Posted by
Steve on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 1:24:23 PM
Joe Lieberman (I, CT) has been a stalwart against the Democrat government healthcare plan. When the Democrats found out that they could not get any Republicans to vote for the monstrosity, they decided to put pressure on poor old Joe Lieberman. He resisted pretty well, until it was suggested that his wife’s salary should be withheld until he supported the bill. Shortly after that he caved and is now suggesting that he will support the bill with some minor changes.
The problem with Joe Lieberman is that he was right on the issue up until he caved in to Democrat pressure. Joe Lieberman has a problem that way. He knows what is right and takes a stand on the issues that is right. Then, he gets pressure from Democrats and he caves. When he tells us what caused him to change his mind, it is always something rather trivial. I have a feeling that the real reason is something like the suggested withholding of his wife’s salary until he caves. I have no basis for that feeling, except that the reason given by Joe Lieberman does not make any sense. He had a sensible position and was defending it strongly. Then, for almost nothing, he changes his mind. That just does not pass the smell test.
This change by Joe Lieberman seems to give the Democrats their magic 60 votes to ram their healthcare bill down our throats. That the Democrats persist in ramming the bill down our throats when the polls show that over 60% of the public does not want the bill in any way, does not make sense on the surface. It only makes sense when you consider what the Democrats get out of the bill. They get control over everyone in the country when the bill becomes law. Then, they will regain their majorities by claiming that the Republicans will take away healthcare. The fatal flaw in this scenario is the fact that the healthcare bill does not become active for three years after being enacted by Congress. That would give us time to elect people to repeal the bill. If the bill gets repealed before the implementation starts, nobody will be impacted at all.
Since the Democrats are conducting most of their negotiations in secret, it is difficult to keep up with exactly what is in the bill. Things are going in and out of the bill on an almost hourly basis. When we finally learn what is really in the bill, it will be too late to do much about it.
That our Senators and Representatives are even debating this bill is something I do not understand. It is obvious that the bill is unconstitutional. Anyone who can read can understand that the Constitution does not include anything that gives Congress or the President the authority to take over our health care system. Our Senators, Congressmen and President all take an oath of office. In that oath, they all agree to defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. You cannot defend the Constitution and ignore what it says at the same time. That is just not possible. You either believe in the Constitution or you do not believe in the Constitution. If you believe in the Constitution, you live by what it says. If you do not believe in the Constitution, you have no business being an elected representative of the people. Anyone who votes for this Democrat bill obviously does not believe in the Constitution as written. The Constitution puts handcuffs on the government by telling it what it cannot do and then reserves all other power in the people. People voting for this bill believe that there are no limits on the power of government. That is an unconstitutional position to take.
My hope is that this bill is challenged and sent to the Supreme Court to be thrown out. Even the Democrats, including Sonia Sotomayor, should be able to read the Constitution and see that this bill is unconstitutional. I expect that the vote would be something like 6-3 to throw it out. This is a no brainer when it comes to whether it is constitutional or not.
With Lieberman’s flip-flop things are not looking good. That the bill still has not passed is a positive sign. That the Democrats are calling everyone names is also a good thing. If they were confident of victory they would not be calling everyone names. There is still hope that this bill can be defeated. With each Democrat that shows that they have no scruples, the hope diminishes. But, you hate to have anything go to the Supreme Court to determine if it is constitutional or not.