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Weapons of the government: Extortion, bribery, job security

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By COL. DONALD MYERS

A Mind of My Own

Published: December 18, 2009

When the Democratic senator from Louisiana, Mary Landrieu, bragged about receiving $300 million for her state in exchange for her vote on the Senate health care bill, I thought that we had finally seen the worst of this current administration.

Unfortunately, this particular administration has no bottom in sight. It seems that nothing is too base in order for it to pass this health care bill and get what it wants, and I mean nothing.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman said that he will support the bill supposedly because it now passed his smell test. He did not say anything about his wife's position on a cancer prevention board being threatened because her husband did not support the health care bill.

The latest threat is to Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb. Rumor has it that the SAC base in his state outside of Omaha was threatened for closure if he did not sign on for the health care bill.

The mafia could take lessons from these people.

What else could be going on in order to get the required votes for this bill that we have not heard about?

Roland Burris, D-Ill., has said that he is not sure if he will support the bill, so I suppose that we will read about some type of benefit for Illinois in the near future and then the junior senator will sign on the dotted line.

This week, bank execs were called to the White House for a meeting with President Barack Obama to discuss their need to lend money to small businesses. Remember when major bank execs were called in to the White House and required to take bailouts or face audits by the federal government? I wonder how this particular meeting went? Why is it that we constantly hear and read about banks making poor loans for homes, but rarely hear or read that the government pressured these same banks to do that?

What is the fundamental reason for all of this coercion by the Democratic leadership for this particular bill?

In my view, it has very little to do with health care.

Americans for the most part are happy with their current health care, but they would like to see the cost reduced. One of the major goals in proposed bills is to reduce costs. As we become more and more aware of what is in the current proposals in the two houses of Congress, we say that doing nothing is better than what is proposed.

There are several methods for reducing the cost of health care such as tort reform and buying insurance from out of state, but neither one of those are included in either the House or Senate bills. It is all about power and control with the government taking over one-sixth of the economy.

If what is proposed is such a great bill, why is it necessary to bribe, threaten and coerce so many Democrats to sign on the dotted line? The Democrats have 60 seats in the Senate and an overwhelming majority in the House. They need no Republicans for passage, but Republicans are consistently portrayed as the ones who are causing failure of passage.

I realize that I cannot possibly understand the nuances of this, but I sure would like to understand if only someone could explain it in regular English. We are at the point where any bill is acceptable for passage by the Democrats in order for President Obama to crow about doing something that has been a goal since the 1930s. Doing whatever is necessary is acceptable since they think they will be able to add all the whistles, bells and gongs in later years — much as they have done with Social Security, education, energy, the environment and every other liberal program.

Donald J. Myers, a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, is a regular columnist for Hernando Today. He lives in Spring Hill and can be contacted at dmyersusmc@aol.com.

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