Posted by
Russell Neglia on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 9:00:00 PM
When Congressman Joe Wilson yelled, “you lie” during a speech on health care to a joint session of Congress by President Obama, he was condemned for it
throughout the country. I would
agree that yelling something during a presidential speech is in poor taste,
however, did President Obama lie?
Congressman Wilson yelled this after the President said that his health
care reform would not apply to illegal immigrants. Was this a lie?
Let’s look at the evidence, or as Sergeant Friday of Dragnet fame would
say “just the facts ma’am.”
When President Obama said that the health care reform would
not apply to illegal aliens he stated a falsehood (you may say a lie). This is a falsehood because, although
the Democrats say that the new health care reform does not cover illegal
aliens, the fact of it is that it does.
How do I know that?
Simple! The law, as written
prohibits the verification of legal immigrant status, so how can it not cover
illegal aliens when no one is required to prove that he or she is a legal
alien? Another falsehood of
Obamacare is about abortion. Why
is this a falsehood (aka, a lie)?
Although President Obama stated clearly in his
speech that his health care reform will not pay for abortion, the Democrats
refused to include language to prohibit this same funding. When the House recently passed the
reform bill they were forced to include the Stupak Amendment, which does
prohibit abortion funding. Why
would the Democrats have to be forced to include such an amendment when the
President clearly said that the health care reform would not pay for
abortion? This claim by the
Democrats, not to fund abortion, has been a falsehood from the beginning.
As you may be aware, the current fight to have the Senate
pass this bill hangs on this very issue about abortion funding, why? Why, when the President promised that
it would not fund abortion?
Because it has been a falsehood from the beginning. Joe Wilson was right.
The health care bills drafted so far by the Democrats have
also promised that it would not cover the so-called death panels. Well, there is no actual language about
death panels but the implication is that once the government has the power they
can decree whatever they want.
Take the following case in Britain:
The December 2009 issue of “First Things”[i]
reports that doctors at a national health care hospital in Britain left a
newborn baby to die because he was born too prematurely – and, when challenged,
they cited national guidelines for limiting perinatal care. According to the guidelines babies born
before twenty-two weeks gestation would be left to die and doctors were not
obligated to treat them. When the
mother of the newborn pleaded with the doctors to help her baby they curtly
told her they did not have to and wound not do so. Two hours after birth the newborn baby died in the arms of
her heartbroken and helpless mother.
This is what we have to look to if we get universal health care. Once this huge bureaucracy is
established it will never be overturned and it can never be contained, that is
there is no certainty that it would not adopt such guidelines. Are you prepared to give the government
control of your life or your children’s life? God help us if it succeeds.
[i] First
Things, December 2009 p.70.