad bill: Adler, Altmire, Baird, Barrow, Boccieri, Boren, Boucher, Boyd, Bright, Chandler, Childers, Davis (AL), Davis (TN), Edwards (TX), Gordon, Griffith, Herseth Sandlin, Holden, Kissell, Kosmas, Kratovil, Kucinich (pictured above ), Markey (CO), Marshall, Massa, Matheson, McIntyre, McMahon, Melancon, Minnick, Murphy (NY), Nye, Peterson, Ross, Shuler, Skelton, Tanner, Taylor, and Teague!

The Democrats in the House have unveiled their proposal for a health care overhaul. In my humble opinion, this plan would decrease Americans’ liberty and move our country one step farther in the direction of socialism. Among the provisions of the proposed bill are the following (with my commentary):

• A government-funded insurance plan. I’m opposed to government-funded anything right now, since that would mean either higher taxes or more debt.
• Affordability credits available only to people who make up to $43,000. I think it’s unfair to charge different prices for the same thing based on income.
• Expansion of Medicaid. Again, this would require more government spending and would be giving people free things based on their income, which is unfair.
• An individual mandate to have health insurance, with penalties of 2.5% of one’s income if one does not obey. This is the worst part of the bill right here. The government simply does not have the right to tell people what they must buy. Having health insurance and not having health insurance are two equally good options, and people have a right to decide which is best for them.
• A mandate that businesses with payrolls of up to $250,000 either provide health insurance to employees or contribute 8% of their payroll. Businesses should not be required to provide employees with health insurance. In fact, I’d much rather employers not provide health insurance and instead raise their employees’ pay by the amount they would be spending on health insurance so that the employees can decide for themselves what to spend their money on.
• Insurance companies cannot deny people coverage for pre-existing conditions. I actually like this. Insurance should be made more like any other product – it should cost the same for everyone, and anyone who pays the price should be able to get it.

The Dems are calling their proposal America’s Affordable Health Choices Act. To me, it doesn’t seem too affordable, nor does it seem to give people choices, since one of the most important choices – whether or not to get health insurance - would be taken away from us. More government spending and more regulations on how we can live our lives are the last thing America needs.