My wife and I split up so we could collectively see more of the rally. She took her protest sign and camped out along Woodward Avenue where there was plenty of automobile traffic driving by. I established my position along Old Woodward Avenue which had less auto traffic and hence was quieter, with less road noise coming from the street. One might wonder why I chose to protest where there was less traffic. After all, isn’t the purpose of a protest to get as much exposure as possible? Well in addition to my protest sign I brought a new tool with me to this rally. My new tool was a Sony Boom Box complete with audio clips of President Obama and an assortment of his henchman all discussing various aspects of ObamaCare!

Even with the audio power of my new Boom Box I realized I should camp out along the street with less vehicle traffic and road noise as I wanted my “message” to be heard. So I showered passersby, on foot and in car, with clips of Obama stating how it would be better to give grandma a pain pill rather than have her undergo surgery to correct her ailment. This was my favorite clip but there were others that received a lot of play. Other favorites included another clip of Obama, this time talking about death panels, and a clip of John Conyers stating that it was a waste of his time to read the health care bill. I also played a clip of Hillary Clinton screaming about her right to disagree with the Bush administration; however, this did not get as much play as I could only take so much of her grating voice.

My highlight from this rally was my audio “duel” with some supporters of socialized medicine. There couldn’t have been more than twenty ObamaCare supporters in the crowd of about 1,000. Out of these twenty “Yes We Can” types, a squad of about 4-5 ladies, dressed in costume, descended upon me to voice their support for surrendering our health care rights to cult leader Obama. These women, decked out in quaint dresses that you might have seen in the 1800’s, started singing to me about the virtues of a single payer system. Being somewhat startled I don’t recall many of their lyrics but I do recall they seemed to be able to carry a tune. When I fully realized that I was the target of their assault I pivoted to face this adversary head on. Perhaps they didn’t realize that I was not defenseless. As I turned toward this threat I powered up my electronic friend and engaged them with the full force and volume from my boom box. It must have been quite a sight to behold; a squad of kool-aid drinkers versus a foot soldier of limited government, locked in audio combat. It was no contest! A deluge of decibels, direct from the mouth of their own deviant director easily drowned out this disheartened choir. My only regret, I did not have a camera to capture this precious Kodak moment.

My wife and I headed for home at about 2:30. We listened to the radio hopeful that the day’s events might be reported in the news. We were in luck as WWJ, the local all-news radio station, was already running a story. I would characterize their coverage as decent; however the story did not adequately capture the passion or the numbers of the anti-ObamaCare forces. WWJ reported that there were 300-400 protesters. While this may have been true at the time of their report it understated the peak attendance by about 600-700 people. WWJ also report that there were ObamaCare supporters at this rally but they chose not to mention their miniscule numbers. Additional media coverage was shown on Fox 2 News in Detroit.

Upcoming events in Michigan where you can make your voices heard include:

Tea Party Express Bus Tour with stops in Battle Creek on Sept 8 (Labor Day), and Jackson, Brighton, and Troy on September 8.

Tea Party Patriots shows events for Port Huron on August 25, Sanford on August 29, and Sault Saint Marie on September 12.

I haven’t decided how many of these events I will attend. But come out for some fun – maybe you’ll see me with my boom box!

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The assertion made by advocates of socialized medicine, that healthcare is a right, is not supported by the Constitution of the United States. Just because a supporter of government run healthcare makes such an assertion does not make it true. While many freedoms and rights are set forth in our Constitution, the right to healthcare is not one of them. This is a salient point to those who understand our Constitution and the intent of our Founding Fathers. Unfortunately there are many citizens who have a different view of the meaning of the text of our Constitution. To them healthcare is a right even though it is not explicitly stated.

The right to free speech means that Congress does not have the authority to pass any laws that restrict my ability to speak freely. The First Amendment to the Constitution states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances..

That Congress shall not pass any law abridging my freedom of speech does not mean that Congress is also obligated to provide me with the means to exercise this right. No where in the Constitution does it say that Congress shall tax my neighbors to provide me the funds to purchase equipment so that I can more fully exercise my right to free speech. No where in the Constitution does it say that Congress shall tax my neighbors so that I can purchase a microphone, speakers, or even a teleprompter! In short, what our Constitution does say is that Congress shall not get in the way of me exercising my right to speak. It is up to me to exercise my right to speak; Congress is not authorized to help me do this.

Now, if healthcare were such a fundamental right then it is likely that our Founding Fathers would have stated something along the lines of:

Congress shall make no law restricting the right of the people to access healthcare.

Our Founding Fathers didn’t write that.

But, for the sake of argument, let’s pretend that healthcare is a right, perhaps contained in the “penumbras” of our Constitution. In fact, let’s say that the implicit “right” to healthcare is as important as the explicit right to free speech. Even with the elevated significance of this new “right” would the Framers of our Constitution have given Congress the power to coerce my neighbors into paying for my crutches or wheelchair? Would the Framers have authorized Congress to take away the right of American citizens to choose their medical care? The clear answer to these two questions is HELL NO!

So the next time you hear the slogan, “Healthcare is a right”, remember the definition of a right in Constitutional terms. Congress needs to butt out and not interfere with the healthcare “rights” of individual American citizens.

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What I can say is that I’ve written a couple of letters to the editors of the Free Press regarding past inaccuracies. I’m not surprised that the Free Press chose not to publish my letters as they pointed out obvious misrepresentations contained within their stories. When a news organization portrays itself as an “arbiter of truth” they are unlikely to publish letters that point out their incomplete or biased reporting as that could impact their bottom line. If enough readers viewed their news articles as incomplete or biased it could reduce the number of readers willing to pay for their products. Wait a minute! This has happened already as the Free Press has had a decline in readership such that it implemented a drastic cut back in their home delivery.

This post will elaborate on the omission I observed in the ObamaCare article. You won’t have to just take my word for it as I provide links to sources where you can verify the information yourself. The Free Press article, written August 9 by Todd Spangler, is titled, “Plenty of misinformation in health care debate”. This article tries to present the impression that the Free Press will clear up the misinformation and provide the reader with the unvarnished truth. As part of their analysis the Free Press concludes that illegal immigrants will not have access to free health care under HR3200 (ObamaCare). The Free Press wrote:

Here’s what we found: That page of the bill prohibits discrimination in health care. And in Section 246 — on Page 143 — federal health care payments for people in the country illegally are explicitly prohibited.

While the Free Press’ findings may be true it does not mean that illegal immigrant won’t get free health care. How can that be?! Well, the Free Press did not publish the whole story. They left out some key information. As pointed out in a previous post, Rat Out Gary Peters to flag@whitehouse.gov , the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted down an amendment to HR3200 that would have explicitly denied Medicaid health care benefits to illegal aliens. This amendment, introduced by Nathan Deal (R-Ga), was defeated in committee by a 29-28 vote. When presented with an opportunity to clarify their position on this topic, Congress chose not to.

So, at the end of the day, will illegal immigrants have access to free health care? It certainly appears that way to me. But the Free Press concludes otherwise without presenting the full story.

This sort of reminds me of what it’s like to buy a used car. You look at it. Kick the tires. Maybe you take a test drive. You ask the salesman about it. He says it had a minor repair to the door after a fender bender. But when you drove it there was a lot of wind noise. The paint was off-color just slightly on the entire driver’s side. And, a few other things just didn’t add up. He wasn’t being dishonest—he told you about the accident and that the door was repaired. But he didn’t tell you about all the other repairs that evidently were made or how extensive the damage really was.

Isn’t the Free Press a lot like a used car salesman? Would you buy a car from the Free Press?

In the interest of full disclosure the following links are provided:

Congressman Deal’s comments on his amendment.
See how your Congressman voted on the Deal Amendment.
View the entire Free Press article.

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Fear not, even without a town hall meeting you can still make your voice be heard and help prevent a government bureaucrat from dictating what you can and cannot do regarding your healthcare and that of your family! (Government dictating your health care is analogous to your neighbor, whom you may not personally know, telling you which treatments are allowed for your child. Nothing against my neighbors, but it is my right to make these decisions.) Simultaneous protest rallies against ObamaCare are being conducted in every Congressional District. Most rallies are being held outside of the Congressman’s office; however, there are many that are being held at alternate locations. These rallies are being held Saturday August 22, 2009. From what I’ve observed the rallies start at noon – go to recessrally.com to find details for your specific location.
Your attendance at a rally will make a difference in shaping public opinion. If you are reading this post you are probably quite aware of the dangers of socialized medicine. Not all Americans are as aware of these dangers as you. A larger turnout makes a larger impact upon public opinion – it makes it harder for our leaders and the media to ignore our concerns.

A couple of final thoughts: 1) Bring a sign with you. It doesn’t have to be large or fancy. It could just be an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper written in crayon. 2) If you are geographically close to two rally locations then I’d recommend you select the rally that has a Democrat Representative, especially a freshman Democrat. Click here for a listing of freshmen in the 111th Congress.

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The conversation with the staffer was conducted in the shelter of Mr. Peters’ office which was physically located well away from the rally forming along the street outside. Along with the staffer and myself were about a half-dozen other concerned citizens. From the questions being asked I sensed that none in this group were happy about the thought of ceding control of their health care to nameless, faceless, and unaccountable government bureaucrats.

The staffer’s answers to two questions raised during this short question and answer session made a strong impression upon me. Actually let me restate this – the staffer’s non-answers to two questions were quite interesting. He would not say that Mr. Peters and his family would give up their current health insurance and be subject to the rules and regulations of ObamaCare. I interpreted his evasion as confirmation that the ruling class of our nation would not accept socialized medicine for their loved ones. I wonder which political allies of the ruling class will also be exempted. Where do I sign up to get an exemption?

The second question that generated a non-answer was why the federal government was requiring each citizen to provide access to their bank account information. Talk about big brother – this is big brother on steroids! Whatever happened to the right to privacy that was contained in the penumbras of our Constitution as indicated in the Roe v. Wade decision? Rather than provide an answer the staffer provided each citizen of a copy of “talking points” addressing so-called myths about HR 3200. I read the talking points and it unclear to me the extent to which big brother will have access to my financial information. However, something else caught my attention.

Page one of the talking points indicate that health care benefits will not be provided to illegal aliens. This is not the case. An amendment to HR 3200 which would have explicitly denied benefits to illegal aliens was voted down in the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Politicians are a crafty bunch. They include some convoluted legal language that appears to indicate that illegals are not covered and then they vote down a specific amendment that seeks to clarify this. If ObamaCare does pass it will be up to the courts to interpret the meaning of this ambiguous legislation – you know what will happen then. The American Taxpayer will be stuck holding the bag. In light of this blatant misinformation I think I may send an email to the “Brown Shirts” at flag@whitehouse.gov. I do recall that the President requested American citizens use his website to report back to him anytime they hear of “fishy” information regarding his health plan. Hmm, is it also my duty to report my neighbor and his whacked out ideas about health care? Where do I turn in my neighbor regarding his whacked out ideas regarding Cap and Trade? Anyway, I’m sure the administration will take quick action to correct Mr. Peters’ mistake… LOL.

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 For the most part the two groups of protester stayed to themselves.  Inevitably though there was bantering back and forth along the frontlines that separated the two groups.  I would say that while few in numbers, the counter-protestors were better organized.  They appeared to have a formal leader who would use his bullhorn in an attempt to rev up his troops with the mindless chant of “WHAT DO WE WANT”, “HEALTHCARE”, “WHEN DO WE WANT IT”, “NOW”.  His bullhorn was only marginally effective as those against ObamaCare would yell “FREEDOM” in place of “HEALTHCARE” and we vastly outnumbered them.  I also heard people insert the words “NEW PRESIDENT” in place of “HEALTHCARE”.  Hmm, I think I’ll try and find a bullhorn for the next rally.

I’m really not 100% certain who organized the rally.  I’m guessing it might have been a Tea Party group from the local area.  I found out about it from the internet.  Anyway, it was my sense that this protest group was formed on an ad hoc basis, a far cry from the “organized” protest groups being derided by mainstream media organizations.  But, what if this group of people were formally organized to conduct this protest against socialized medicine?  Does it matter if this was a grass roots protest or an “Astroturf” protest?  (I have heard Senator Harry Reid (D) use the term “Astroturf protester” in a derogatory manner in an attempt to impugn their character, implying that their concerns with a government takeover of 1/6 of our economy was somehow fake or phony.)  Although, if in fact this was an organized protest, then President Obama should have been beaming with pride.  After all he was formerly a community organizer.

It was both exciting and informative to be part of the protest.  It was exciting because I thought that perhaps our nation has a chance to hold back the wave of big government activism being foisted upon us.  It was informative to have the opportunity to chat with many like-minded individuals whom I’d never met before.  All of these individuals had the same concerns that I had.  They were concerned about letting politicians and government bureaucrats dictate and ration their health care.  They know how poor of a job that our leaders have done managing the finances of Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security and they are not willing to cede more control to them.  In the war against creeping socialism, this battle was won by the good guys.  It is a small victory but a victory none the less.  Many more victories are needed; many more volunteers are vital.  Contact me at limitedgov@gmail.com if you want to help—or post a comment on this blog.

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