The Inexorable Force of the Market and the Unbearable Weight of Government

In the ongoing debate regarding the Democrat's nationalization of health care, precious little time is being focused on a discussion of the actual market changes that will occur as a result of the passage and implementation of this unconstitutional piece of legislation.

What today’s Democrats, and believers in Government action of all stripes, believe is that the market is like a giant Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man – giant, lumbering, and able to withstand nearly any amount of central committee diktats without really changing either its nature or behavior. Of course, the real-life evidence is that the market is agile, responsive, demanding, fickle, and smarter than bureaucrats.

Tinkering with reimbursement rates on socialized medicine programs in an effort to realize “savings” to government bodies already occurs. The effect of the tinkering is that it shrinks the supply of goods and services being bought by the socialized medicine program recipients.

In a self-regulating market, a decrease in supply will result in an increase in prices, which will decrease the total demand for the product or service, and the market will find its equilibrium at the new higher price. However, in a world of government price controls, such as the reimbursement rates for prescription drugs in a Medicare plan, while the supply is decreasing, the price cannot change which inevitable leads to rationing or shortages. Demand will outstrip supply.

What the government relies on in this scenario is a belief that businesses are irrational – they will conduct their primary business in a way that causes financial loss. As we are seeing now in Washington state, several pharmacy chains are ceasing to fill new Medicare prescriptions because they lose money on the deal.

What is a Democrat to do when her great economic schemes wash up on the rocks of reality? Step 1 is denial. “Doug Porter, the state's director of Medicaid, said Medicaid recipients should be able to readily find another pharmacy because "we have many more pharmacy providers in our network than we need."

Step 2 is anger. “Insurance profits are bad for my health.” And we are being defrauded by “fly by night operators.”

Step 3 is more government diktats. Hey, “we won the election.”

Soon, Washington state will make accepting Medicare prescriptions mandatory for a pharmacy license. Democrats are happy to force people to do things as a “cost of doing business.” In practical respects, this means costs for things that are not Medicare prescriptions will go up. This is an indirect tax on all consumers at the pharmacy, including food and medicine brought to you by enlightened bureaucrats.

More philosophically, being forced to do business in a manner that is not a purely voluntary transaction is slavery. Being forced to do things because the government says you should (like buying health insurance whether you want to or not) is slavery. Even a fifth grader knows the 13th Amendment prohibits slavery. The question is: are Democrats smarter than a fifth grader.

Obama's Anti-Catholicism

The Anointed One continues to reveal himself as promoters of rabid anti-Catholics. Two recent appointments come to the fore in this regard.

Currently, B. Hussein Obama has appointed noted anti-Catholic Harry Knox to the White House Faith-Based Advisory Council. This is the same Harry Knox that said Pope Benedict XVI is "hurting people in the name of Jesus" for suggesting that homosexual men with AIDS in Africa engage in sexual self control instead of endorsing UN efforts to distribute condoms.

One might assume that members of the White House Faith-Based Advisory Council are members of or associated with religious faith. Not so at the B. Hussein Obama White House.

Knox's "faith" which qualifies him to be on a board associated with faith based initiatives, is radical homosexuality. He is a former Methodist minister.

Recently, the Anointed One has re-nominated virulent anti-Catholic Dawn Johnsen to head up the Office of Legal Counsel at the Department of Justice. This is the same Dawn Johnsen that has a history of extreme pro-abortion advocacy for NARAL, the ACLU, and the Abortion Rights Mobilization group. As counsel for the Abortion Rights Mobilization group, Johnsen sued the IRS to attempt to force the IRS to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Roman Catholic church in the United States. While working for NARAL, Johnsen adamantly opposed parental notification laws when their children sought medical treatments. For the ACLU before the Supreme Court of the United States, Johnsen aruged that pregnancy was slavery barred by the 13th amendment.

Johnsen's long history of radical left wing advocacy in no way indicates that she has the bearing or temperament to head any office where compromise and the ability to listen and understand all aspects of a conflict are critical.

However, Obama's radical anti-life, anti-Catholic agenda must move forward at all costs.

Reflections upon the Notion of American Independence

I’ve spent a fair part of this month - the month in which we Americans celebrate Independence Day - thinking about the meaning of Independence. I am struck by the irony of celebrating a national holiday commemorating cutting the ties of dependency upon a government while at the same time laboring under a Presidency and Congress leading the nation toward greater government dependence, even subjugation, of its people.

Independence is what is celebrated in this Nation, and with good cause. We have no national Dependence Day celebration.

Independence Day does not celebrate the mere notion of being independent. Independence Day celebrates the act of declaring our Independence. Independence in the United States is not just an ideal, a philosophy, a goal – it is our national birthright. The act itself founded a confederation of independent states.

Independence is not a death rattle, it is the cry of life! Independence has been the goal of self-conscious humans since humans achieved self-consciousness. Hundreds of Thousands of Americans have lost their very life and all they own in the pursuit and preservation of Independence, and with it, Liberty and Opportunity.

The pursuit of Independence is what fueled the rush of immigrants to this nation. The pilgrims were pursing Liberty from oppression. Later waves of immigrants were pursuing Opportunity – Enterprise – a better life for themselves and their descendants.

Government dependency is antithetical to Independence. Statism is antithetical to Independence. Blame shifting is antithetical to Independence. Failing to speak out against a power hungry, all-powerful central government is antithetical to Independence.

Where are our Patriots today? Where are the successors of Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Madison, and Adams in our government? Where are the successors of Thomas Payne in the press? Where are the successors of Samuel Adams in the grassroots?

Whither courage? Whither conviction? Whither truth? Whither self-reliance? Whither our frontier spirit? Whither the United States.

A government which seeks to make slaves of its people is no successor of our Founders. Such a government – such men and women -- cannot legitimately govern a free nation founded in Independence.

This nation has never celebrated or feted those who would not or cannot do for themselves. They are pitied, and with good cause. Not because their lives are valueless, but because their independence is lost.

Socialism is slavery. A government that issues intrusive decrees is a tyranny.

Marxist Quote of the Day

"[W]hen I'm President, I will set a goal for all American middle and high school students to perform 50 hours of service a year, and for all college students to perform 100 hours of service a year. This means that by the time you graduate college, you'll have done 17 weeks of service. We'll reach this goal in several ways. At the middle and high school level, we'll make federal assistance conditional on school districts developing service programs, and give schools resources to offer new service opportunities." -- Barak Obama

A goal is not a goal if the goal has dollars tied to it.

Unfortunately for real Black Americans, Obama has no ancestors that were held in slavery in the United States. If he had, Obama would know the following section of the United States Constitution by heart: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Whether you call it slavery or "national service", involuntary servitude is prohibited by the United States Constitution. Of course, dedicated Marxists do not allow little things like laws or the Constitution to get in the way of forcing Americans toward slavery to the almighty government.

Of course, this is yet another good reason to abolish the United States Department of Education.