Our ‘Frankengovernment’ is a monster out of control

By Jim Bender, Published in NH Union Leader 03/18/10 WE THE PEOPLE have created a “Frankengovernment.” By that, I mean Frankenstein, not Al Franken. This is a monster that we the people created. We let it get too big. We let it get too powerful. We let it serve itself instead of serving us. We let it take our liberties. Now comes yet another “final” push to force a government takeover of our health care system. When the legislation was still only roughly 1,000 pages long, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said, “What good is reading the bill if it’s a thousand pages and you don’t have two weeks and two lawyers to find out what it means after you’ve read the bill?” Like the other famous monsters before it (consider HAL 9000 from “2001: A Space Odyssey”), the monster is doing what it wants, despite furious opposition from its previous masters. At some point along the road, we lost control. Even though the clear majority of the people deem the legislation to be harmful, costly and likely to make their standard of care go down, the government doesn’t stop. It leaves many to wonder if the government even can be stopped. The bill has ballooned to more than 2,700 pages, but, of course, there’s no room for tort reform. But, if there’s no tort reform, then what’s in it? Massive expansions of government bureaucracy, unprecedented incursions into your privacy, and a litany of taxes on income, products and services that will combine to drive down the standard of living in America. The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that even under the best scenario, “premiums in the new insurance exchanges would tend to be higher than the average premiums in the current-law individual market…” That’s no surprise to those who know the government well. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are already on the way to bankruptcy. This is a dysfunctional government of arrogance, self-assured incompetence, economic illiteracy, unconscionable partisanship, and self-righteous corruption. What is perhaps most telling about the debate is that President Obama has declared the debate to be over. There couldn’t be a greater sign of weakness! The White House and Congress are shutting down debate because they know they’ve lost the support of the American people. Now, instead of trying to argue their case, they’re playing political games. While we’re up here in New Hampshire just trying to make a living, archaic and arcane rules are being divined in Washington, D.C. I suspect these people went a little overboard with Dan Brown’s most recent book, detailing the myths of the Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are willing to push this legislation through in a coordinated and non-democratic manner. Sen. Robert Byrd, D- W.Va., and the original author of the 1974 legislation that yielded the Senate’s “budget reconciliation” rule, has said himself that these tactics “are wrong when the outcome affects Americans’ health and economic security.” It couldn’t be said any better. This is about more than just our wallets; it’s about our very lives and our ability to make choices about our own health care. The time has come for this “Frankengovernment” to be brought back under our control. I’m running to join the U.S. Senate because I know I can be part of reining in this government. Unlike John Conyers, I will read the legislation put before me for a vote. I’ve been in the private sector, and I have a reputation of building consensus and creating new productivity and wealth. There are simpler ways to help make health care better in America. Not one of those ways includes a government takeover. In fact, all the best solutions involve reducing government’s interference already on the doctors and nurses of our country. Congress is in a self-perpetuating cycle of its own lust for power. The beast will continue to grow unabated until we send men and women to Washington who don’t want the power, but instead want to go there so they can come back home with a job well done. This government takeover, this “Frankengovernment,” must be stopped. Please get involved by calling our legislators and telling them to oppose the bill. While you’ve got them on the line, you might also tell them to start looking for new jobs. We won’t be sending them back. I’m ready to serve, and I hope you’ll choose to send me.