Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Dr. Davis' November Letter to Editors
I concluded that, like my service in the Navy, I owed it to my community and my country. I owe it to those who came before me – the great-great-grandfather who fought for three years in the Union Army; my father and late father-in-law who spent several of the prime years of their lives in the Army Air Force in World War II; my father’s high school friend (whose first name I carry) who died on Iwo Jima in his fourth invasion in a thirteen-month span of 1944-45; my Boy Scout buddy’s older brother, killed as an army medic in Viet Nam.
I owe it to those here with me: family, friends, neighbors and patients who live with me in a free and prosperous country that is becoming less free and less prosperous.
I owe it to those yet coming. To my children, nieces and nephews and their friends who will inherit what we leave them: the freedoms we preserve or fail to; the prosperity or debt; the peace or the unresolved conflicts; the clean air and water or the pollution.
Whether or not I serve in Congress will be up to the voters of this district, but I owe it to myself to know that I did my best to offer an alternative and to serve if I am elected.
Sincerely,
Richard J. Davis, D.D.S.
Libertarian for Congress
www.davis4congress.com
Monday, November 9, 2009
The $1.5 Trillion Fraud
If House Democrats hold a vote on their health-care overhaul this weekend, they might as well vote on abolishing the Congressional Budget Office too. It would be no more audacious — and much more honest — than their current strategy for hiding the true cost of their legislation.
Never mind the everyday budget gimmicks House Democrats have used, such as removing $250 billion of deficit spending to be voted on separately. Or claiming their bill would cost just $894 billion — around $400 billion less than the CBO actually projected. We've seen this kind of trickery plenty in recent years; to suppress an inconvenient cost estimate of its proposed Medicare drug entitlement, the Bush administration threatened to fire Medicare's chief actuary.
Deceptions on this scale are child's play, at least when compared to what has to be the biggest fiscal obfuscation in the history of American politics: The current leadership has rigged the legislation so that 60 percent of its total cost will not be made public by the CBO in advance of the House vote. Here's how they did it.
The centerpiece of the bills currently under consideration is not the "public option," but the "individual mandate" — a legal requirement that all U.S. residents purchase health insurance, on penalty of fines and/or imprisonment.
The CBO describes an individual mandate as "an unprecedented form of federal action" whose closest analogue in federal law is the draft. But as President Obama told a joint session of Congress, the rest of the legislation won't work unless the federal government forces Americans to purchase health insurance. READ MORE @ CATO
Kratovil Grows A Pair, Votes No On The Healthcare Bill
Too bad he did not have this set of stones when he voted for Obama's stimulus package which simply printed a ton of paper that went into the big black hole of what is the national debt.“I support healthcare reform, but it must be the right kind of reform that works for my constituents in the First District. I have consistently argued for healthcare reform that reduces long-term health care spending, improves quality, and expands coverage in a fiscally responsible manner. Our nation is facing an $11.9 trillion national debt, and we simply cannot afford a bill that does not lower healthcare spending. It is also essential for healthcare reform legislation to support, not burden, our nation’s small businesses.
I was not able to support the bill before Congress today because I do not believe it meets my criteria for a sustainable solution. While I recognize the need for reform and I applaud some aspects of this bill, I do not believe that this bill offers a sustainable solution. I will continue to work with my colleagues to pursue a better bill as this process continues, and I urge constituents to continue to offer their input.”
Here is what Congressman Kratovil is looking for according to his website:
- I believe that any reform plan must begin with an understanding that any individual must be allowed to keep the coverage they have now if they so choose. I will not support any reform plan that forces consumers to give up a plan with which they are currently happy.
- I believe that a public option may help reduce costs by increasing competition and expanding consumer choice, but it is important that any public option be forced to compete on a level playing field with private insurers.
- I oppose taxing health benefits as income.
- I believe we must protect small businesses and entrepreneurs from unreasonably burdensome mandates that could limit their ability to create new jobs.