Now, on to the promises that President Obama and Congressional Democrats made to get sweeping health care reform passed.  First, Obama said we could keep our health insurance: “If you like your plan, you can keep it.”  In a recent Friday night document dump, an internal administration paper revealed that  87 million Americans will lose their current plans.  The number could be as high as 117 million.  The document is a collaboration of Health and Human Services (HHS,) Internal Revenue and the Department of Labor.  How is this possible?  HHS has the authority to revoke the “grandfathered” status of existing health plans, if the employer makes a change in the plan.  According to regulations already in place, 51% of existing employer-based plans will lose “grandfathered” status by 2013.

Obama and the Democrats also promised that health care “reform” would reduce the deficit.  To sell the program to us, they had to get the total cost under one trillion dollars.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is the agency that gives the final word on program costs, although their estimate is only as accurate as the numbers given to them.  The original CBO estimate was a $940 billion cost from 2010 to 2019, reducing the budget deficit by $138 billion.  Sounds good, right?  But it’s not true.  Here’s how they made it look like less than a trillion: collect taxes up front starting in 2011, build up a surplus of these taxes, and don’t begin paying benefits until 2014.  Presto, you have “deficit reduction.”  But wait – there’s more.  They counted Medicare cuts twice, omitted payment rate increases (known as the “doc fix,”) and indexed benefits to the general inflation rates rather than medical inflation.  The real estimate of what the health care bill will cost:  as much as $2.5 trillion.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said, “We have to pass the bill to find out what is in it.”  We are finding out every day, and it isn’t what was promised.  As many as 33 states are mounting legal or legislative challenges to the bill.  With polls showing that many Americans want the bill repealed, Rep. Louise Slaughter, Democrat of New York, said “It’s just like trying to explain the Encyclopedia Britannica…” translation:  the public is too dumb to understand the bill.  We do understand it, and we understand that we have been lied to.

Michael A. Morrongiello

On March 8th Rep. Eric Massa resigned 14 months into his first term, his personal issues having exceeded his ability to control them.  We wish Mr. Massa and his family well and thank him for his service.  But now it’s time to hold a special election and give the people of the 29th Congressional district the representation they deserve.

To hold a special election, Governor Patterson must declare a vacancy and then issue a proclamation; the election follows in thirty to forty days.  First, Patterson said he would “call it as soon as possible.”  Then Patterson caught a case of the slows, his office repeatedly issuing statements that “no final decision has been made yet.”  The slows must be contagious.  Democrat county chairmen were still vetting candidates when Congress passed a $2 trillion health-care overhaul.  We in the 29th district were unrepresented during this vote. 

The county chairmen, including  Shawn Hogan and Cindy Emmer, issued this statement:  “It’s clear that a special election would prove to be very expensive, particularly considering so many counties in the 29th district are struggling financially.  Similarly, we cannot disenfranchise military voters who are currently serving overseas; we must take appropriate steps to make sure their votes are counted.  Gov. Patterson is rightfully taking these concerns into consideration and we believe he will make a decision that reflects what’s best for Southern Tier/Finger Lakes New York.”

In New York’s 20th district, when Kirsten Gillibrand resigned to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate, the special election was held in 64 days.  When John McHugh resigned his seat in New York’s 23rd district, the special election was held in 43 days.  As of  May 1st, it is 54 days since Massa resigned.  If a special is called, it will be another 30 to 40 days until the election.  What are we waiting for?  If no special election is held, we’ll break the record for non-representation in New York’s 29th of 184 days, set in 1827.

We should all contact Gov. Patterson and demand that he call a special election.  Democrat county chairmen and elected Democrats are our friends and neighbors; ask them to support the 654,360 people of the 29th in their desire to be represented in Congress.

Michael A. Morrongiello

The message was clear.  Rural people are ignorant at best, stupid at worst and always bigots.  Republicans and conservatives are all three.  The tone was contemptuous, the attacks disdainful and personal.

On the last day I stood up and stated, “I drive a pickup truck, I sometimes have guns in the back, I helped organize a tea party and, by the way, my wife is from Binghamton.”  I asked for simple respect and, quoting Lincoln, asked the presenters and attendees to access “the better angels of their nature.”  Dr. X refused to apologize.  After the session, several colleagues approached me, were complimentary and glad I spoke up.  One, who happened to be African-American, said “Thanks, man, I’m a Republican.”

As we were leaving the hotel the next morning my wife Jo, who is an American beauty, not American Gothic, introduced herself to Dr. X as “the idiot from Binghamton” and attempted to educate him about stereotypes.  He was cordial but remained unapologetic.

What gives rise to the contempt of the arrogant?  They believe they’re intellectually and morally superior.  It’s a step down a dangerous path of dehumanization.

We conservatives need to speak up.  In doing so, we give like-minded people the courage to find their voices as well.  Expect emotion-driven, personal attacks.  Expect to feel angry and/or insulted; it’s only natural.  Remember that the attacks are rooted in arrogance and contempt.  Take several deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth, slowly.  Respond factually.  Smile - it helps reduce tension.  As Churchill said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.”  Don’t be intimidated.  They’re not very scary.  If this is the best the high-powered brains I endured for three days can come up with, we have nothing to fear.

Our dissent is rooted in the philosophy which gave rise to our founding, the Enlightenment.  John Locke, a philosopher in that movement, believed truth is found through reason and experience.  If citizens make better arguments than kings or congressmen, the citizens argument wins.  This was on display in tea parties and was seen in recent town hall meetings, where it was obvious that ordinary Americans knew more about health-care legislation than their representatives.

Tea partiers knew the stimulus package was futile and wasteful.  FDR tried this in the 1930’s.  It failed.  FDR’s New Deal didn’t solve the Great Depression, but prolonged it.  Unemployment averaged a painful 18% from 1933, When Roosevelt took office, to the begining of WWII.

Conservatives oppose Obamacare because government programs always cost far more than promised.  Massachusetts-care is similar to the bill Obama crammed through the House.  The people were promised it wouldn’t cost more than $88 million per year.  Four years after its passage, Massachusetts is broke.  Health-care costs have exceeded $4 billion.  Costs for Bay-Staters haven’t gone down; their health-care costs are the highest in the nation, 27% higher than the national average.  The Massachusetts Medical Society says there is a “critical shortage” of primary care doctors.  Bay-Staters are covered, but what good is coverage if you can’t see a doctor?

Fellow conservatives, fear not.  Let the liberals call us every vile name in the book.  Their attacks say far more about who they are than who we are.   Our opposition to Obama and the statist Democrats is rooted in history and experience.  Make your case fearlessly.  boldly stand on principle.  We walk in the footsteps of the founders, Jefferson, Madison and Washington.  We’re in very good company.

Michael A. Morrongiello

Michael Arcuri   1-315-793-8146

Dan Maffei            1- 315-423-5657

Bill Owens             1-315-782-3150

Chris Carney        1-570-585-9988

Paul Kanjersky     1-570-825-2200

To access the names and numbers of representatives across America please go to the NRCC Code Red website http://www.nrcc.org/CodeRed/targets/

We’ve all done great work so far.  Let’s keep up the pressure and defeat this grotesque monstrosity that is Obamacare.

Michael A. Morrongiello

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.

Enter Rep. Eric Massa, who features his commendable military service at every opportunity. This provides him with a veneer of moderation to obscure his liberalism. If he were an ex-ACLU lawyer insead of an ex-Navy man, Massa’s leftism would be more apparent.

Consider Massa’s position on health care. He opposed HR 3962, which was a government takeover of private insurance companies. But he supports HR 686, a government run single-payer plan. In a single-payer system, you pay for everybody’s health care and they pay for yours. This is as collectivist as you can get. Massa said, “I support the idea of a single-payer health care system in which the doctor-patient relationship remains personal and private, but costs are centrally managed.” These are the ideas of central-planning socialists. This country was founded on the polar opposite – principles of individual freedom and free markets. Single-payer is not working out well in Canada. They have 8 life-saving MRI’s per million people, to our 27. If you need an MRI in Canada, wait in line. The Premier of Newfoundland, Danny Williams, recently bypassed the Canadian system to have heart surgery in the U.S.

Massa occupies the far left in a leftist party. We judge our leaders by their results. In Massa’s case, the evidence is damning. Despite all the historic evidence that government stimulus doesn’t work, he voted for it anyway, stimulating nothing but debt and unemployment. He markets himself as an independent thinker, yet his policies foster dependency. It’s time we see Massa clearly: a liberal in moderate’s clothing.