President Obama and the Democrats, in hopes of passing a new version of the healthcare bill, have altered the “public option”—a government-run healthcare plan that would essentially decimate the insurance market—and replaced it with a “trigger option.”

The new “trigger option” would create a public option system only in those areas where one insurance company has a virtual monopoly over the local industry. For example, in a region of Alabama, there is more or less only one major health insurance company, so if people want insurance, they are all but forced to go through this company. Thus, the free market has failed in these regions and government interjection would appear to help with the quasi-monopoly situation. I like this idea, to a point.

Don’t get me wrong, government intervention is almost never the way to go, but, if this “trigger” plan were to set up government health care companies and provide them with some sort of path to privatization, then we could see the shot in the arm that the healthcare industry that Americans seem to want, without the possibility of a government takeover. More specifically, rather than Congress simply making a healthcare plan, Congress would launch a healthcare company, which, after a couple of years, would be allowed to enter the private market and to “cut the cord” from its mother, the Government.

This would, however, only be effective if, as yet another option, incentive-based, privately-owned health savings accounts were brought into the picture. Because, let’s face it, not everyone wants health insurance. John Stossel recently did a piece on ABC’s 20/20 that illustrated that people who do not buy health insurance actually save money over those who do buy insurance.

Now, here’s why the vision articulated above will not see the light of day anytime soon: first, the Democrats are split over whether or not to include a government option of any sort to begin with. While most, if not all Republicans are firmly in the “no” camp, there isn’t enough agreement to move forward. Second, the Democrats will never agree to a path to privatization because they fundamentally distrust the free market. Which is a shame, because what I have here is exactly the compromise that would save this debate.

So apparently, everyone who asks a tough question of one of our elected Congressional Democrats is a part of some vast right-wing conspiracy. Yeah. Sure. Haven’t we been on this ride before?

What amazes me is that the Dems seem intent on claiming that those who are critical of the Obamacare proposals are right-wing nut jobs that think that the President wasn’t really born in America. Don’t see the connection? Me neither. But that doesn’t stop Liberals from calling opponents of the healthcare bill “loons” or from both sides alternating calling each other “fascists.” Constructive, no?

Here are the points I want to make:

1 – The purpose of a town hall-style meeting is for congressmen and senators to listen to the people. So how does this fit? We’ve got congressmen shouting down anyone who voices opposition at these meetings:

            http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8364201

2 – When the Dems try to draw a line connecting the town hall dissenters and the dopes that doubt the President’s citizenship, do they really think that they’re accomplishing anything? True: 25% of the GOP doubts that President Obama is a natural-born US citizen. But the following is also true: 33% of Democrats believe that George W. Bush had a hand in plotting 9/11. Seriously, folks: there are crazies on both sides. Let it go. These are the people who live in their own little world and would not listen to reason if their lives depended on it. Debate the rational people, and let the crazies twist in the wind. I’m a college student from Chicago; I know better than most that there exists a multitude of ignoramuses who will not listen to anything anyone says unless it fits their ideology.

I have a plan for the Republican Party. This is wild; you’re going to love it. Are you ready for this: we all shut up about healthcare. Seriously. Let the Dems drive themselves into the ground. They will pass a healthcare bill. With such a grotesque majority in Washington, it’s unavoidable. Americans know that Republicans hate this bill with visceral passion, as does most of America. When the Democrats spend every bit of their political capital on this bill, then we will take back America. We won’t see the Obamacare machine exist for long. It will flop within a couple of months and Democrats themselves will dismantle the machine, effectively saying, “Republicans were right.” When that happens, we will have no shortage of people shouting, “I told you so!”

So, in summary: the bill (or some version of it) will pass. But America will not live under Obamacare for any substantive length of time.

“Pay no attention to the Government behind the curtain…”

This has been the essence of the Democratic Party’s stance on Federally run health care for some time now. And it was also the essence of the case that President Obama tried to make while visiting our mutual hometown of Chicago, today.

For starters, thinking Americans already know that Federal labor law requires employers to offer some sort of healthcare coverage to full-time employees. So, if you’re working full-time and do not have healthcare coverage for your family, it’s your own fault for not knowing your rights as a worker.

This will not, however, stop the march of Big Government. President Obama promises that he will allow you to keep your private insurance. Sure. What the Left is failing to tell you is that the Obama Healthcare plan will be the de facto death of private insurance because employers will buy the cheapest healthcare plans for their employees. When the Government becomes that lowest bidder, all full-time employees will be on Government healthcare.

The second point that the Left ignores—and banks on your ignorance of—is the fact that it is 100% illegal for a hospital or health care provider to deny care and service to a patient based on his or her inability to pay. This is how the homeless, the illegal aliens, and the unemployed have managed to secure healthcare in spite of their lack of insurance. And make no mistake: the taxpayer foots the bill. To be clear, this writer has no problem with this law, and I’m willing to call this a responsible use of taxpayer money. But the left is exploiting the fact that so few members of the middle class, upper middle class, and upper class know about these laws. Ta-daa! The left has created an instant sympathy group—the uninsured Americans. As long as you don’t notice those pesky laws that the Left hopes you don’t know about.

What we’re seeing here is another failure in education. People need to know about the laws that already exist to protect them. If ignorance of the law is no excuse for committing a crime, then why is ignorance an excuse for a voting pattern? People need to wake up and look at the world around them before subscribing to the dishonest propaganda of the Left. When it comes to healthcare, America has been covered for some time. The Obama Healthcare Plan amounts to one thing: a power grab that will topple even more Constitutional freedoms in the false name of “saving a victim.” But, as usual, the victim that the Left is claiming to fight for doesn’t really exist.

This whole situation is like that scene from The Wizard of Oz; we have but to peer around the flashy lights, puffs of smoke, and special mirrors to see what lies behind the curtain: a Big Government that is already pulling all the strings.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2009-05-18-auto-emissions_N.htm

http://www.reuters.com/article/mergersNews/idUSN1943363120090519

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/18/feehery.health/index.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/obama-calls-for-an-extrem_b_204903.html

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/19/cafferty.bush.administration/index.html

Looking at these stories IN ORDER:

• · The Government will now force car companies to build smaller, more “energy efficient” cars that Americans have proven time and again that they do not want, effectively forcing Obama’s preferred products onto the consumer.
• · The Government is on the verge of buying General Motors, thus socializing America’s largest car company. How long will it be before the Government begins imposing regulations on car companies that have the gall to oppose Government Motors?
• · The Obama Healthcare plan, which again pits the Government against the free market by “competing” with the existing private companies, will soon be underway. This will eventually kill those private companies because Government insurance will simply always cost less—unless you count the enormous bill that taxpayers will be funding until my great-grandchildren are eligible for public office (I am currently 18 years old).
• · The Government is calling for a “culture” that resists personal success in favor of “collective success” (my words, a paraphrase of the President). In other words: let’s destroy the free market in favor of a system that meets some bureaucrat’s arbitrary idea of “fairness.”
• · The Loony Left is honestly considering prosecuting Bush-era officials over simply having different policies than the current Administration. Let’s ignore the fact that Bush-era policies kept America safe for the 7 years following 9/11, and thwarted over 40 planned terrorist attacks, thereby saving thousands of lives or more.

Put it all together, and what do we get?

“Nobody panic! We have a new flu strain that we can’t figure out, and it could kill you. But do not panic!”

Such is the message of the media. Let’s ignore the obvious hypocrisy of the media’s hysteria-mongering, and look at where the “emergency” and “pandemic” directives are coming from: the CDC and Washington DC.

It is my belief that the CDC and the Obama Administration will quickly turn the Swine Flu panic into a political ploy; they will soon declare a “state of emergency” over the new flu and use this as an excuse to nationalize hospitals nationwide. Congratulations, Mr. President: you have found a way to do the abhorrent: steal liberty and curtail quality healthcare all in the name of security.

Why else would Washington be pushing this story so hard? The Democrats want a panic so that we can glide quietly from “pandemic” to “state of emergency”—for the record, the swine flu should be classified as neither—and the Government’s power-grab will appear to be the noble spirit of heroism in the form of working to control a bad situation. Leave it to the liberal media and an ultra-liberal White House to create pandemonium to move towards a power grab.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is already going public to tell Illinois citizens that “we’re all in this together.” Sure, Governor. With your record, I don’t have any reason at all to distrust you.

Listen readers, I’m not a big conspiracy theorist. I just know how to think like a miserable, mean-spirited opportunist. In other words, I get politicians. I know that fear like this is a huge, gaping opportunity for a big government power grab. Much like citizens are willing to cede rights and liberties during wartime, when fear is rampant and alarmism reigns, the liberals in power are hoping that this health “pandemic” will give them the excuse they need to federalize power over healthcare.

This is the sort of thing that we must always be on the lookout for, readers. Attacks on liberty will always come in the face of what appears to be a threat so large that citizens will be unable to defend themselves. People: we are talking about the flu. Panic will solve absolutely nothing. America can handle this, but only if we remember that we already have the best healthcare in the world. Any government action against the swine flu must be seen as a direct affront to our ability to care for ourselves and our right to choose our own healthcare systems.

UPDATE: President Obama demands emergency funding to the tune of $1.5 BILLION targeted at swine flu. It's coming people. Get ready.