A Liberal's Awakening to the Reality of ObamaCare

S. Paul Forrest
S. Paul Forrest
Oct. 02, 2010

On December 24, 2009, H.R. 3590 — Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law. Liberals around the world rose up in appreciation that Health Care Reform was finally coming to America. The Bill was touted as a major victory for Americans without health care coverage and was ushered through the legal process in an expeditious way. As the Bill now moves into action, many peripheral Bills and Executive Orders are being issued to emphasize the underlying methodology of the Bill. One action in particular — the regulation of organic foods and supplements, is coming to the forefront, awakening many Liberals to the realities of this Bill's damaging course.

Most Liberals have in the past hoped for health care reform. In particular, Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy had a dream of decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.  He campaigned vehemently on a platform to create an America that cares for its own without having income as a barrier to quality of life. Unfortunately, he died before seeing Obama's Health Care Bill passed in Congress. As it is now popularly known, ObamaCare was billed as the fulfillment of Kennedy's dream but, in reality, even if the great Senator had been alive when it was ratified, he still would not have seen his dream come to fruition. The reality is that ObamaCare stands as an example of what happens when politics and blind ambition mix in a solution of two parts deception and one part ignorance.

In the flurry of debate on the value of ObamaCare, many opinions and statements were given by both the Right and the Left side of the aisle. The Right stated that the plan is an expansion of big government with too much control, and the long term cost will be crippling to the country's economy. The Left has stuck to quoting the statistics of 45,000 people dying prematurely in America each year because they can’t afford proper care — and touting Kennedy's name to garner the support of their base. Both sides have fueled the fight with their version of the facts in an attempt to propel the American public to see the "realities" of ObamaCare, but only one was actually telling us the truth.

Republicans relentlessly argued that the plan would saddle the nation with unaffordable levels of debt; leave states with expensive new obligations; weaken Medicare; and give the government a huge new role in the healthcare system. The Left said that affordability and the covering of pre-existing conditions were the important factors involved, and this plan was a step toward achieving care for uninsured Americans.

As the media circus grew around this legislation, and accusatory fingers pointed toward both sides of the aisle, it seemed that no one had actually read the Bill. This became clear when Nancy Pelosi, the Leader of the Left, made the statement: “Congress has to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it, away from the fog of controversy.” She was advocating the passing of this Economic Giant of a Bill without even taking the time to read it. This was my first realization that something was very wrong beneath the streets of Obama Land.

Given this obvious attempt to pass this Historic Bill and advocating ignorance as the driving force for its acceptance, I decided to read the Bill to find the answers myself. The opening sections outline a beautiful system for providing Americans with health care that is not only affordable, but complete in order to achieve the purpose of, "building on what works in today's health care system, while repairing the aspects that are broken." In section (1) of the Bill, it states: “The purpose of this division is to provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending.” This, I believe, is as far as most people decided to read, if they read it at all.  After digesting the complexities of this Bill and after some serious self-reflection and swallowing of my Liberal pride, I came to a disturbing conclusion: The Republicans were right.

The Bill's foreword (a simplified version of what is supposedly in the Bill) painted a picture of the very hope I had been expecting. The real purpose to the Bill, however, is quite different than that cryptically outlined in the foreword. The reality is that this Bill gives the President the freedom to set up Health Care Commissions to oversee the Health and Welfare of the People. The plan unfolding, generated by overzealous propaganda by the Left and now touted as the greatest health care reform of our time, is well beyond the imagination of even the most twisted, Marxist mind. The Health Care Reform outlined in the text is a collection of the most controlling, government expanding piece of legislation I have ever read.

The reality is that H.R. 3590 sets up a system of governmental oversight and control that boggles the mind. The numbers of panels and departments under the general cloak of this Bill are astounding. Commissioners, Administrators, Ombudsmen and Committees of all shapes and sizes are enacted to oversee the implementation and continuation of this Act. This Bill doesn't just redefine Health Care; it completely redefines the structure of it. The Bill translates into a system that allows the creation and proliferation of programs like what is outlined in H.R. 875 and the Food Safety Administration. It is the very thing that I have heard a flurry of frustration about from the Left: control over organic supplements and foods without their first being checked and labeled by a government agency.  H.R. 875 essentially sets up a system where people will not be subjected to foods or supplements that could pose a threat to their health.

Similarly, Senate Bill 425: Food Safety and Tracking Improvement Act, performs the same control over our choices of foods. This particular Bill plans to: "Amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide for the establishment of a traceability system for food, to amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspections Act, the Egg Products Inspection Act, and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide for improved public health and food safety through enhanced enforcement, and for other purposes.” It is essentially the control and inevitable destruction of free organics in America, courtesy of the Lobbyists for corporations like Monsanto. The irony is that these same people standing against organics are allowing genetic, antibiotic, and steroidal manipulation of our food without even a second thought.

The recent Bills and Executive Orders being implemented in the after-hours workings of the Obama Regime are all interconnected, purposeful moves to control the "health" of the population. Our entire food system, and thus our health choices, are being decided without public knowledge in a land called Democratic; our vote has not been counted. Unbeknownst to most Americans, H.R. 3590 specifically requires a committee to list the priorities for “lifestyle behavior modification” that the government will pursue. This translates into control of our choices of diet. Is this what Liberals were thinking of when we all together stood symbolically with Obama to bring Health Care to America? Is this what we foresaw as the solution to our collective Health Care dilemma? Control over choices?

According to Karl Marx, a defining characteristic of Capitalism is that it alienates man from himself, from the true nature of work, and from others. This alienation may be partially moderated by consumption; by accepting the dominant ideas of what is the 'good life.’ This philosophy is represented in the fabric of the Obama Plan. Each day, he takes us one more step from freedom of choice toward a controlled environment. In a ‘pure’ Marxist society, the State is a democratic system that manages all aspects of production — essentially making the State the head of all industry. The sad part of this is that we are allowing it to happen.

I am proud to call myself a Liberal, and I have to say that when the Right first started their campaign against Obama, calling him a Marxist and attempting to defeat every plan of action introduced by him, I was deeply frustrated. I couldn't understand the hate and messages that seemed to drip with racism and ignorance. Today, though, it is a different perspective and a different emotion I am feeling. Today, I stand deeply hurt and disappointed by the deception of this man. Obama stood in front of us all with silver tongue and pearly smile promising Change to America. He has brought change all right, but it is a kind of change that will leave deep scars on the backs of this great nation. It is the kind of change that has set us in turmoil and split the sides of the aisle with a seemingly irreconcilable divide.

In the past few years, I have read and researched constantly in an effort to defend our President, trying to argue that he is good for this country. In the recent months, however, I have realized how very wrong I was to do so. After many months of sailing aboard the USS Obama, I am clamoring to find the lifeboats. With my Awakening to the Reality of Obama Care, and so many more of his initiatives of "Change," I have decided to abandon this ship sailing into the fog of deception and take my chances on the open political ocean with windblown waters in the desperate hope that eventually my little boat will once again find the free, teeming shores of America.