Hope and Change are in the air as the new Congress roars into the Capitol next week on the wings of a conservative mid-term electoral revolution. On Nov 2, the American people said “Enough!” to the Leftist expansion of government, excessive regulations, and out-of-control spending. In only two years, the national debt has swelled from $10 trillion to almost $14 trillion; the OMB estimates that it will reach $26 trillion by 2020. This spending trend is unsustainable and the voters have made it clear that they want it stopped.
The problem is the Democrat Party’s addiction to expanded government programs like ObamaCare; Democrats argue that such programs will bring down costs. Not true. Instead, moving 17% of the U.S. economy from individual choice to government management and direction will substantially increase costs for medical services and undermine the integrity of the system. Last Tuesday HHS Secretary Sebelius issued a 136-page rule providing price controls for health insurance. Unless stopped, this will be the first of many such rules effectively taking health care decisions out of the hands of individuals and their doctors. It is the sure path to rationing of health care and the slow decline of innovation and high quality health care that the free market system has brought to our citizens.
The new Congress with its increase of 6 Republicans in the Senate and 63 in the House will have very different thinking on ObamaCare and other big-spending programs that Democrats have foisted on the American people. As stated in the Wall Street Journal, “The single most important result of the November 2 election is the marginalization of the House Democratic left . . . Paul Ryan has replaced Barney Frank as the most prominent House spokesman on economics.” (WSJ, Pete Du Pont, December 27, 2010.)
Let’s Roll!
Jim Littlejohn
