The health-care debate is over.  Obama and the Democrats lost.  The American people said “no” to Obamacare from the Tea Parties to town hall meetings.  The people said “no” by electing Republican governors in Virginia and heavily Democrat New Jersey.  The people said “hell, no” by electing a Republican, Scott Brown, to fill the seat of the champion of socialized medicine, Teddy Kennedy.  In poll after poll, a majority of Americans oppose the House and Senate health-care bills.  In spite of this, Democrats are planning to ram Obamacare through the Senate using a procedure called Budget Reconciliation.

The Declaration of Independence states: “…to secure these rights governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the just consent of the governed.”  These rights are the natural rights we’re born with.  We all start with the same rights, so none of us is superior, not senator, congressman or president.  We the people temporarily surrender power to our leaders to run the government, but the people are sovereign and the ultimate rulers of our country.  Therefore, our elected leaders must have our just consent, or permission, to pass laws affecting all of us.  They must follow the rules of governance, just as we must follow rules in our everyday lives.  It’s critical to the survival of our republic.  The Democrats are plotting to break the rules in the Senate, and they will use reconciliation to do it.

The Senate, unlike the House, requires 60 votes, known as a super majority, to pass legislation.  Reconciliation was designed for budgetary items.  A reconciliation bill needs only 51 votes to pass, a simple majority.  Using reconciliation to pass major legislation is a reckless power-grab.  Reconciliation wasn’t intended for legislation affecting 300 million Americans and fully one-sixth of our economy.  The Founders designed the Senate as a check to the more passion-prone House, saying “We pour legislation into the Senatorial saucer to cool it.”  This was designed to create deliberation and thoughtfulness.  In the words of Benjamin Franklin,”Passion governs, and she never governs wisely.” 

If the Democrat health-care bills were popular, they would have passed easily.  The plain fact is they are unpopular.  If the Democrats ram this through, they disregard the will of the people.

Lincoln said it best:  “If you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”  If the Democrats use reconciliation, their character will be on display for all to see and they will have earned the just contempt of the governed.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 11:35 pm and is filed under congress, democrats, freedom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.