UNCONSTITUTIONAL (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

The recent Florida court decision declaring the individual mandate in ObamaCare unconstitutional is a step in the right direction, but it is only the latest in a stream of embarrassing revelations about the poorly-conceived law.

Recently we have learned that the administration has been quietly granting waivers to hundreds of organizations to prevent these groups from dropping their employee health care plans altogether. Ironically, a disproportionate number of these waivers will go to unions. Some of the more prominent are: the Service Employees International Union, the United Federation of Teachers Welfare Fund, and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, a California-based cooperative that provides low-cost minimal coverage to farm workers. Unions represent only 6.9% of the private work force, yet 40% of the workers covered by these waivers are union members. (IBD, 1/30/2011) 

This massive waiver revelation comes on top of an earlier “discovery” that the requirement for businesses to send a 1099 to the IRS for transactions over $600 will add unprecedented burdens and erode profit margins for thousands of small businesses. Furthermore, we’re just now obtaining candid admissions from government officials that the costs of ObamaCare will far exceed the projections and that you probably won’t be able to keep your current doctor and/or health care insurance as the law moves toward full implementation.

I don’t blame the unions for obtaining the waivers. Their role is to look out for their people. However, I do blame the administration for providing a train load of misinformation to American citizens about this health care bill, both in terms of its workability and its costs. The President would take a big step towards being re-elected if he would work with the new Congress to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with a less intrusive, more effective and fully constitutional system.

Jim Littlejohn

CACOPHONY (Letter to the Independent Coast Observer)

The President, at least symbolically, has moved somewhat to the center since the November 2 “shellacking” and Democrats at the national and local levels are calling for a return to civility in our political discourse. Of course, that’s after trashing Republicans every day for the past two years (and Sarah Palin twice on Sundays). We won’t discuss the eight-year “Bush is Hitler!” era.

But some Democrats, no doubt enlightened by seeing dozens of newly-elected Republicans sitting in seats their former colleagues once occupied, are signaling a change:  they invited a Republican to sit with them at Tuesday’s State of the Union message. CNN noted this bit of theatrics with the lead-in, “Will Tuesday be 'Date Night' in Congress for President Barack Obama's State of the Union address?” Some cynics might say that this clamor for more civility in politics is akin to a foxhole conversion in which the President and/or his allies have suddenly realized that their past strategy of “dissing” every Republican in sight while ignoring their views may cause Democrats to lose the Senate and Presidency in 2012. Whatever the reason, the President and his party have (temporarily) put their principles in a “lock box,” put on a smiley face, and invited Republicans to the dance. Democrats will still choose the music and the Republicans’ dance cards will be virtually empty, but they will receive a welcoming speech from the President promising bipartisanship—as long as the opposition agrees with him and “shuts the hell up!”

Locally, the ICO’s Fence Post is the only forum available for presenting conservative views to counter the cacophony of liberal voices. Letters bearing the CCV imprimatur focus on the broader political issues facing our state and nation. We believe that gratuitous name calling (e.g., “stupid) is neither civil nor helpful.

Jim Littlejohn

LIBELOUS ATTACKS (Letter to Independent Coast Observer)

The recent shooting in Tucson was a tragedy for the nation, but most especially for the 20 victims and their families. When the facts emerged, one did not have to be a lawyer to reach the conclusion that the sole cause of the shooting was the demons inside the head of a deranged young man. 

In spite of facts, logic, rational thought, and those other aspects of fairness valued in our laws and our culture, many left wingers perpetrated the libel that the shooting was a direct result of conservative opposition to the Democrat agenda. All conservatives were blamed, but high-profile conservatives and organizations such as Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, the Tea Party, and Fox News, received the most attention. Ample evidence of “over-the-top” past rhetoric and hate speech by Democrats was conveniently ignored. 

The progressive attack machine was aided and abetted by many mainstream media outlets. In times of great stress the emotions of fear and anger often hold the day. We look to our national media to sort out the facts, not fan the emotional fires, and we look to our leaders to tamp down these fires with accurate information and calm deliberation. To President Obama’s credit he finally started that process Tuesday by stating that political discourse “did not” cause the shooting. Unfortunately, the President’s statement was a full four days after the raging fires of left wing McCarthyism had burned all sense of fairness out of the air. Also, the President’s statement that we should not “use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other” misses the mark. Certain progressives (even in our local community) shamelessly used the tragedy to beat down conservative voices and mute any opposition to the progressive agenda. Conservatives have every right to defend themselves, and to continue to oppose polices with which they disagree.