Free Healthcare?

By Jenny Erikson

There are two types of “free.” Free as in freedom, and free as in beer.

Some things are essentially free. Rainbows, wildflowers, hugs and kisses from loved ones, and sometimes, a beer from a friend who says, “Don’t worry about it, I’ve got this one.”

As Americans, we are free citizens. It’s right there in the Declaration of Independence, a document that laid out the reasons why it was important for the colonies to break away from Britain’s “unwarrantable jurisdiction.” The Constitution lays out our freedoms; we are free to chose our own religion, to speak our minds, to assemble and petition, to own firearms, to raise our children as we see fit, to vote for a representative government, and we are even free to drink that free beer.

There has been a lot of discussion recently about socialized or “free” healthcare being introduced to the United States. Free healthcare? Where in the world are we going to find enough doctors (who, by the way, are trying to pay off an average of $140,000 in medical school debt each) willing to work for free in order to make sure that every American (or illegal immigrant pretending to be an American) has healthcare?

As a stay-at-home-mom, I work my tail bone off everyday. I’m the maid, the nanny, the chef, the chauffeur, the counselor, the life coach, the activities director, the secretary, the referee, and sometimes if my husband is lucky, I’m other things as well. I do it all for free, without being paid, because of my unbreakable and unending love for my family. But as much as I love my family, it is hard to do it all for free. Really hard. So I have to ask myself, “If it’s hard for me to work for free for my family, whom I love and cherish more than anything on the planet, how hard is it going to be for doctors to work for free for people they don’t even know?”

Free healthcare is an impossibility. There is no such thing as free beer. Your friend paid for it. Maybe he did it because it was his turn to buy, or maybe out of generosity or appreciation for your friendship. But he didn’t do it because the bartender said, “Sir, you make twice as much money as this man, so it is only ‘fair’ that you buy his beer for him.”

That’s what our government is trying to do regarding healthcare. It isn’t going to be free, because someone is going to have to pay for it (estimated cost is 1-1.5 trillion dollars over the next 10 years.) Doctors and nurses need to be paid, along with the scientists that develop new drugs, the engineers that build medical equipment, the architects that design hospitals, and even the janitors that keep the toilets clean. Taxes are going to skyrocket. Everything will be taxed, from the CO2 we breath out (double tax if that breath included nicotine), to sodas, and of course, to incomes.

It isn’t going to be free either, with “legislation that would require all Americans to have health insurance, prohibit insurers from refusing to cover pre-existing conditions and place other restrictions on the industry.”

I’m a grown up. I like my freedom. I like choosing my doctor, and I like that doctors can refuse patients. I like being free to choose my car, my vocation, my religion, my food, and my home. I like that all Americans have those freedoms, even if they choose differently than me. It’s precisely that freedom that makes our nation great. An entrepreneur is free to make or improve something, investors are free to fund it, and consumers are free to purchase it.

Our government is sliding down the slippery slope of oppressive power. Obama wants to tell us what to eat, what to drive, how to run our companies, and what medical treatments we may receive. Oh sure, we’ll still have a “choice,” but the taxes will be so crippling that it will “necessarily bankrupt” us. As history has shown us over and over, everybody’s a loser in a tyrannical state. The Cubans aren’t driving 50 year old cars and dying of malnutrition because they like it that way.

Jennie is a conservative Republican chick with a strong opinion and a smart mouth who loves her husband and kids with the ferocity of twenty tigers fighting over a meatball.

“Capitalism and Freedom” – Senator Jim DeMint

This week GM won permission for a government-backed company to purchase GM brands including Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet, in order to pay off millions of dollars of debt—elevating the phrase “big government” to a new level. As consumers are confronted by an ailing economy and a brittle banking system, how much longer will it be before the capitalist system becomes just a faded memory?

The following is an excerpt from Senator Jim DeMint’s new release Saving Freedom: We Can Stop America’s Slide into Socialism:

“America’s golden goose is our capitalist economic system. It has made us wealthy beyond anything the world has ever known. Yet our excesses and debt are leading us to demand more and more golden eggs. Our taxes, regulations, and legal liabilities on businesses are now the most onerous in the world. We haven’t yet killed the goose, but we have plucked her clean, and the socialist axe is at her neck…

We have seen the federal government’s ‘communal sector’ replace local decision-making in public schools, hamstring private sector health-care services, federalize local banking, socialize farming, nationalize road construction. We now have federal intrusion into almost every business sector. Government must provide a consistent and predictable framework of laws and regulations, but arbitrary intrusion and subjective interpretations of regulations destroys the operation of the free market. Capitalism and socialism will not work together.

America cannot have it both ways. We must decide if we want a free market economy or socialism. Mixing the central planning principles of socialism with the decentralized free-market principles of capitalism has not worked, and it is destroying American’s competitive advantage in the world. Using business to collect taxes, provide health care, maintain pension programs, promote affirmative action, support the unemployed, absorb the cost of emissions by cars and utilities, and pay for frivolous lawsuits is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

All of these functions are important and sometimes necessary, but Americans must understand that putting these costs on the backs of businesses does not save money; it obscures costs and creates inefficiencies that reduce competitiveness. Businesses don’t pay for anything; they pass along the cost of taxes, health care, pensions, and all other costs of doing business to their employees and customers. These expenses increase the cost of American workers but reduce their take-home pay. They also increase the cost of products, reduce competitiveness, and hurt profitability.”

In 314 pages, Senator DeMint argues against big government and calls for Americans to take back the power rightfully bestowed upon them by our founding fathers. He also calls for Americans to defend their personal freedom and provides action steps citizens can take to stop this slide into socialism.

Link: http://www.savingfreedombook.com/

Connect with Senator Jim DeMint online:

Twitter: @JimDeMint
Personal Site: JimDeMint.com
Senate Site: DeMint.Senate.gov

In Remembrance of D-Day

By: Kelli Krauss

On June 6, 1944, thousands of brave American men stormed the beaches of Normandy, France in order to liberate Europe from the evil hands of the Nazis. America, along with her Allies, changed the course of the war in Europe on that day in June.

Let's remember and honor the sacrifice of those soldiers, of a generation, as President Roosevelt said, "There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."

We must remember the sacrifice that was made by so many on that day in 1944 and how it has shaped the lives we all live today. We must remember the blood that was shed to stand in the way of tyranny, so that the course of freedom could flow once again.

The following is a portion of the speech President Reagan gave on June 6, 1984 in Normandy on the 40th anniversary of D-Day. We must take these words in and remember that it is now our responsibility not to lose what these brave men fought and died for.

Reagan's words:

"What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief; it was loyalty and love. The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next. It was the deep knowledge — and pray God we have not lost it — that there is a profound, moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt. You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One’s country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you."

In remembrance of D-Day.

From IGen to the G.I. Gen---Turning into the WWII Generation

There's only one way to win the fight for marriage and families.

--Beetle Blogger

They're calling this IGen, the internet generation. We've got access to communication and tools we never had before. We've got toys and distractions to abstract and endlessly entertain....we've got everything but what we need---good wholesome moorings of morality and self discipline.

Marriage and families are under attack in our country, these last few months we've watched as Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, California.... have all come under fire in the same sex marriage onslaught. Other states and battles are coming into focus as well, New York, New Jersey, Washington, and more.

With same-sex marriage comes a loss of freedom. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, parental rights....all these have taken hits where same-sex marriage has become the law because in order to be accepted, same-sex marriage activists have argued, and in some places won, the idea that homosexuality is not a lifestyle, but a protected class. As a protected class, their freedoms rank higher than others, including those who disagree with the idea that homosexuality is healthy and good.

These arguments have implications in law, in schools, in businesses, religion, and freedoms at every level. Again and again we see the pattern emerge that those who disagree with homosexuality as the norm are demonized as homophobes or bigots. The special rights of a few trump the constitutional rights of us all.

We have seen what same-sex marriage has done to freedom in Canada where religious programming has been banned in at least one case for preaching against homosexuality and which is classified as hate speech. We've seen it in the U.K., where religion stops at the chapel door and we've seen it here in the U.S. as school children are being taught that homosexuality is normal and right, that experimentation is acceptable and gender is a matter of opinion.

We have seen our courts overstepping their constitutional bounds to create new law based on untested and unproven societal theories, setting aside common sense and rejecting the time honored institution of marriage.

We have seen our lawmakers coming out in many states, skirting the will of the people as they impose same-sex marriage laws on a reluctant populace. Why? Because they think there will be no backlash from the "silent majority".

We have heard our President, publicly standing against the national Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), against conscience laws that allow us the opportunity to keep our actions in the workplace consistent with our religious beliefs. We've heard his views on abortion, and seen the overarching legislation (FOCA) he intends to enact that will repeal limitations on abortion in every state.

We've seen these anti-life, anti-family policies coming at us from the very highest office of our land, from all three branches of our government.

The picture is clear. We're in a war for the heart of this country. We've got to move on from the pleasant distractions of IGen to the concentrated focus of the G.I. Gen.

That generation was the last major generation that fought the fight for families and freedom. All the generations in between have been adrift in baubles and amusement. The great war generation mobilized and fought, they survived the depression, they banded together no matter what came against them....they focused their energy on the task of doing whatever needed to be done---And they got it done.

If we're going to win this current onslaught and turn back the looming tide, we need to take a few pointers from the G.I. Generation. We've got to be constantly alert and aware of what's going on, because there are bigger things at stake here. We can't afford to be apathetic or laissez-faire about our situation. Abortion, same-sex marriage, crippling debt...??? We're losing our nation, our families and our freedom to those with broken morals and backwards ideals.

We have got to be consistently more dedicated to these issues than the most virulent opposition, or we will lose on every front to the slow and steady creep of this societal decline.

This is one of the comments I got today:

Can you tell me which family organizations/websites you think are most important to watch? I am always up to call, write, donate if I can, but most often I get emails last minute saying, ‘The vote is today!’ or ‘tomorrow!’ call your legislators! And they are always big issues to take away the rights of families and freedoms that true Americans hold dear. And sometimes I drop everything and do it, but sometimes I feel so frustrated because I can’t and there is never any time!

It’s like a well coordinated rush to push things through before America wakes up. Every time I look at my inbox there’s a something to stress about....I’m having a hard time while raising my kids, being aware of every courtroom fight, every legislative session, in every state, for our nation, and the UN as well!!!! I’ve accepted the fact that the elite in power are trying to take away our rights and the rights of the family and far over reaching the bounds of the constitution, and I can’t just sit back and expect them to do the right thing anymore. I have to fight! --Karisa


Karisa, I love you! I wish we had a hundred thousand more just like you. This is the attitude we need to have. It's the can-do attitude of the G.I. Generation. Honestly look around at what we're up against and ask yourself, if I don't do it who will??

I don't know if you're on twitter, but I get most of my information on the marriage fights on twitter from UFI, DNA_Army and Nomtweets. They try to send out a steady stream of updates on what's going on with marriage, they also cover other family issues. If you follow DNA_Army, they retweet all the relevant stuff for marriage, family, life and freedom that comes to them from other groups.

If you're not on twitter, you can sign up for NOM, UFI and DNA emails. I am also signed up for parentalrights.org updates as well as my local source of information for my state.

For the most part, these fights are on an extremely short time frame by design. The dirty little secret is that the legislators pushing anti family measures do not want our input. They don't want us making a stink or rocking the boat, they have things on their agenda they want passed and if they're in power, they can make it happen quickly and there's nothing we can do about it but take it as it comes, always on the ready.

Family comes first, and if that's really true then this is part of the new landscape we have to live in if we want to fight for families. This is guerrilla combat against the powers that be. Somehow we've gotten into a place in this country where the government is working against the people. They don't listen, they don't hear, they don't stand for their constituents, and they don't think they'll be held accountable for it.

Will they be tossed in four years? They don't think so. That's what we've got to change. Turn up the heat! Bring on the pressure! Shine a light on what they're doing and pray we never go back to the distracted nonchalance that got us where we are.

It takes time to be involved. I've got a family too, but if families don't fight who will? Several times this last month I've dropped everything to write or call or do what needed to be done. That's a part of my new reality.

I've even got a new section in my household budget for donating to pro family organizations. What are they going to do? Throw rocks? We can't have our guys out there running in the red, they need tools to fight with, and that costs money. If families don't fund them who will?

We can't afford to be content with being the wii generation, we've got to become the WE generation. It's just got to be done, and WE can do it!

It's like washing the dishes or making the dinner. Put on the helmet, tighten your belt, change your expectations and incorporate this war into your lifestyle. It's not going away anytime soon, but it's a battle certainly worth fighting---and it can be won.