Remember this day...

Remember this day, all of you who love freedom, as the day freedom was slowly stolen from the citizens of these United States. Today the Senate has voted 60-39 to approve debate over their version of the health care bill. A 2000-page bill was sent through to debate, without any senator even reading its entirety, and the Democrats seem like they have forgotten whom it is they serve. It was claimed to be an effort to limit the enormous profits of the evil insurance companies, yet instead of just targeting those businesses, the bill will implement every single business in the US, adding numerous taxes that will destroy many small businesses ability to make a profit at all. Following this course, it will soon be illegal to not own any medical insurance, notwithstanding your personal will on the matter. As the Almighty Government has spoken, so shall it be!

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) even had the gall to compare this vote to historic events, saying, "Imagine if, instead of debating whether to abolish slavery, instead of debating whether giving women and minorities the right to vote, those who disagreed had muted discussion and killed any vote." What a ridiculous and unfounded argument! Should we remind him that it was conservatives pushing for the abolishment of slavery and liberals who disagreed? I would almost think that these people actually believed their positions if they weren't so ludicrous.

Let me be the first to say that we NEED health care reform in our country, as I've previously stated. But reform for the sake of reform isn't ever good, and this bill is definitely not good. Instead of fixing the things that don't work, Congress and the President are trying to take over everything, and we know their track record in large-scale programs, i.e. Medicare, Medicaid, the post office, Social Security, the recent financial mess...need I go on?

I don't believe debate on this subject is a bad thing, in fact, it is necessary. Debate on this bill, however, is wrong for two reasons. The first is that this bill was written without a conservative voice, which represents 39% of the Senate and at least half of the country. Any one of us would be hard-pressed to agree to discuss the approval of something we had no part in creating in the first place. The second reason is that this now opens the possibility of a "Nuclear option," which is a way to end a filibuster by a simple majority (51 votes) instead of the typical three-fifths majority (60 votes). The end of the filibuster would then bring an immediate vote on the bill, which would be easily approved by the simple majority.

They might claim that this is a positive step for health care reform, but it is clearly political posturing. Numerous Democrats have said they voted yes for debate because they received some special funding for their district. If they truly wanted to fix health care, then they should just fix the broken parts, rather than a 200-page complete overhaul of the entire system. If this bill passes Congress, then the government will control 1/6 of our nation's economy, not to mention what they already control in the financial institutions they already took control of recently. Didn't I already mention the numerous "successful" government programs?

I'm not sure how much more of this our nation can handle. We are a resilient people, but our society relies very much on a stable government, and stable it is not. There has never been so much public disapproval and lack of confidence before, and it only seems to get worse. I'm not sure if those in Congress think they're already on their way out, so they're trying to pass as much as possible before then, or if they think they are truly above the power of the people. I always thought it was of the people, by the people, for the people, not above the people, despite the people, forget the people. I think I'm about ready for some real change.