Liars, Damned Liars, and Politicians (Part 1)

"One plain fact should outweigh all the words of Barack Obama and all the impressive trappings of the setting in which he says them: He tried to rush Congress into passing a massive government takeover of the nation's medical care before the August recess-- for a program that would not take effect until 2013!" Thomas Sowell, "Listening to a Liar" on the eve of the President's September 9, 2009 speech to Congress on Healthcare "Re-form"

When politicians talk about how things get paid for, they're usually talking about the free market vs. some form of collectivism: either socialism or fascism. Certain words are hot buttons in American politics, so instead of speaking truthfully, politicians use euphemisms to distract the majority, who often don't understand what socialism or fascism even mean.

For example, when the US government invaded Iraq, they called it Operation Iraqi Freedom and not Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL)--they want to distract you, not inform you. When the government wants to subsidize an industry, it gives the operation a benign-sounding label:

• Cash for Clunkers subsidized a government enterprise while supposedly helping the environment.
• TARP subsidized well-connected investment bankers by clearing toxic investments off their books and loaning them money.
• The Stimulus bill plans to dump hundreds of billions of dollars off a cliff with special interests at the bottom waiting with empty dump trucks, ready to drive off laden with cash. Are you stimulated?

Similarly, all the debate about healthcare reform isn't about improving health care. The re-form is about who pays.

Calling it "healthcare" reform is the first lie.

Now is the time to deliver

President Obama (D) and his supporters have a vision of how you should pay for healthcare in America. He seems to believe, as does his White House communications director Anita Dunn, that once you choose "your Calcutta"--your vision--you don't have to let anyone tell you how to get there. Anything goes. Apparently lying included. Sowell has similarly observed this motif in the Obama administration:

"There are lots of people in the Obama administration who want to do things that have not been done before-- and to do them before the public realizes what is happening."

The second lie: the Obama administration's urgency to push healthcare "re-form" legislation through Congress before its August recess, when the legislation wouldn't take effect until 2013, and while so many Americans oppose it.

Read my lips

The White House website lists talking points about the latest incarnation of the healthcare "re-form" legislation saying: "it is fully paid for and will reduce the deficit in the long term." In his September 9, 2009 speech to a joint session of Congress, President Obama said:

"And here's what you need to know. First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits -- either now or in the future. (Applause.) I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit, now or in the future, period."

Sounds a little like "Read my lips: no new taxes," uttered by GHW Bush (R) in 1988, doesn't it? He too was lying back then. But President Obama doesn't pretend that he won't increase taxes to pay for his "re-form":

"Now, part of the reason I faced a trillion-dollar deficit when I walked in the door of the White House is because too many initiatives over the last decade were not paid for -- from the Iraq war to tax breaks for the wealthy. (Applause.) I will not make that same mistake with health care."

Are you wealthy? In today's economy that might mean anyone not broke. Get ready to get it good and hard from the "healthcare re-formers."

In a column, "Listening to a Liar Part II," economist Thomas Sowell suggests:

"To tell us, with a straight face, that he can insure millions more people without adding to the already skyrocketing deficit, is world-class chutzpa and an insult to anyone's intelligence."

Are you insulted by the President and his healthcare "re-form" supporters? Need more proof? The phony 1/4 trillion dollar bill to buy AMA support was an attempt to keep the "re-form" legislation under the $900 billion limit set by President Obama. Anything more makes the CBO estimate show a deficit increase.

To say healthcare "re-form" legislation won't increase the deficit is also a lie.

When "option" doesn't mean optional

Well before his campaign for President, then Illinois state senator Barack Obama made clear his preference for a universal single-payer healthcare system--where the government pays healthcare bills. In a June 30, 2003 talk to the Illinois AFL-CIO (video) he said:

“I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program.” (applause) “I see no reason why the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health insurance to everybody. And that’s what Jim is talking about when he says everybody in, nobody out. A single payer health care plan, a universal health care plan. And that’s what I’d like to see. But as all of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have to take back the House.”

Obama's socialist view dogged him during his campaign for President (video). He squirmed out of his history of support for a single payer universal health care system, saying that while he preferred a single payer system, he wasn't proposing one. Instead, candidate Obama proposed a "public option." In this case, "public option" means that if you have other insurance, you don't have to select the "public option." But everyone must buy healthcare insurance: you would not be allowed to go without health insurance.

Many of the 40 plus million people without health insurance make a decision to go without because they can't afford it, or because they don't think healthcare insurance is worth the price. That would no longer be an option if the "public option" becomes law. This is similar to government elections: you can decide not to vote, but you can't vote "none of the above" to throw the bums out. You always get stuck with one of the "choices" on the ballot.

Another lie then: calling the "public option" optional.

Single Payer Trojan Horse

The President repeatedly says the public "option" is the best way "to ensure choice and competition so badly needed in today’s market." Sowell disputes this:

"President Obama tells us that he will impose various mandates on insurance companies but will not interfere with our free choice between being insured by these companies or by the government. But if he can drive up the cost of private insurance with mandates and subsidize government insurance with the taxpayers' money, how long do you think it will be before we have the 'single payer' system he has advocated in the past?"

The biggest lie: the President denies the public "option" is a Trojan horse for socialized healthcare.