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Over the last few years, I have received many complements on my previous
blog, “Health Care Needs a Heart Transplant”. Although many agree with my
assessment on this issue, the most common reoccurring questions are: “how will
it get paid?” and “who will pay for it?” While I have a few ideas who the
government should audit in order to recover wasted capital—money that could
otherwise be used towards a laudable program such as healthcare reform, I must
frankly state; I have no idea how to pay for it. After all, if the governments
most “brilliant” and “talented officials”, who have all the data and resources
to make it work, can’t get along well enough to figure it out, how can a common
citizen, who has limited education and resources on the subject, find a
solution? I would have to be completely arrogant and culpably obtuse to believe
that I possess the solutions to such a bewildering topic. Rather than throwing
up my hands in defeat however, all the while complaining that the White House
doesn’t represent the common man’s values and beliefs, I’ll try to contribute a
thought or two.
Most American’s know that this country was founded on a system of checks
and balances. This system was established by our founding fathers to protect
citizens from the corruption of two major power heads—business and government.
These two entities immediately declared war when the business sector maintained
that government should be limited (small government) and power should remain in
the hands of the people. The opponent
claimed however, that the expansion of government powers will protect the common
people from unjust work demands and financial misfortunes (labor laws,
regulations, and social programs). As
the years passed, each administration pushed bills that supported their social,
economic, and political ideologies through the legislature. Nearly every conservative
bill that was passed by one administration was escorted by a new regulation or
watchdog agency in the next.
Much of this enormous government that we have today encompasses a variety
of Wall Street, employment, consumer, communication, and social programs
watchdogs. Ironically, the very same entity that established the organizations
to secure fair and just commerce in the business sector has gone on a spending
spree. The difference however, is that there are not any legal, nonpartisan
watchdog organizations to enforce the laws on the United States government and
their agencies. So while individual Americans are under the microscope, the
powers within the government go unchecked.
Even though I do not support another expansion of government, I do however;
support a system of checks and balances. It seems to me that we have enough
checks to keep the business sector balanced, but we do not have nearly enough
checks to balance our federal government. With nearly $17 trillion in national
debt, not to mention the $1.8 to $2.6 trillion that taxpayers will pay for
Obama Care over the next 10 years, I believe that we need to balance our Nation’s
checkbook immediately.
Any business man will tell you that one has to invest in the business
before it can make money. Perhaps if we invest in bipartisan watchdog to
oversee that American taxes are being used appropriately, and to prosecute
those who are manipulating, misusing, mismanaging, and swindling the system, we
would uncover enough funds to support real healthcare reform. When one hears
about the 1,000 IRS employees over a two-year period misusing their government
credit cards, the GSA which is in charge of cutting costs, spends $835k on a lavish
convention in Las Vegas, and ironically, 34% of national spending on public health
has been on substance misuse and abuse; one has to take another look at how our
taxes are being used. Perhaps the question is not how are we going to come up
with the funding for real health care reform, but how are we going to balance
our checkbook so we can have the things that are important?
Sandie RH Hart
Beaumont, Texas
Beaumont, Texas
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