My friend Joey just sent me a short article written by Investors Business Daily that I sincerely believe every American absolutely must read before they make up their minds about the Democrats’ initiative to pass healthcare “reform”. It’s not an opinion piece, it’s not an editorial, it’s simply a short 1-page article referencing a direct quote from the Democrats’ new healthcare legislation. That’s all.
Please, I urge you to read it. I beg you to send it to everyone you know. If only more Americans realized just what sort of soft tyranny is contained in the first sixteen pages alone of that 1,018 page bill, the Democrats’ true motives would be uncovered and Americans would be able to salvage so much of their own personal liberty before it’s too late. I hate to sound so dramatic, but seriously, if you aren’t free to make your own choices about your own life – decisions that could mean life or death – are you truly free?

Click here right now to read the article.

The more I think about it, the more I realize it isn’t even fair to call what the Democrats are trying to achieve “socialized medicine” or “universal healthcare”. No, this goes so far beyond that it’s not even funny. At least in the UK, for instance, you’re still free to buy private medical insurance, even though you’ll pay through the nose for it (I’ve heard anywhere from 4- to 6- times as much as we pay here.) No, what they’re trying to accomplish goes beyond mere government-run, single-payer healthcare; this is a medical dictatorship.

Steven Crowder has just done a remarkable expose on Canada’s healthcare system, where he actually went to Canada and attempted to get treatment, as well as speaking with multiple people who could tell horror stories of their own about their experiences with socialized medicine. It’s twenty minutes well spent, believe me.

Given my own first-hand experiences with socialized medicine in the UK, let me tell you, what you’ve seen in this video is certainly not an exception to the rule. Everything you saw here is the every day reality of living under socialized medicine. It does nothing to bridge the gap of poverty and ensure greater quality of care for all people. All it does is ensure that all of us suffer, while the uber-rich can still get quality care. More of us right now in the United States, despite the faults that currently exist in our system, still have more access to better quality care than in any other nation. I’ve seen the NHS up close and personal, and believe me, no American would ever stand for that sort of treatment. No American would tolerate waiting up to a year for a single 5-minute appointment with a specialist; no American would tolerate waiting six months to a year for a simple MRI; no American would tolerate being denied the care they need just because the government has decided your life isn’t worth it, even though you’re still being forced to pay taxes to cover the care some bureaucrat doesn’t think you deserve.
Choice is always the best option. Do you really want to face having only one option for healthcare? Just think about it for a minute! Any time in history, in any nation, has a monopoly in any market ever, ever produced a multitude of cheaper, higher quality products to more people? No! And furthermore, has the government – hell, any government – any run any sort of program that was efficient and cost effective? Yet again, the answer is no! Why? Simply because their jobs aren’t dependent on things being run smoothly, efficiently, and cost-effectively, so they have absolutely no incentive to keep things in line with the demands of their consumers.
The bottom line is, when your health is on the line, when your life is hanging in the balance, how do you want your doctors to treat you – like a customer who’s always right, or a poorly leech on an already over-burdened system, who should frankly be grateful for any care they receive at all?

As every other nation on earth that employs universal healthcare is – at this very moment – acknowledging the failure of their socialist models and choosing to revert to a freer more capitalistic model, it boggles my mind that somehow we’re still blindly stumbling along the very same destructive, expensive, and deadly path of absolute failure that they’re already rejecting after decades of experiencing the hardships that it inevitably creates. In this day and age where we can instantly communicate with anyone anywhere in the world, why is it that we don’t see more of the truth about the day to day realities of socialized medicine? We are blinding ourselves about the consequences of one of the biggest decisions our government will ever make! Please, let’s educate ourselves before we leap blindly toward the very same mistakes that other nations have already proven to be abject failures. One day, your life – or the life of someone you love – may very well depend on it.

Huge thanks to Steven Crowder for taking the time to put this video together. Perhaps it will show even one more person the reality of socialized medicine.

Finally! Someone has finally had the nerve to point out that the reason we’re no longer paying 1960s-era prices for healthcare is in part due to the fact that the highest cost expenditures for hospitals have long since evolved from being ‘clean linens’, as was the case in 1960. I’ve been screaming this at the TV every time I see a politician waxing sentimental about healthcare costs of yesteryear. Yeah, well, I’d love to see how they’d like to settle for the healthcare benefits of the 1960s as they’re battling a serious infection, treatable cancers, or some other previously incurable disease. Not that I’m wishing ill on anyone, but seriously, so many diseases that we can easily cure today weren’t even named by the 1960s! Let’s remember, all was not so cheery back then, as yes, we were paying far less, but receiving far less care. As quality goes up, as services go up, so must prices.
Another large part I’ve been dying to see someone mention? Gee, government involvement which certainly keeps the healthcare market in this country from truly being ‘free’ and ‘capitalistic’, which would keep prices more in line with what the market expects to pay for them. Any time a politician says our healthcare market is currently free, or that Obama’s plan would only provide for an infusion of capitalistic competition into our healthcare market, I can’t help but laugh as I’m gagging on their dishonesty.

And who finally had the nerve to say all these things? Shock of shocks, the Washington Post. This is one of the signs of the apocalypse, isn’t it?
You really have to read this recent op-ed from George F. Will, it’s a spectacular piece of honesty.

Healthcare is complicated these days, as more and more services are provided by hospitals and we expect bigger, better, more miraculous care. And there’s certainly nothing wrong with those expectations, so long as we aren’t expecting miraculous 21st century care with a 1960s-vintage price tag. Let’s stop looking backward, shall we? We must stop looking backward at the prices of yesteryear, and we absolutely must stop looking backward at outdated models of government-run healthcare that have already proven to be spectacular failures in every single nation that has dared try such experiments. Why look backward when we expect our healthcare to look forward? I can guarantee you that no American will tolerate the long waits and routinely denied care of socialized medicine. Let’s try something different for a change; let’s try something that has a proven track record in every market to which it has been applied, yet hasn’t been truly and completely applied to healthcare: truly free capitalism.

Every American needs to see this, before it’s too late. Please, share it with your friends. Let’s make this one viral.

The truth about socialized medicine is out there, even within our own borders. If we don’t get word out about just how truly terrible these systems are, it will be too late. Don’t sacrifice your life and the lives of your family, friends, and every single one of your fellow countrymen, when a disaster such as socialized medicine could be avoided. It’s not too late, so please, spread the word. One day, your life may depends on it.

“The interaction between government and business will change forever. In a reset economy, the government will be a regulator; and also an industry policy champion, a financier, and a key partner.”
- Jeffrey Immelt, February 6, 2009

GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt recently announced that his company will be spending $6 billion dollars over the next 6 years on a project called ‘Healthymagination’ in Washington, DC. Together with Intel, GE will be developing software to monitor health data and health records. Their goal? To sell this software to the government, for use in Obama’s plan to develop an entire Federal body whose entire mission is to monitor every citizen’s health records, every order a doctor writes for those citizens, for the purpose of determining whether those doctor’s orders are “fiscally responsible”. Meaning, a government bureaucrat will have the authority to rescind your doctor’s order, if that bureaucrat decides that either you can’t afford – or you flat out just don’t deserve – whatever procedure it is your doctor deems necessary.
That isn’t just socialized medicine, it’s a medical dictatorship, where the government decides what you can and cannot spend your own money on when it comes to you, your body, and your health. And GE’s right there with the White House, developing software to make this plan a reality.

Oh, and Tom Daschle, the man who couldn’t become the head of the HHS, he’s on the ‘Healthymagination’ advisory board.

Beyond the implications this plan and ‘Healthymagination’ could have on your daily life, there’s another side to this story which is deeply concerning. Part of the plan for this project includes a massive propaganda campaign. According to a statement given to the Dallas Morning News by GE, all aspects of NBC Universal – including NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, all of it – will create 5,000 separate news pieces on this ‘Healthymagination’ project. Every news program on every NBC network will be trumpeting this project amidst their supposedly ‘unbiased’ news coverage, acting as if they’re objective journalists here to tell you all the positive, wonderful things ‘Healthymagination’ and socialized medicine will do for this country. They’ll be bringing this propaganda straight into your home, presenting it as news, all for the sake of further tying GE and our federal government together into an unholy union.

According to most Democrats I know, they define ‘fascism’ as a combination of government and big business. Although that’s not historically accurate, it leads me to wonder: if that’s truly what they believe fascism to be, where are all the good Democrats? Why aren’t they standing up against this? They rightly stood up against Bush when he was presiding over the same thing. In fact, under the Bush administration, GE Capital received $139 billion directly from the FDIC, despite the fact that GE is not a bank. The FDIC supposedly doesn’t have the authority to hand out such huge wads of cash to entities outside of their regulatory authority of the banking industry. Yet they got away with it, and no one’s bothered to ask how or why.
This corruption has been going on for a very, very long time and under Obama it hasn’t changed. It’s only gotten much, much worse. Now Jeffrey Immelt is serving on Obama’s financial advisory committee. He’s been party to the majority of meetings regarding the implementation of the government’s radical healthcare plan, despite the obvious conflict of interest, since his company stands to gain great wealth by selling the government all their healthcare products. In fact, some claim that GE’s already been promised contracts should this healthcare plan come into effect.

So where are all the good Democrats? They were angry about the no-bid Haliburton contracts, so why aren’t they just as angry about all the sweet no-bid deals GE is getting with regard to energy policy, healthcare policy, and so on? They’re making a helluva lot more money in a helluva lot more industries than Haliburton ever did, so why aren’t the Democrats making a fuss? Why aren’t they standing up now?
Or is the same behavior alright when their guy is the one doing it? Sorry, it’s still the same country, it’s still the same problem, it’ll still have the same horrible, destructive consequences, no matter which party is responsible for it. It’s still wrong. So why aren’t you standing up now?

Everything GE has been doing to wiggle their dirty little fingers into our federal government is wrong and it must be stopped. I, for one, recommend that we immediately boycott as many aspects of GE as we possibly can, starting with changing the channel on our television sets away from NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, and all of their other myriad networks. If they’re going to be pushing their propaganda into my home under the guise of journalism, I’m not going to tune in. I certainly hope you won’t either.
If you’re a GE shareholder, I would strongly urge you to speak up. Do everything you can to voice your opinion and make sure the powers that be become intimately acquainted with your disgust at their behavior. If they won’t listen, then speak with your money and dump those stocks. Don’t let yourself become party to the destruction of our free market, our republic, and our freedom.

Jeffrey Immelt and GE must be stopped. It’s about damn time we raise a ruckus about this dangerous marriage of government and big business. It’s about time they got a divorce, but that simply won’t happen if we roll over and refuse to get in the way. As they always say during a wedding ceremony, if anyone has any objections to this union, let them speak now or forever hold their peace. We’ll be forever forced to hold our peace if we don’t speak up now and prevent them from stealing out freedom. So stand up and speak out, before it’s too late.

I was going to name this title with a prayer, “God help us.” But as I was waiting for the “write post” page to load, I realized something. No, as much as we always need God’s help, right now we can’t rely on Him completely. We can’t rely solely on Him when there are still things that we must do to help ourselves. We only rely on him completely when there’s nothing left for us to do. At least, that’s what I believe. Sure, we always have faith, we always believe in what He can do for us, but no, so long as there’s something we can do for ourselves, we must do it, and we must do it now. That’s what free will, independence, and being an adult is all about, right?
Well, right now, we have something big we need to do for ourselves and we need to do it now. That something is opposing the Democrats’ bail out. Why? Because it’s not a bail out. Democrats may be saying it’s a bail out, but if you look closely at the language in the actual bail out bill, they’re also screaming at the top of their lungs, “Hello, my name is Socialism! Nice to meet you!” They’re lying with one side of their mouth and screaming out the truth with the other. We just need to wake up and realize which is which before it’s too late.

One of the bits of language in this bill that makes it obvious which bit is the truth and which is the lie, has to do with universal healthcare, i.e. socialized medicine. In that bail out – that’s supposedly SO important and SO critical and SO time sensitive that we have to do it NOW without thinking – is a short little snippet. Just a few quick sentences, but those quick sentences have one hell of a price tag. What is it?
Six hundred billion dollars “to address shortages and prepare our country for universal healthcare.” And yes, that’s a direct quote. (You can see the original here, the direct quote is from page 10. Pay special attention to the opening statement of the entire document. Note any fearmongering there? Funny, I thought only Republicans were the ones who did that…)
If this bill is SO important, SO time sensitive, SO crucial to save our economy that we have to do it NOW without thinking, why in the hell is that in there? Because it’s not a bail out. It’s yet another foot in the door for socialism. But rather than be clear, honorable, and direct with their intentions, Democrats are being sneaky about it. They’re slowly sneaking socialism in at night, under the cover of darkness, so we won’t know what’s going on until it’s too late.

Remember, please remember, the words of Rahm Emanuel. They may be trying to sneak this in, but their arrogance is getting the better of them. They’re giving themselves away, because they believe they’re unstoppable. That pride is dangerous for them, but a blessing for us. So please, don’t forget his words:

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. What I mean by that is it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before. This is an opportunity. What used to be long-term problems — be they in the health care area, energy area, education area, fiscal area, tax area, regulatory reform area — things that we had postponed for too long that were long-term are now immediate and must be dealt with. And this crisis provides the opportunity for us, as I would say, the opportunity to do things that you could not do before.”

His words. “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” He said this shortly after he was announced as Obama’s new Chief of Staff. This is recent. He wasn’t speaking metaphorically, he was outlining the Democrats’ plan to shove socialism in through our front door while we’re looking the other way. With that quote in mind, think back to that $600 billion – $600 BILLION – “to address shortages and prepare our country for universal healthcare.” He told us what they were going to do, and they’re doing it. Now it’s our turn to stand up, stamp our feet, close that door in their faces, and say, “Not on our watch!” We have to say no to socialism now, before our country, our America, isn’t even ours anymore. The government is expanding under the guise of this crisis, they’re using our panic to gain an advantage over us. Please, I’m begging you, don’t let them do it.

Unlike most people who look at universal healthcare as a purely political issue, for me, it’s much more personal. I happen to have a very real, very urgent, very legitimate reason to oppose socialized medicine. That reason is a rare genetic condition known as Dercum’s Disease.
I won’t go into the details, because that would make this post even longer than it is. But suffice it to say, Dercum’s is fatal if it’s left untreated. It was discovered over 100 years ago, yet hasn’t really been to thoroughly studied. Because it’s not very well known and not very well understood, a lot of doctors are hesitant to try to treat it. Unfortunately this can mean that people are left to the mercy of the disease, left to die a very miserable, excruciatingly painful and drawn out death. It can take a few years or it can take a few decades. You die because your body is at war with itself, down to your very cells. The pain is unbelievable, unlike anything you could ever imagine. Every inch of your body screams constantly. Your bones, your flesh, everything. If left untreated, this constant fight will cause your body to enlarge at an exponential rate, until your heart and lungs give out. Or until a tumor forms on one of your internal organs and shuts it down.
Unfortunately, the disease also attacks your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to secondary infections. So if you don’t die directly from Dercums itself, you may be left to the mercy of a cold or the flu or something similarly simplistic. But if a doctor doesn’t understand how to handle Dercums, they won’t know how to handle the secondary infections. For instance, it took my doctors over 10 months just to diagnose me with mono when I was a teenager, simply because of the ways in which Dercums manipulates the systems of your body, which then alters the way medical tests are read.

Why am I telling you all this? Because while I’m fortunate enough to get care in the United States, I have friends with this disease who are dying because they had the misfortune to be born in the United Kingdom, in Australia, in Canada; in countries with socialized medicine. My friends have been left for dead by their countries’ socialized medical systems, the same systems the Democrats are trying to shove down our throats right now. If we walk down that same path, if we accept universal healthcare here, it will mean death for me and people like me. Not just people with Dercum’s Disease, but anybody with a chornic complicated condition. For the sake of taking care of people with colds, we will be sacrificing caring for those with cancer.
This is not an exaggeration, as much as I wish it was. I’ve spent a great deal of time in England. I’ve seen what their National Health Service does to people. I’ve even been subjected to it myself. As my friend Alastair in London says, “If the NHS can’t fix you with a sticking plaster (band-aid), you’re screwed.”
He should know. He almost died when his lung was punctured by a random attacker on the street. He went into an NHS hospital bleeding to death and about to die from his lung collapsing. The NHS doctor told him he needed surgery immediately, but that they couldn’t fit him in for another two weeks. If Alastair hadn’t been paying through the nose for private health insurance, he would have been dead thanks to socialized medicine.

That’s the cold hard reality of socialized medicine. Democrats are feeding it to us under the guise of a new name, justifying it as “fairness.” They claim that socialized medicine will mean that everyone will have access to the same quality of care. What they aren’t telling you is that yes, everyone will have access to the same care, but that quality of care consists of – again, as Alastair says – if they can’t fix it with a band-aid, you’re screwed. The reality is, it will make the class gap even wider. Private insurance in England costs four times what it does here. The wealthy are still getting proper medical care, while the poor and the middle class are suffering under conditions four times as dismal as what we have here in the States. The supposed class warfare the Democrats are using as an excuse to feed us socialized medicine is nothing compared to the entrenched class warfare built into the National Health Service in England.

What makes me angriest of all, however, is when the Democrats use such sad stories of poor poster children who supposedly can’t get health coverage. They’re hoping that you aren’t aware that every child in this country is automatically covered by Medicare. They’re hoping you also aren’t aware of the fact that every pregnant woman is also covered, and that the elderly are automatically covered as well. They’re hoping you don’t realize that pretty much anyone can walk into an emergency room when their life is in danger and get care. The same can’t be said in England, France, Australia, Canada, Iceland, or any other country suffering under “universal” healthcare. If they can’t fix you with a band-aid, you’re screwed. If your case is complicated, they’ll stall you by any means necessary until you die. Believe me, I’ve seen it happen far too many times and it breaks my heart.

Please, we need to wake up. My life depends on it, the lives of so many of my friends. We have to stop this now. Rahm Emmanuel is making good on his promise to not waste this crisis. They’re urging you to just accept this while in a panicked state of mind, so that they can take advantage of you. Why should we trust anyone who seeks to take advantage of us?
Please, I’m begging you, don’t let them do it. Call your Congressperson, call your Senator. Please, please, put your foot down now before it’s too late. Tell them to stand up against this “bail out”, tell them you won’t tolerate anymore socialism in this country. Tell them you love what America is, tell them that there are other ways to solve her problems than by adopting socialism. Socialism has failed in absolutely every single country that has ever adopted it. Surely we can’t be so arrogant as to believe our luck will be any different, or that people won’t die in the process.

Please, just tell them no.

Considering the post I wrote earlier today, I was pleased when I stumbled across this great recording of a speech Ronald Reagan delivered in 1961 regarding socialized medicine. Everything he said then is just as pertinent today. It’s amazing to me how little we have learned in such a span of time. When will we realize that socialized medicine has not worked, does not work, and will never work? Only when we finally realize this will we ever be able to concentrate on finding a real solution to the real problem.

Damn, I miss that man.

One topic that is absolutely essential to my daily life, as I’m sure it is for so many Americans, is health-care. Unfortunately, however, I’m always completely disgusted by the way politicians handle this problem. But for the most part, the majority of my disgust is reserved for Democrats. Why? Because despite the luxury we have of being able to learn from the mistakes of others, we’re completely disregarding the plethora of evidence at our disposal and still pushing for socialized/universal health-care. This completely irritates me beyond belief, which is why it’s taken me so long to write a post about it. I’ve tried several times and just couldn’t get through it.

Before I explain why my life depends on our nation refusing the temptation of socialized medicine, let’s get down to some facts. The reason the Democrats are calling for universal health-care is because of the supposed crisis of the uninsured. They claim that there are so many millions of people in this country who are uninsured that we absolutely must drastically change our entire health-care system. What do they use as evidence to back up this claim? Their oft-repeated statement that 47 million Americans are uninsured.
That number sure sounds big, but there’s an even bigger problem with it: it’s just not true.

They’re pulling this number from the US Census Bureau, specifically their 2005 report on “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States”. Yes, in the report it does have close to that number as being “uninsured”, but the problem is, it’s just not that simple. The Democrats are completely ignoring the very important statistical breakdown of those 47 million people and what categories they fit into. This creates a very, very, very misleading picture of the current state of our country’s health-care system. So let’s break it down, shall we?

First off, the actual number of uninsured people living in this country is 46.577 million. That list happens to include 9.487 million people who aren’t even American citizens. Even Michael Moore, in his movie ‘Sicko’, agrees that being “an American” matters when it comes to getting health insurance. As he says, “That’s the only preexisting condition that should exist. I’m an American. That’s it.” Therefore, even according to one of the most liberal guys out there, the 47 million number is already debunked in one regard.

So now our total is down to roughly 37 million. Still astronomical, but not as bad as 47 million. Another big claim of people pushing for socialized medicine is that people simply cannot “afford” insurance. As Michael Moore said on CNN’s ‘Larry King Live’ on July 10, 2008, “And when you’ve got 47 million people in this country with no health insurance, they don’t go to the doctor because they can’t afford it.”
Surprise, surprise, the Census Bureau study looked at that issue too.
Of the remaining 37 million people who are uninsured, 8.3 million of those make between $50,000 and $75,999 a year. On top of that, 8.74 million make more than $75,000! That’s roughly 17 million people who ought to be able to “afford” health insurance, because they make substantially more than the median household income of $46,326. According to every study out there that compares income, cost of living, and health insurance costs, those 17 million people can afford health insurance! The thing is, they flat out choose not to.

So when we subtract non-citizens and those who can afford their own insurance yet choose not to purchase it, we’re left with about 20 million. That’s less than 7% of the population. Yet even that number is still inaccurate.
Why? Because the overall total of 47 million people also includes those who are temporarily between work. These are people who are going to have insurance within the next four months. A whopping 45% of those 47 million people will have insurance within the next four months. That’s huge. According to my calculator, that’s 21,150,000. That’s more than we’re left with! Of course, that has to be figured in with those who are not citizens and those who make more than the median income. But still, that begs the question, how many of the remaining 20 million were simply between jobs at the time this census was taken?

In addition to those who are simply temporarily between jobs, the fact still remains that the majority of those who are uninsured already qualify for existing government programs. But just like those who can afford it and choose not to buy it, so many people simply choose not to participate in those government programs. Why?! Who knows! But does their inaction warrant the rest of us sacrificing the quality of care we are already blessed with in this country for the woes that exist under socialized medicine? NO!
We already know that the elderly are covered via Medicaid. Every child is automatically covered as well. There are even programs for the disabled as well! I have a friend whose stepdaughter is profoundly disabled. Even though both of her parents and her stepmother could easily – easily – afford to pay for her medical bills, the entirety of her medical bills are covered by government programs. While yes, I’m all for providing care for the disabled, in my opinion, that’s ridiculous. And what’s more, my friend agrees with me! If you can afford health-care for you and your children, there is no reason that burden should be shifted to the American taxpayer. It’s ludicrous and it shows us just how far down that slippery slope we are toward socialized medicine.

That 47 million statistic is so inflated and I’ve already shown just how inflated it is. But of course, with the Census Bureau’s study, we can’t continue to subtract so easily, since we can’t easily break down how many in each category are temporarily without insurance. So we’re at roughly 20 million, along with the overall 45% who are between jobs.
But that doesn’t mean we’re done. Thankfully, The Kaiser Family Foundation, a liberal non-profit frequently quoted by the media, has done a similar study. They have a figure for the number of uninsured American citizens who do not qualify for current government programs and make less than $50,000 a year. That number is between 13.9 million and 8.2 million. That is one giant leap from at best 13.9 million to 47 million. And that’s a liberal organization.

There you have it, that’s the truth behind the myth of the health-care crisis in this country. Yes, I think it’s so sad that there are people out there who are uninsured. But the government cannot make up for our own choices in life. The government cannot sacrifice the quality of our medical care to make up for the so very few who are without insurance. Especially when there are so many other options already out there to take care of these people! There are many, many answers in the private sector to address this problem.

The bottom line is, inflating the truth will not do us any good. I hate that on such an important issue, both sides have now succumbed to the lie propagated by the liberal left. When John McCain mentioned this save 47 million figure during the debates, I cringed. If we can’t hold on to reason, if we can’t cling to the truth, we are truly lost. This issue is too important for us to lose sight of the truth.

Now that we have the facts out of the way, if you’d like to read about my own personal experience trying to receive treatment in a country with socialized medicine, click “more” to read on. Also, as an extra special treat, I’ve also included a cute – albeit anecdotal – look at the supposed crisis of the uninsured. So go on, click “more”, you know you want to!