Dear Congressman Connolly:
I urge you in the strongest possible terms to vote NO on the healthcare “reform” bill – in whatever mutation may be placed before you on the House floor.
This monstrously long, complex, convoluted bill would affect one-sixth of our economy and all of our medical needs, our doctor-patient relationships and our access to care. It would do so in ways that not one person in Congress or this country can explain or predict, even if they are among the very few who have actually read the bill. (Are you one of those few Members of Congress who has read it?)
The healthcare “reform” bill would impose a Canadian-style system, without the “escape valve” that Canadians currently have – of coming to the US for urgent diagnostics and care, rather than languishing, or dying, in months-long waiting lines. It would restrict, ration and bureaucratize our access to and quality of healthcare, while doing nothing to reform our costly, punitive American tort system.
The bill still contains outrageous bribes and special deals for a few states and unions, to buy votes. Its bogus cost estimates require ten years of tax receipts to pay for the first six years of costs. Maybe worst of all, it exempts unions and Congress, and creates separate systems for their members. That is an outrage!
I have spoken with literally dozens of people about this legislation. We DESPISE it and, even more, we DESPISE the partisan, underhanded, dictatorial methods that are being used to JAM it down our throats, even though the MAJORITY of Americans DO NOT WANT THIS BILL in any way, shape or form.
Congress needs to STARTOVER on this legislation – and focus on tort reform, access to affordable insurance choices across state lines, and other basic changes to make better, more affordable insurance and care available to all Americans. Congress needs to end this fixation on imposing an EU/UK/Canadian socialist healthcare system, and fix the generally minor healthcare and health insurance problems that actually need fixing.
Congress also needs to focus on JOB CREATION – mostly by getting out of the way, reducing taxes and regulations, and letting the private sector work – and on CONTROLLING FEDERAL SPENDING.
If Congress does not heed the will of an increasingly angry, disgusted electorate … if it insists on trying to ram this bill through via reconciliation or Slaughter rules or other sneaky devices … there will be Hell to pay – and not just in the fall 2010 elections. The repercussions will be felt long, far and deep in all corners of this country.
The anger, disrespect for Congress and our legal system, profound feeling that we have been sold out, and determination to rectify this unjust and tyrannical abuse of power will reverberate for years. They will end democracy as we have known it, and instill a belief that our laws, Constitution and traditions are to be ignored and violated at will, to serve short-term personal, party or political needs and expediencies.
Our beloved nation can ill afford such a descent into divisive lawlessness. Please urge Mrs. Pelosi and the Democratic Leadership to reconsider their autocratic methods. And please VOTE AGAINST THIS BILL.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Driessen