August 7th / 9th, 2009
"Foxx Crosses Line of Decency"
Unlike some incumbent politicians who won’t appear on my Triad Today
television program because I have criticized their stand on the issues, Rep.
Virginia Foxx has never refused a chance to spar with me on camera. She is
also the hardest working woman in Washington, and is fiercely dedicated to her
constituents. That’s why I have continued to admire her despite our
differences over such matters as when to bring the troops home from Iraq. That’s
why I cut her some slack after she apologized for saying that efforts to
portray the murder of Matthew Shepard as a hate crime, were nothing but a “
hoax”.
But last week, Foxx made a deliberate, scripted plea in opposition to the
President’s health care plan which can only be described as morbid. Said
Foxx, “Republicans have a better solution that … is pro life because it will
not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government”.
Foxx’s unconscionable statement was an indecent attempt to frighten voters
into thinking that Obama and the Democrats were in favor of euthanizing
elderly people. In fact, the House plan as written merely provides Medicare
coverage for hospice services, and for counseling on end of life issues,
including living wills.
Unfortunately, Foxx is not the sole offender in the debate over
healthcare.
Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey said, “If the healthcare reform bill is
enacted, it will lead to millions of additional deaths to children, and
millions of mothers will be wounded”. Smith defended his alarmist claim by
saying that Obama’s bill would require health insurance companies to cover
abortions. First of all, that’s not what the bill says, and second, CNN reports
that over 80% of insurance companies already cover termination surgeries
anyway, so there is no reason to believe a rise in deaths would occur under
any reform bill. And then there’s good old Richard Burr who stated over
the weekend that the Democrats healthcare bill would “decimate North Carolina’
s economy”. Burr has introduced his own version of reform, which includes
taxing health benefits, and leaving insurance companies free to drop us
whenever they see fit. Thanks Richard. I’m sure that wealthy Blue Cross
executives appreciate your effort.
The practice of political hyberbole is nothing new in Washington,
especially with regards to social and medical related legislation. According to
WhatifPost.com The American Medical Association invented the term socialized
medicine in the early 1900’s in order to help defeat FDR’s efforts to put a
healthcare provision in his Social Security bill. Congressmen both then
and now have relied on money and talking points from lobbyists such as the
AMA, so it’s no wonder that as far back as 1920, H.L. Menken wrote, “The
whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed by menacing
it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary”.
By the 1960s the AMA was at it again when they poured money into a
misinformation campaign to oppose Medicare. Their spokesperson was Ronald Reagan
who frightened people into thinking that Medicare would lead to a
totalitarian government.
Today, thanks to lobbyists, and to elected officials like Foxx, Burr, and
Smith, the general electorate is once again being thoroughly confused and
frightened about healthcare. Believe me, I am no fan of Obama and Pelosi.
They have caved in on important initiatives, and thrown money at Wall
Street like we had it to spend. But giving credit where credit is due, the
Democrats’ health care plan is the right prescription for a broken system.
According to Harvard professor Niall Ferguson, the United States has the most
expensive healthcare system in the world, and is also the least effective
in terms of public health outcomes. In fact, our healthcare system is
ranked 37th in the world. The Obama plan would go a long way toward correcting
those problems. Yes it insures the 46 million Americans who currently have
no coverage, but it also helps everyone else. It mandates affordable
premiums. It won’t allow insurance companies to drop you if you get sick. It
prohibits caps on coverage, so that those of us with catastrophic illnesses who
have always paid our premiums, won’t be left without care when we really
need it. It won’t allow insurance companies to disqualify us for a
pre-existing condition. And, it will guarantee that we won’t lose our health
insurance if we lose our job or change jobs. Clearly, anyone who has our best
interests at heart can’t possibly oppose these vital reforms.
So why are Republican members of Congress fighting to retain a
discriminatory, inefficient system? The answer is because they already have
affordable healthcare coverage, lifelong pensions, and a fortune in perks, which
keep growing so long as they stay in power. And the people who keep them in
power are the lobbyists who oppose any threat to the status quo. It’s just
one more reason why we need term limits on the Federal level.
In the meantime, we’re stuck with a corrupted system of governing. Simply
put, people in power want to stay in power. But do we really want to keep
electing people to office who will do or say anything to stay there?
Speaking at a symposium in Lincoln Nebraska in 2006, University of
Michigan professors Arthur Lupia and Jesse Menning explained the basis for this
recurring phenomena. “Politicians can use fear to achieve self serving
outcomes (or suboptimal policies) that are bad for voters. In it, a politician
provides information about a threat. His statement need not be true”.
I am sorry to say that Virginia Foxx has now fallen firmly into that
characterization. So has Richard Burr. No doubt they believe the crap they’re
spewing, and that is the sad thing about this fiasco, especially about Foxx,
who has worked so tirelessly for people of the fifth district. But now Foxx
owes us all an apology for her euthanasia remarks, and Burr owes us an
apology for once again siding with big business over the needs of us common
folk. They also owe us the courtesy of stepping down after their term is up.
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