CONSTITUTIONAL IGNORANCE BEFITTING A BANANA REPUBLIC

It has been instructive to watch popular reaction to the looming possibility of a government shutdown.  Americans interviewed around Times Square, for example, voiced such dismay that made it seem as though a great catastrophe was in the offing.  Little did they know that essential services would continue and that partial shutdowns had occurred in the past without widespread upheaval and disruption.  In other words, the sky did not fall, and essential services continued.

With the dumbing-down of America, too few students are exposed to a serious study of the Constitution and how America was designed to work.  Consequently,  most adults these days would have no idea of the concept of checks and balances and how this provision is necessary to protect citizens from the tyranny of ill-conceived actions and fiscal profligacy.

Legislating in the United States is based on the premise that law-making and budget-building will be undertaken in the spirit of negotiation and compromise.  Thus far, with three revised continuing resolutions sent to the Senate from the House,  the Democratic-controlled upper house has simply refused to consider any sort of compromise, even though the House has proposed that a joint committee of senators and representatives should review possible areas for negotiation.

Despite polls which show overwhelming opposition across the U.S. against the Affordable Care Act, the president and his minions in the Senate have refused to budge.  In fact, during a crucial time period during last weekend, the Senate did not even show up for deliberations, and the president spent his time on a golf course.  As it now stands, Democrats want to implement health care legislation that that is so discriminatory that it contains special subsidies for Congressional staffs and a year-long exemption from the mandate  for big business.  Of course, there will be no exemptions or subsidies for middle class America.

As a job killer, the Affordable Care Act will be most effective.  Employers, unsure about how the legislation will affect the economy, will be unwilling to hire more than 49 employees.  More Americans will be forced into part-time employment and will find the options on the insurance exchanges to be inordinately expensive. Nevertheless, the president and the Democratic senators refuse to make any concessions.

In Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution,  provisions are established regarding the appropriation of funds to support legislation passed through Congress.  The House is presently fulfilling its power of the purse.  It is no more extraordinary for the House to question the fiscal integrity of a law than it would be for a president to either sign or veto legislation.  Obviously, if blame is to be apportioned for a government shutdown, the lion's share must go to the Democrats in the Senate and an arrogant president who proclaims that he will not stoop to negotiate any portion of his signature legislation.

Predictably, Democrats are turning to their base of under-educated and benefit-dependent voters to cast aspersions on the House.  Just as addicts shake and shiver when they are told that their fixes are in jeopardy, the food-stampers, medicaders and Obamaphoners shudder as they are regaled with stories of doom, not realizing that, despite a shutdown, their subsidies and allowances will continue to flow.  Yes, entitlements are here to stay despite a shutdown!

Unsurprising, too, is the urgency of the leftist media to jump on board the blame-game express, hurling their poisonous invective and gobbledygook of distortions of hardship caused by the shutdown.  The tragedy of it all is that there will be millions of ignorant Americans more than willing to believe every word.

Those who are relutant to look down the road and ponder the destructive effects of ill-gotten legislation on future generations are reminiscent of Esau, who was willing to forego his inheritance for a mess of pottage. Thus, certain questions assume more and more importance. For example, has it now come to pass that the energetic and hard-working must exist for the convenience of the takers and shirkers?  Are we to be subsumed by an increasing number of ill-informed and poorly-educated individuals whose blank slates are easily filled with an ideology of envy and dependency?  And, finally, are we in the process of witnessing the destruction of the Republic by a disdainful and condescending leader who gives every indication that he desires to impose a banana republic-type dictatorship on a land whose citizens were once a proud and sturdy people?

SEBELLIUS: "AGONIZING DECISION THAT SOME PEOPLE LIVE, SOME PEOPLE DIE."

The hideous face of the Obamacare death culture was exposed last week with insensitive words coming from Kathleen Sebellius, secretary of Health and Human Services.  Secretary Sebellius, reacting to the  plea  of the parents of a dying ten-year-old daughter  suffering from cystic fibrosis and waiting for a lung transplant, took refuge in bureaucratic regulations and let it be known that it was "...an agonizing decision that...some people live, some people die."

Having observed the secretary dealing with Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic institutions whose beliefs would be violated by Obamacare's demand that employers provide health insurance with birth control and abortion coverage, the secretary's cold and unfeeling response was no surprise.  And those who quite early spoke out against the so-called Affordable Care Act and the likelihood of "death panels" being associated with it may not have been so far off the mark after all.

Former Kansas governor Sebellius is widely known as being pro-choice, and her political undertakings in Kansas were underwritten by thousands of dollars in contributions from abortion advocates. Although she professes to be a Catholic,  she has been barred by her church's hierarchy from partaking of communion.  Time after time,Sebellius has turned a deaf ear to those who have objected to Obamacare on religious grounds; and, consequently, her department is the focal point of suits filed on the basis of religious freedom, as protected by the United States Constitution.

As Secretary Sebellius busily scurries about hitting up various corporate interests for support to implement Obamacare, the day of reckoning is just around the corner.  And, for most Americans, that day is not shaping up to be a pleasant one.  For starters, millions are likely to lose their coverage.  With "appropriate" add-ons to coverage coming from Health and Human Services, it will be to the advantage of employers of 50 or more to drop coverage, pay a 10% fine (figured from the average cost of family coverage with the Sebellius requirements) and encourage employees to acquire taxpayer-subsidized coverage from the state exchanges.  Douglas Eakin, a former CBO director, estimates that, in the process, 40,000,000 individuals will lose their coverage.

One big lie that Obamacare has fostered is that $2,500 would be shaved off the cost of  insurance for the average family.  But, since 2010 when Obamacare was passed, the average cost has risen by $3,000.  And with all the promised new benefits as part of policies, costs are bound to go up more!

For senior citizens, the Obama team has truly "thrown them under the bus," with 716 billion dollars cut from Medicare over the next 10 years in order to pay for the foolishness.  Many doctors will find that it will be more profitable to treat Medicaid patients, and seniors who had kept in force policies to supplement Medicare will find those policies soaring in price.  No doubt there will be hospitals finding it to be fiscally prudent to drop services for seniors

Also lurking around the corner is employment chaos, with more and more employers cutting costs by replacing full-time employment with part-time employment.   Already, those employers with more than 50 employees are cutting back their work forces.  All of this means that unemployment will likely climb, and taxpayer burdens for benefits like food stamps and unemployment insurance will rise as well.

The upshot is that we are about to experience the consequences of misbegotten socialism.  As Ms. Polosi said, "We have to pass the act, so as to see what is in it."  Well, it was passed. Now, we indeed are going to get a full dose of seeing what is in it!