Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives
Bringing LIBERTY to Capitol Hill -- 2010 OZARKS VIRTUAL TOWN HALL
Saturday Morning, March 6th, 2010, 10:30am
A Discussion of The President's Saturday Morning Radio Address
Click here to listen to the March 6th, 2010 Ozarks Virtual Town Hall
Notes and Summary of the President's Weekly Radio Address:
What Health Reform Will Deliver – This Year
The White House Press Office: – In his weekly address, President Barack Obama said that Congress owes the country an up-or-down vote on health reform and he described how more American families will have more control over their health care this year after health reform passes. The proposal the President has put forward includes tax credits for small businesses to purchase coverage, making it possible for people with pre-existing conditions to purchase coverage, and stopping insurance companies from imposing lifetime caps or annual limits to the amount of care people receive, among other
reforms. (continued below)
The federal government only has the powers granted to it -- "enumerated" -- in the Constitution.
The "General Welfare" clause is no exception to this principle.
"States Rights" -- most government should be carried out on a local level.
The Constitution created a federal government with very limited powers, bound down by the "chains of the constitution." The Bush-Obama Regime believes it has vast, unlimited powers to cure all diseases, fund all causes, and bring salvation.
These are the reasons given by Osama bin Laden for declaring a "fatwah" (holy war) against the U.S.
All of these accusations are true.
All of these government actions are contrary to the Constitution.
The biggest cause of terrorism -- and the most dangerous threat to the personal safety and security of ordinary Americans like you and me -- is the Federal Government of the United States.
America's Founders envisioned the American people, acting as businessmen, humanitarians, and missionaries, engaging in commercial and charitable activities around the world, bringing peace and receiving the admiration of the world.
"The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible."
— Washington, Farewell Address (1796) [Washington’s emphasis]
"I deem [one of] the essential principles of our government, and consequently [one] which ought to shape its administration,…peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none."
— Jefferson, First Inaugural Address (1801)
Bush's unconstitutional military invasion of Iraq has destroyed Christianity in that country.
Under Saddam Hussein's secular government, Christians in Iraq had greater freedom than in most other Arab nations, and one of the largest Christian populations in the Muslim world was in Iraq.
Iraq is now an Islamic theocracy under Sharia law. The Christian population has been destroyed. Christian Churches are burned and terrorized with impunity.
Obama is following in Bush's unconstitutional, anti-Christian footsteps.
This money-creation system is immoral and unconstitutional. It steals from the poor and elderly.
America's Founding Fathers would conclude that The First Amendment had been repealed
There is no freedom of religion: the U.S. is officially atheistic.
There is no freedom of the press: the media is the lapdog of "the Establishment."
Everyone who signed the Constitution, if they were here today, would urge the repeal of the Constitution and the abolition of the government created by that document.
This week, I asked Congress to schedule a final vote on reform that will give families and businesses more control over their health care by holding insurance companies more accountable. This comes after nearly a year of debate, as well as a seven hour summit with Democrats and Republicans where we had a public and substantive discussion on health care. Since then, I’ve said that I’m willing to incorporate some ideas offered by Republicans, and we’re eliminating special provisions that had no place in health care reform.
Now, despite all the progress and improvements we’ve made, Republicans in Congress insist that the only acceptable course on health care is to start over. But you know what? The insurance companies aren’t starting over. I just met with some of them on Thursday and they couldn’t give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums – by as much as 60% in states like Illinois. If we do not act, they will continue to do this. They will continue to drop people’s coverage when they need it. They will continue to refuse coverage based on pre-existing conditions. These practices will continue.
No rational business -- including insurance companies -- "arbitrarily" raises prices unless the price hike is insulated from competition by the government -- as when consumers are not allowed to purchase insurance outside their own state. The costs of medical treatments (which insurance companies must cover) are rising because patients don't pay for their own medical care.
That’s why we must act now. That’s why the United States Congress owes the American people an up-or-down vote on health insurance reform.
The proposal we’ve put forward would end the worst practices of the insurance industry, lower costs for millions of Americans, and give uninsured individuals and small businesses the same kind of choice of private health insurance that Members of Congress get for themselves. And while it will take a few years to fully implement these reforms, there are numerous protections and benefits that would start to take effect this year.
This year, small business owners will receive tax credits to purchase health insurance.
What a silly and indirect way to buy insurance! What if your employer had to buy groceries for your family, but not directly -- your employer just has to pay less taxes for the groceries purchased for your family. ??
This year, thousands of uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions will finally be able to purchase coverage. Insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions. And they will no longer be allowed to drop your coverage when you get sick.
This year, all new insurance plans will be required to offer free preventive care to their customers – so that we can start catching preventable illnesses and diseases on the front end. There will no longer be lifetime limits or restrictive annual limits on the amount of care you receive. Young adults will be able to stay on their parents’ insurance policy until they’re 26 years old. And there will be a new, independent appeals process for anyone who feels they were unfairly denied a claim by their insurance company.
Finally, seniors who fall into the gap in coverage known as the donut hole will receive $250 to help them pay for their prescriptions.
What won’t change when this bill is signed this: if you like the insurance plan you have now, you can keep it. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Because nothing should get in the way of the relationship between a family and their doctor.
If we act now, all of this will happen this year. Millions of lives will improve. Some will be saved. Many families and small business owners will have health insurance for the very first time in their lives. Doctors and patients will have more control over their health care decisions, and insurance company bureaucrats will have less. This future is within our grasp.
But we also know what the future will look like if we don’t act – if we let this opportunity pass for another year, or another decade, or another generation.
• More Americans will lose their family’s health insurance if they switch jobs or lose their job.
• More small businesses will be forced to choose between health care and hiring.
• More insurance companies will raise premiums and deny coverage.
• And the rising cost of Medicare and Medicaid will sink our government deeper and deeper into debt.
• Abolish the Income Tax and insurance will cut the tie between employment and insurance
• Abolish the Income Tax so that employers don't have to pay for health insurance instead of wages
• Contract, rather than expand, insurance coverage so that more routine health care is no longer purchased by third parties, but is subject to consumer vigilance and competition.
I don’t accept that future for the United States of America. I know it has been a long and hard road to this point. And we are not finished with our journey just yet. But we are close. We are very close. And so I ask Congress to finish its work. I ask them to give the American people an up or down vote. And let’s show our citizens that it’s still possible for Washington to look out for their interests and their future. Thanks for listening.
“Why Americans Should
Celebrate Christmas
365 Days a Year”
The word "Christ" means "King." The Message of Christmas and the Principles set forth by the Christ (the Messiah) who came that first Christmas are the real solution to America's problems. The Federal Government is at war with Christmas and "The Way of Peace" announced by the Prince of Peace. The Government should be on His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6-7). Abolishing a Messianic State is the only appropriate way to honor the Messiah.
Otherwise Christmas becomes mass hypocrisy.
The Word became flesh. The Creator of the universe becomes a human being. He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him, preferring darkness rather than light.
John the Baptist prepares the way for the Messiah, as prophesied of Elijah.
As you read the Gospel accounts, ask yourself how you would react if you knew these accounts were really true. Not just true in some "religious" sense, but reported in the New York Times, proven in a court of law, or acknowledged by your personal hero. (How do you know something is true? Do you even have any "heroes?") How should you change your life if your Creator became a human being? How should Washington D.C. react if this human being claimed to be the true Ruler?
The Prophet Micah predicted that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Jesus' parents lived in Nazereth. Therefore God predestined Caesar to issue a decree (probably relating to taxes) that would bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem before Jesus was born.
Bush claims the same global power of confiscation and migration as Caesar did. Thousands of Christians have been forced to move out of Iraq to make way for Bush's Islamic Theocracy.
An army of angels announces the birth of the Messiah, saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace to those with whom He is pleased!”
Man's chief end is to glorify God and live in peace. The Bush Administration's chief end is to erect a "wall of separation" between God and government so that the State gives no glory to God, and to wage war, thereby "stimulating the economy."
“Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.”
When Herod got word of the birth of a rival king, he behaved in a perfectly logical way (for someone who wants to protect his power): he massacred all male babies the age of Jesus. Herod recognized that Jesus was a threat to Herod's power.
Every day in America 4,000 unborn babies are murdered. These babies must threaten something.
Millions of Americans who call themselves Christians, on the other hand, are no threat to tyranny. None of them are being killed. Bush has killed a thousand times more human beings than Herod did, and confiscated a billion times more wealth than Herod did.
Listeners' Questions
A listener in California comments:
In the fifth commandment, it has seemed to us that the law is couched in familial terms but the direction of the answers in the WestminsterConfessionofFaith seem to be more focused on the other "institutions" of Gov't and church than the family. Your comments .
Kevin Craig responds:
Right! There is a chapter on "The Civil Magistrate," and a chapter on "The Church" (more than one, really) but no chapter on "The Family." The emphasis is on non-familial "institutions." As a result, I think, the power of these institutions has grown, when it should decline as Godliness increases. Institutions have come to replace the family. Prof. John M. Frame, at Reformed Theological Seminary (a Westminster-friendly seminary), with whom I agree on many things, justifies the State as an extension of the family. See my comments on his position here.
Every American could be born with a comfortable inheritance for education, a first home, or medical care; instead, every American is born in great debt.
Washington D.C. central planning increases debt, does not create the "Vine & Fig Tree" life.
Hello, I’m Dr. Parker Griffith, and I have the great privilege to represent Alabama’s 5th Congressional District. In the next 10 days, Democrats in Washington will try and jam through a massive government takeover of healthcare. It would raise taxes, slash Medicare benefits and destroy American jobs.
It would put federal bureaucrats in charge of medical decisions that should be made by patients and doctors. And it must be stopped.
The American people have said loudly and clearly that they do not want this job-killing government takeover of care. They want us to start over with a clean sheet of paper and a step-by-step approach focused on lowering costs for families and small businesses.
But President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refuse to listen to the American people. For them, healthcare reform has become less about the best reforms and more about what best fits their ‘Washington knows best’ mentality – less about helping patients and more about scoring political points.
This is no idle observation. I’ve witnessed it firsthand.
You see, two Januarys ago, I was sworn into office as an independent, conservative Democrat. But like so many Americans, I became increasingly concerned that the policies being pushed by Democrats in Washington were dangerous for our country and out of step with our values.
Instead of working across the aisle and focusing on creating jobs, Democratic leaders pressed ahead with their partisan, big-government agenda of taxing, spending, and borrowing from our children and grandchildren. The trillion-dollar ‘stimulus,’ the ‘cap-and-trade’ national energy tax, I voted against them.
Still, even as Democrats lost their way, I held out hope that things would be different with healthcare reform, but I was wrong.
Even as public opposition continued to rise, Democrats refused to let up, stuffing these bills with sweetheart deals for lawmakers and giveaways to Washington special interests.
Given all that’s at stake, I realized that being a voice of dissent and a vote of conscience was not enough. Shortly before Christmas, after much thought and prayer, I decided to align myself with House Republicans, who have stood on principle to fight this big-government agenda and offer better solutions to the challenges facing our country.
Republicans understand that the right way to fix healthcare is with a step-by-step approach focused on lowering costs. Only Republicans have proposed the kind of healthcare reforms we can afford during this economic downturn, like allowing small businesses to group together to purchase healthcare plans at reasonable costs just as unions do.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has confirmed that the Republican bill would lower premiums for families and small businesses by up to 10%. All of the details are available at HealthCare.GOP.gov.
You know, before coming to Congress, I spent 30 years practicing medicine in North Alabama. The worst thing we could do is have the federal government decide what policies and what procedures would be done in hospitals or in physicians’ offices, what would be paid for, what would not be paid for. This will only cause premiums to rise and the quality of care to go down.
I’ve also run a small business, and I can tell you that healthcare costs have everything to do with the ability to maintain a payroll and hire new workers. The mere threat of this healthcare bill being enacted is freezing employers in their tracks and destroying much-needed jobs.
To get a final bill through without public or bipartisan support, Democrats would have to use a toxic, controversial legislative scheme known as ‘reconciliation.’ Reconciliation would allow Democrats to make a few last-minute backroom deals and rely on only Democratic votes.
Reconciliation is by no means a cure-all that would permit drastic changes to improve the bill. For instance, reconciliation would not address the loophole in the Senate-passed healthcare bill that would lead to taxpayer funding of abortion for the first time in more than 30 years.
If Speaker Pelosi has her way, the loophole will become law as is, so the final battle will be here in the House of Representatives.
Ipsos/McClatchy Poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs. Feb. 26-28, 2010. N=1,076 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3.
"As of right now, do you favor or oppose the healthcare reform proposals presently being discussed?"
Favor
Oppose
Unsure
%
%
%
2/26-28/10
41
47
11
Democrats
62
24
14
Independents
43
41
16
Republicans
18
75
7
1/28-31/10
37
51
12
If favor reform proposals (N=427):
"You said you are in favor of the health care reform proposals presently being discussed. Is that because you favor health care reform overall and think the current proposals go far enough to reform health care; OR, you oppose health care reform overall and think the current proposals being discussed will keep health care reform from happening?"
Favor
Overall, Go
Far Enough
Oppose
Overall, Will
Keep from
Happening
Unsure
%
%
%
2/26-28/10
78
12
10
"Just your best guess, do you think health care reform would increase the federal budget deficit, decrease it, or have no effect?"
Increase
Decrease
No Effect
Unsure
%
%
%
%
12/10-13/09
66
11
19
4
10/15-18/09
68
10
18
3
What Would America's Founding Fathers Do?
The men who threw tea into the Boston Harbor over a tax of 3 pence per pound would not be happy with a tax ten times greater on every gallon of gas. Those who took up muskets over a total tax burden of less than 3% would not be happy with the fact that the federal government now takes more than half of everything you earn.
Today it is illegal for public school teachers to teach their students that the Declaration of Independence is really true (and not just an outdated historical document). The federal government is clearly at war with everything the Founding Fathers stood for.
America's greatest Americans would abolish today's federal government.
Muskets are Not an Option
There are two reasons why we should not take up arms to pull off the violent overthrow of the federal government, even if America's Founders would surely do so. First, the feds have nukes. Second, violent revolution is unChristian and unBiblical. We must beat our swords into plowshares and use persuasion to abolish tyranny. This is time for a revolution of ideas.
Revolution Won't Come in a Day
John Adams once wrote that the American Revolution began in 1761, when Massachusetts attorney James Otis began legal challenges to the Writs of Assistance. He lost the case, but "American independence," Adams wrote, "was then and there born." Now do the math. That means it took 15 years to convince the rest of America to declare Independence
(1776). Then another seven years of war was required before a Peace Treaty was signed (1783), and then six years before the Constitution was finally ratified (1789). That's almost 30 years. (And Jefferson said we shouldn't go 20 years without another rebellion!) How can we hope to convince Americans to fight for principles they were never taught in government schools? We need to be in this battle for the long term. "Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty."
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Help End the Mexican Civil War
Black-market profits caused by drug prohibition fund a civil war in Mexico that's threatening to spill over our borders. Drug profits also fuel the terrorists who are killing U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. It's time to dry up the black-market profits. It's time to end drug prohibition.
Make Congress Read Their Bills Before Voting
Make Congress read every word of every bill they create before they vote on it.
Urge your Representative and your Senators to sponsor DownsizeDC.org's “Read the Bills Act” (RTBA).
End the FED
The Federal Reserve System constantly inflates and deflates the supply of money and credit, causing booms and busts. It's time to get off this roller-coaster. It's time to end the Fed.
No Bailouts!
No government money, whether borrowed or taxed, should ever be used to bailout private financial interests. If you agree, please send Congress a message telling them so.
TWIC - A Backdoor Real ID Card
Real ID is dying. But the Department of Homeland Security has a new plan to subject every American to a national ID card anyway. They plan to pick off one occupational field at a time, starting with the maritime industry. One man is fighting back. Meet him, and help stop this backdoor Real ID plan.
Stop the Killer Horse Hormones
The FDA "outlawed" the use of Estriol, an estrogen medication that's bio-identical to human estrogen. Doctors must now prescribe animal-derived estrogen instead. Are bio-identical hormones dangerous, while animal-derived hormones are safe? No. The practice of medicine is moving to chemically identical to human hormones and away from animal hormones. Learn why the FDA decided to endanger women's health in this way, and take action.
End Asset Forfeiture
If the government suspects you used your house or car in a crime, they can take it and sell it at auction. They don't even have to prove your guilt. They call this practice civil asset forfeiture, but it's really theft. It violates the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th and 14th Amendments. It also encourages law enforcement to put profits before justice. Tell Congress to end civil asset forfeiture.
Support an Iraq Referendum
Americans keep debating when, how, or if to leave Iraq. Maybe we should ask the Iraqi people what they want. After all, it's their country. Tell Congress to request that the Iraqi government hold a public referendum on the U.S. occupation. Learn more »
Make Congress read every word of every bill they create before they vote on it.
Urge your Representative and your Senators to sponsor DownsizeDC.org's “Read the Bills Act” (RTBA).
Unelected bureaucrats create tens-of-thousands of new dictates each year. Making rules is the job of Congress, not bureaucrats.
DownsizeDC.org has drafted the “Write the Laws Act” to end bureaucratic “legislation without representation.” Click here . . .
"Cap and Trade" is not the way
The politicians seem to be unifying around "cap and trade" as a way to cut CO2 emissions. If they take this step it may be the largest increase in the size, scope, and intrusiveness of government since the creation of Medicare. Worse still, it may not even achieve its purpose. Please tell Congress to oppose "cap and trade." Learn more »
Iraq Waste
Big government prospers through failure. Each new failure is used to justify more spending and new powers. Wasteful spending in Iraq is the latest example. One way to change this is to hold government accountable. A new bill in Congress seeks to provide some of the needed accountability. Please support it. Learn more »
Stop the War for Terror U.S. policy has inflamed the Middle East. It has made terrorism more likely rather than less. We seem to be fighting a war for terror, rather than on terror. This policy must stop. The place to start stopping is with Iran. We must not attack Iran. War with Iran would devastate our economy, disrupt world oil supplies, and recruit more terrorists. Click here to stop this war before it starts.
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