A bad idea is still a bad idea

By Robert A. Bonelli

The Left's latest diversion from the truth is the ‘trigger' hurdle for implementation of a government run health care option -- and it does not take much thinking to understand that this would be a rigged game. Instead of taking what the American people have been saying over the past six weeks - that we do not want the government to take over healthcare in the United States; that we want real tort reform; the ability to purchase healthcare insurance across state lines; and the ability for small business to associate and purchase healthcare insurance as a single entity - the Democrats in Congress and the White House are taking the position that all they have to do is wait until they can force a trigger that would be completely under their control and then impose their flawed plan on the country.

Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats who may see this as a cloak under which to hide and call it compromise, should not allow themselves to be spirited away from what most Americans are screaming for them to hear: a bad idea is a bad idea no matter when it is implemented!

They are clever -- those who are pushing for government control over our healthcare. They focus the debate on the trigger and they divert attention away from reforms that can work in a free market system if allowed to be brought to the market. Where is the debate over real tort reform to lower the need for defensive medicine that by some industry estimates add over $40 billion annually to the cost of healthcare? Where is the debate over how to allow more than 1,300 health insurance companies to compete with each other across state lines? Where is the debate over allowing small businesses the right to freely associate in order to purchase healthcare insurance with all the muscle of large businesses?

There is no debate because this has never been about healthcare reform; it has always been about shifting power from the individual to the state!

Masking the real issue and focusing the debate away from real reform initiatives is what the Democrats in Congress and the White House are looking to accomplish with this latest move. We have all worked hard to get our message out and to finally have our voices heard. Please contact your Representative and your Senators and tell them to debate real reform if they want to improve affordability and access to healthcare insurance. Tell them you are not fooled by the trigger tactic and that you will remember at the polls if they allow themselves to be fooled by it.