Weary Americans

By: Melissa Clouthier

You are so sick of the debates. You have a freaking life after all. You have a mortgage. You have kids you worry over. You have a job, if you're lucky. You like sports. You like your family. You like your car. You like your country. You believe there is a God and after this short time on earth, if there's any justice, bad guys will pay and good guys will ultimately win. You're an American. Imperfect, sure, but mostly decent.

It is simply unfathomable that someone would would see that life and think it is bad. It is difficult to comprehend that someone or a group of people would see this life as evil. And yet, many do.

The traditional suburban family, job, kids, house, SUV, sports, dogs, etc. are viewed with suspicion and pure hatred by some. Americans are viewed as wasteful, consumptive, selfish, stupid, parochial simpletons.

The solution to the "problem" of the average American, then, is to help the American live a better life...by force, if necessary. Doctor Zero of Hot Air's Greenroom has a must read piece titled "The Aggressor State". He says:

Because liberalism defines itself as transformative, it is very comfortable with aggression. This posture serves them well with a public that believes “progress” is inherently positive. The business of building the modern super-state has been a sustained attack, using cultural pressure, legislative power, and the blunt instrument of loyal voting blocs to beat Middle America into submission. The goal of the Left is to convince the middle class to give it the power to do things they would never be depraved or dishonest enough to do themselves. Ordinary people refer to the “redistribution of wealth” as “theft.” If a man wearing a tailored suit and power tie came to your door one day, and offered to take care of your health, in exchange for surrendering all control over your medical decisions to a board of faceless strangers – who also demand unlimited control over every part of your life that might conceivably impact your health – you’d slam the door in his face and call the cops. If you caught someone writing himself a $4000.00 check from your checkbook, and he explained he needs the money as tribute to his Church of Global Warming so they can save the world from an imaginary evil, you’d shoot first and call 911 later. The mission of the Left is to convince people that all of these outrages become virtuous when elected officials perpetrate them. After all, “they won.” [Emphasis added.]

But those who view American life with contempt know that a direct assault on the American character won't work. It must be subtle. The arguments must infer that your neighbor, the small business owner whose company earns more than $200,000 is evil, not you. The insurance company is evil--hell, you know the pain in the ass insurance companies can be. The talk show host is evil--well, crud, Mr. Big Mouth Talk Show Host sure can be annoying sometimes. Then anyone who thinks mandatory union membership seems oppressive is evil. Then people who like their incandescent lights are evil. The circle begins to expand. Like a consuming Venn diagram, suddenly, all Americans, even you, are inside the circle of evil.

How did that happen?

Leftists and the state they worship know no constraint. There is not one aspect of life that they don't believe they know how to better manage than you. Not one. Health care is the big, juicy prize because under the auspices of caring, absolute and total control is willingly ceded to the government.

No one in America would argue that the health care system doesn't need reform. It is patently obvious that the biggest generation ever is reaching old age. Health care costs, just because there are so many people, will increase. What to do? The Congressional Democrat's solution is to cut coverage for these old people and "fund" health care for the uninsured. Like a shell game, the government will shift money and serve people who better "deserve" the care. More than that, taxes will go up to pay for everyone.

People are tired of the debate. This fatigue plays into big government plans. For generations, the Left has stoked a perpetual state of discontent. Finally, when the economy is staggering under the weight of bad debt, oppressive regulation and perverse incentives, people are sobered and serious about solutions. What the Left offers is more of the same: bigger government to solve an already too big government.

If the Left can continue to make people feel like someone else is to blame and someone else will be punished, the desire for Health Care legislation, and every other form of government control will pass. But people are starting to get wary, even in their weariness. Suddenly, the health care people already enjoy doesn't seem so bad. Suddenly, the massive expansion of government seems expensive.

Hopefully, the American people will overcome their political fatigue and become more active. After a certain point, the political process seems akin to the boy who cried wolf and when the wolf finally comes....no one listens. The government wolf is here and ready to devour a sixth of the economy. The time to fight is now.
Melissa Clouthier's Bio
Dr. Melissa Clouthier blogs on her own website and RightWingNews.com . She also hosts a new online radio show on RFC Radio . Owning her own medical business means that what happens in Washington is not theoretical to her or her family.

'Death Panels' in Oregon?

Maybe Sarah Palin wasn't off the mark after all:

August 11, 2009

Ethel C. Fenig
Perhaps former Governor Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) was referring to the tragic predicament of Barbara Wagner of Oregon when she wrote how she feared for the fate of her Down Syndrome son under "Obama's 'Death Panels.' "

Susan Donaldson James of ABC News reports on the letter Ms. Wagner received from the Oregon Health Plan in response to a $4000 a month drug her doctor prescribed after her lung cancer, long in remission, returned..

the insurance company refused to pay.

What the Oregon Health Plan did agree to cover, however, were drugs for a physician-assisted death. Those drugs would cost about $50.

Hmmmm, let's do the math. Yep, a one time prescription of $50 sure is cheaper than $4000 a month for who knows how many months to keep a 64 year old woman alive. So the Oregon "Death Panel" graciously offered suicide pills. Or doctor assisted murder.


But Ms. Wagner had an understandably different reaction.

"It was horrible," Wagner told ABCNews.com. "I got a letter in the mail that basically said if you want to take the pills, we will help you get that from the doctor and we will stand there and watch you die. But we won't give you the medication to live."


Ah, but Ms. Wagner wanted to live. And she didn't care what the Oregon "Death Panel" - uhm, Oregon Health Plan decided. And her situation is not unique.


But a 1998 study from Georgetown University's Center for Clinical Bioethics found a strong link between cost-cutting pressures on physicians and their willingness to prescribe lethal drugs to patients -- were it legal to do so.

The study warns that there must be "a sobering degree of caution in legalizing [assisted death] in a medical care environment that is characterized by increasing pressure on physicians to control the cost of care."

Cancer drugs can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 a month. The cost of lethal medication, on the other hand, is about $35 to $50.

So Sarah Palin's "death panels" aren't as quite off the mark as those afflicted by Palin Derangement Syndrome and mocking her seem to think. Apparently they're called Centers for Bioethics and people are sincerely grappling with these issues. The issues are deep, the problems are complex. And alas there are no easy answers. But let's keep the Barbara Wagners in mind. For one day, a loved one may be in the same predicament. Or you.