Linda Turley-Hansen:
All the warnings went unheeded. As lovely as the idea is for every American citizen to receive better health care, we know the unattainable will eventually take down an already floundering economy.
And, as we are forced to feed the monster, other priorities will lose their place in line.
In case you think I’m a parrot for the great unwashed, note the news this past week out of our Governor’s office. Hit harder than most states in the economic downturn, Arizona has suffer major cutbacks in state health services. Don’t look to Obamacare to rescue us from ourselves anytime soon, if ever.
Gov. Jan Brewer warned the President several weeks ago that the Arizona experiment is in trouble and he can expect the same with his plan. Many states issued similar warnings. But, never mind that now; currently we’re locked onto the monstrosity that will unconstitutionally invade family budgets in the name of compassion for all.
In her March 10 letter to the President, Brewer reminded him that Arizona is recognized as one of the country’s best Medicaid models, yet “the program today demands nearly one in five state dollars, limiting our ability to invest in other critical services such as education, public safety… and job growth.”
She said, instead of Obamacare complimenting Arizona’s system, it will require that we actually pay twice: “Once for our program and then once more for the higher match for other states.”
She begged him to reconsider. “More power is centralized in Washington, D.C.,” she noted. “And the state’s become just another financing mechanism.”
But, folks, the health crisis is not the worst. Laura Hollis in Townhall.com explains in her March 22 response to the passage of the bill:
“It is hard even for me, a civil procedure professor, to convey how gravely serious it is when Congress manipulates or disregards the proper legislative procedures to ram through legislation that is contrary to the will of the American public.”
And, I add, the democrat justification that other administrations have also played dirty wantonly feeds the rot and hastens the decomposition of our root protections.
When no one stands guard over our precious rights, we are doomed and now are expected to shut up about it.
Enter: State’s rights.
Federalism has moved to the forefront. We now look closer to home for control over our lives. And when you ask, “What more can we do?” – it is there.
I explored this topic last year when Clint Bolick, litigation director for the Goldwater Institute, predicted: “Federalism will be the defining legal issue in the Obama era.”
The good news: “The U.S. Supreme Court is the most pro-federalism court in our lifetimes.”
But it won’t happen without citizens’ aggressive response against a “Goliath that prints its own money at a whim and buys votes.”
Time is short. Key players urgently encourage states to be aggressive.
We’ve seen the maps showing legal actions in progress as most states begin the fight to block the bulldozing Feds. Arizona’s visionary legislators saw this health incursion coming when it put into this fall’s ballot a measure to amend the state constitution. The measure declares that Arizonans — and only Arizonans — will determine their health care system.
In fact, there are multiple measures in the state’s pipeline designed to put the Feds on notice that Arizona intends to maintain its sovereignty in most areas.
So, the fight is on our doorsteps. We cannot give up one more inch of ground.
Thankfully, most citizens understand that confiscating our neighbor’s income, in order to attain “free” health care, destroys the very core of a civilized society. There are better ways to serve those in need. We must find them and take the time to do it right.
Turley-Hansen lives in the East Valley, is an Arizona syndicated columnist and was a veteran Phoenix TV anchor: turleyhansen@gmail.com
