Do I Hear $400,000,000.00?

The US treasury belongs to the taxpayers

by: jayme evans | published: 11 30, 2009

Now that the US Senate has voted to begin debate on their vision of a health scare bill, Congress has movedour entire country onestep closer to the national nightmare of government-controlled health care that millions of peoplestrenuously reject and simultaneously fear. If Nancy Pelosi's bill placed one of the nation's feet in the grave, thenHarry Reid's bill placed the other squarely in the path of the banana peel. All the while,Barack Obama has stoodready with the first shovel full of dirt. A couple more steps, and in we go.

Many people are left wondering how something as frightening as the Democrat Party's idea of so-called health care reform could ever become law, considering the unwavering, vocal opposition to the astronomical financial burden this legislation would place on the backs of all Americans. The answer is quite simple, really. Health care reform, while rejected by the voters, has advanced through the legislativeprocess through the use ofascurrilous practicethat legislators and pundits call"horse trading" or "sausage making", otherwise known to the American public asprostitution, extortionor bribery.

This type of institutional corruption can only exist in an atmosphere devoid of principle. For years, politicians of both parties have completely abandonedprinciples in favor of career aspirations, unchecked power or cold, hard cash, which they are ironically devaluing at breakneck speed, but I digress. During the Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Lindsey Graham (RiNO-SC) voiced serious concerns over Sotomayor's writings, speeches and ideological stances on a variety of issues, yet voted to confirm her as the next US Supreme Court justice, in spite ofthose concerns. The same process has played out several times, withRepublicanssimplyacquiescing toBarack Obama's penchant foremploying tax-cheating minions and liberal, activist federal judges.

During the August congressional recess which saw the birth of the Tea Party movement, my own Congressman, Brian Baird (D-WA) publicly and condescendingly accusedthose who opposed Democrat's health care takeover, including myself--a Navy veteran who proudly served withhonor--of using"Brown Shirt tactics", adding"...And I mean thatseriously". In the end,lacking the substance to back up his verbal diarrhea and worried aboutre-election, Bairdhypocriticallydid anabout-face and, after his attack,had the nerve to vote against Nancy Pelosi's HR 3962.

But, perhaps the most stunning, recent example of the institutionalized corruptioninfecting Washington came during last week's Senatecloture voteover their version of health care legislation,and the shameful performance put on by so-called "moderates", such as Ben Nelson (D-NE), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Joe Lieberman (I-CT)and Mary "The Money Launderer" Landrieu (D-LA).

Although each and every one of these corrupt moderates indicated they had reservations over specific legislative language, each and every one of them eventually caved. Initially, all of themstaunchly opposed a public option, yet all of them voted to begin debate on a Senate bill that contained just that. Then they all sought immediate political cover, cautioningthat if the final bill didn't undergo substantial changes, their support wasn't guaranteed. These people know full well, that the public option is part and parcel of progressive health care reform and that amendments to abolish or dilute it would never see the light of day.

Landrieu was the last to cave. Although she presented the appearance of being torn between both sides of a thoughtful debate, she relented only after Harry Reid coughed up $300,000,000.00 in state Medicaid subsidies for Louisiana. I don't know about you, but I find this type of political chicanery quite repulsive. TheUS treasury belongs to the taxpayers whose toil and sweat fill its coffers. It isn't Harry Reid's personal slush fund to be used for doling out financial favors in exchange for votes.

With the country so divided by Democrats' legislative jihad, just a handful of moderates now have the power to tip the balance in favor of job-killing, sovereignty-sapping, trillion dollar pieces of legislation that just keep coming. They know it and they thrive on the attention. They talk fiscally tough on camera to their constituents,yet capitulate to political pressure or negotiate back-room deals behind closed doors.

In corporate America or any other segment of American society out of range of the stench emanating from Washington DC, the very act of taxpayer money changing hands between theSenate Majority leader and his knock-kneed cohort in exchange for her vote would be consideredprostitution or bribery, depending on your perspective. And if anyone was seeking this kind of payoff in exchange for their vote, it would be considered extortion. Thanks to Landrieu's trick, the going price for votes in the US Senate is now $300,000,000.00. Do I hear $400,000,000.00?

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