Both the bill that passed in the House and the one that now looks destined to pass the Senate are direct attacks on your average American's liberty that are going to make health insurance more expensive and add new debt-riddled entitlement programs which will churn out greater and greater deficits at a faster and faster pace.
I haven't had time to blog about the issue though. Instead, to have something of a voice but at a lower time-cost, I started a "tumblelog" (mini-blog) at Tumblr to link to healthcare articles / blog posts / videos related to the subject. It can be found here: Stop Un-American Healthcare.
I've linked to a lot of stuff over there. Most of it I think it worth taking the time to review.
The bottom line for me is that while I agree with the end goal this legislation supposedly tries to accomplish -- more affordable coverage, broader coverage, etc. -- and stories of people with denied claims, etc. all breaks my heart too -- there is nothing about the legislation that I think will actually help. But there is a great deal it will do that will harm.
There will be new layers of government between the private citizen and his doctor as well as new layers of government between the citizen and his insurance. The bill drives decisions away from the individual and into the hands of the government. That pushes things in the wrong direction.
And, to boot, both bills are blatantly unconstitutional.
Today, (formerly?) "pro-life" Democratic Senator Ben Nelson, who's hoped-for-opposition was one of the last great hopes in ending the threat to liberty that is the Senate bill, has decided to sell out his pro-life principles and integrity and support the Senate bill.
Blogosphere reaction to Nelson's Sell Out is has been apt:
Michelle Malkin has the full run down of this morning's Nelson betrayal.
Over at Townhall.com, Meredith Jessup points out that the Senate bill's "'Concessions' on Abortion = Zero" and asks "What Was Nelson's Price?".
At RedState, Dan Perrin notes that:
The question of whether we live in a country ruled by leaders who refuse to listen, but do what they believe is in their own interest, has been answered. Conservatives hate this bill. Progressives and liberals hate it too. The public is solidly against it. But it does not matter, apparently.
And also at RedState, Dan Spencer lays out what the Senate vote calendar will look like for this week, with final passage of the bill pending for 7PM on Christmas Eve. The crazy pace at which they are trying to jam this through should give everyone great pause.
Earlier this week President Obama said we "on the precipice" of this government-run healthcare overhaul. It appears, regrettably, that he's right. Both that it looks like this very well may happen and in his unintentional use of a word that means we're about to go through something hazardous.
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