Glen Meakem: Wrong Side of History

December 12-13 – Wrong Side of History

I started last weekend’s radio show with good news! Despite political pressure from the Obama Administration and other leftist governments around the world, the Honduran Congress voted (111-14) to uphold the rule of law in their country, and not allow former President Manuel Zelaya to return to power.

Zelaya was removed from office in June at the direction of the Honduran Supreme Court after Zelaya illegally and repeatedly attempted to violate the Honduran constitutional limit of one single four-year Presidential term. (He wanted to be President for life like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and many other leftist leaders in history.) Instead of placing him in prison to stand trial, the Supreme Court ordered the Honduran military to escort Zelaya out of the country, as long as he promised never to return. (Of course, he later did return and has been hiding in the Brazilian embassy.)

Many leftist leaders, including Hugo Chavez, the Castro brothers, and President Obama, called Zelaya’s removal from power a military coup, even though a member of Zelaya’s own political party is serving out the rest of his term, and the military always remained under civilian, constitutional authority. The fact is Zelaya defied the constitution, the congress, and the supreme court of his country. Let’s be clear, the only "coup" in this situation was the attempt by Zelaya to overturn the constitutional law that limits Presidents to a single four-year term in office. President Obama should be ashamed of his alliance with Chavez and the Castro brothers against the Honduran people. He was clearly on the wrong side of history. The good news is that millions of regular Hondurans rejected international pressure and constitutional democracy is prevailing in Honduras.

The Obama administration has taken sides against the American people with its recent EPA ruling that classifies the CO2 we all exhale as a dangerous pollutant. After India announced that it will not sign any binding agreement to cut CO2 emissions at Copenhagen, after the Australian Senate voted 41 to 33 against Cap and Trade legislation, after the release of thousands of computer documents that show UNIPCC (United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) collaborators fabricated climate data to support man made global warming theory and then destroyed the original source data (ClimateGate), and after the U.S. Senate announced that it will postpone debate on Cap and Trade until next year, any momentum on moving Cap and Trade legislation ahead in the U.S. Congress has clearly stalled. But President Obama was not content to lose this battle. A top White House official announced that if Congress did not pass this legislation, then "the EPA is going to have to regulate in this area. And it is not going to be able to regulate in a market-based way, so it’s going to have to regulate in a command and control way, which will probably generate even more uncertainty." When asked about this action taken by the Obama Administration, conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer said, "Look, its black mail, a way of saying to Congress: ‘either you do cap-and-trade or we’re gonna do cap, no trade.’ " When officials in the White House are talking about imposing "command and control" on the United States economy, they are clearly on the wrong side of history.

Again, let’s be clear, there is no scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic (man made) global warming. Even the New York Times and the BBC-two media outlets which have historically promoted the UN political agenda that is man made global warming-have recently acknowledged the correlation between sun spot activity and global temperatures.

Meanwhile, an early arctic storm swept across the United States last week, dumping three feet of snow in Northern California and delivering ice, snow, and high winds to large sections of the country. States of emergency were declared in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and parts of Iowa saw temperatures that fell to minus 5 degrees. Even the University of Wisconsin in Madison closed for the first time in 30 years due to the snow and cold. The Earth is simply doing its normal thing. If you study Earth history, you will learn that the only thing that is constant about the Earth is change. From about 1940 until about 1974, we experienced a cooling trend (to the point that a cover story in Time magazine predicted the next ice age). From 1974 through 1998, we had an overall warming trend. Since 1998, we have gone back to a cooling trend. It may be possible that human economic activity is having some small impact on our overall climate, but all the real evidence indicates that there are much bigger forces and feedback loops at work that we do not understand. Solar cycles now appear to be the biggest force – although this theory will require many more years of scientific study. One thing is very, very clear to any rational observer — we humans should not overestimate our power to control anything.

The theory of man made global warming is in many ways the penultimate example of human hubris.

Even if there were real science that demonstrated with actual data that MAN MADE global warming existed, Lisa Jackson, President Obama’s EPA administrator has acknowledged that capping U.S. atmospheric CO2 production will do nothing to reduce CO2 in our atmosphere because India and China have stated they will do nothing to reduce their production. In addition, even the European and Asian countries that committed to reduce their emissions in the Kyoto Treaty, have failed miserably to follow their words with actual deeds. (At least the Indians and Chinese are honest!) Numerous studies have already demonstrated that a cap and trade system will destroy as many as 4 million American jobs (as those jobs are shipped to India and China) while raising energy costs for every American household by $3,000 a year. While on the campaign trail last year, President Obama himself stated that under his cap and trade system, "electricity rates would necessarily sky rocket." Give me a break! Economic pain for no gain makes no sense!

The American people should hold President Obama and the Democratic Party accountable at the polls for their hypocritical rejection of science and their reckless disregard of economic impact when it comes to supposed man made global warming. Here again, President Obama is on the wrong side of history.

President Obama also continues to side against the American people in the current healthcare debate. Dr. Frank Tilli, a Cardiologist at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, joined me this weekend to discuss providing health care services in the real world outside the halls of Congress, and the problems he sees with the Democratic Party’s efforts to impose government controlled health care upon America.

Frank states that at best, average Americans will receive mediocre care. He believes that the Senate healthcare plan will actually increase the number of people unable to access care. He believes this because under various versions of the Democratic Party health bills, Medicare reimbursement rates will be cut by at least 30%, and hospitals will continue to inflate charges and shift costs to private insurers in order to pay for Medicaid and Medicare patients. This is not sustainable.

Instead of addressing real reform, the Democratic Party’s current proposals preserve and exacerbate every problem in the current healthcare system. Frank believes we need tort reform to address the expensive problems of sky high medical mal-practice judgments and insurance and the resulting defensive medicine. We need free market reforms that create competition by allowing the 1,300 current healthcare insurance companies to compete across state lines. And we also need to create portability by allowing individuals and families to keep their current healthcare coverage, even if they lose a job or move to a different state. These real reforms can be best accomplished by increasing freedom and personal responsibility, not be decreasing them.

Even though Americans overwhelmingly oppose the healthcare legislation that is currently being debated in Washington D.C., Obama and liberal leaders continue to try to ram a government run healthcare system through Congress. Every version of this nationalization of health care that is currently pending increases healthcare premiums, increases tax rates, and decreases current Medicare and Medicaid coverage. And this is true of the Senate bill even with the proposal to reduce the age of Medicare enrollees. Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY) said of this latest proposal in the Senate that it is "an unvarnished, complete victory for people like me who have been arguing for a single-payer system."

Let’s be clear, this bill would REDUCE FREEDOM and the QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE for the American people. It would REQUIRE everyone to enter into contracts for health insurance whether they want to or not, and would impose individual fines (or even jail time) upon individuals who fail to purchase a government approved plan. Under the legislation, the government would determine the exact definition of "approved plans" including all government imposed mandates. If a person does not want abortion coverage, massage therapy, or any other mandates that the Federal government decides are necessary, too bad! Each individual American will be required by the government to enter into a contract to cover each of these services as part of their overall required plan. It also dramatically expands the number of Medicaid and Medicare enrollees, while actually reducing reimbursement rates to Doctors and thus reducing the supply of medical professionals and hospital beds. And it exacts huge new taxes on businesses, individuals and existing "Cadillac" healthcare plans. Independent economic analyses are now saying that this legislation will dramatically INCREASE the cost of health care in America and eliminate another 1.6 million jobs from the U.S. economy. And here is a final thought: if this legislation is passed into law, it will face serious constitutional challenges because it violates our individual rights to freely contract for services as decided in the benchmark Lochner case of 1905. No matter what happens this cold winter, the health care fight will continue.

Sara Mohsin, cofounder and CEO of a small mortgage brokerage firm and supporter of my radio program told her entrepreneurial story this weekend. Sara loves this country and the opportunities offered here. She is creating jobs, paying salaries, and providing healthcare for her employees during a time when many businesses and employers are going under. I can tell you from experience, that rather than simply trying to "close the deal," she strives to provide her customers with a service that encourages referrals and repeat business. As a result, Mohsin Mortgage has experienced steady growth, even in this current economic downturn. Whether you want to buy a new house, a piece of commercial real estate, or even an airplane, give Sara a call at 1-800-662-9550.

It has been an exhausting year for many of us who oppose President Obama’s agenda. And Democrats are still trying to pass ObamaCare before the end of this year. They are hoping that we will ignore their actions as we turn our attention away from politics and towards our friends and families this Christmas and Hanukah season. We must keep up the fight. If you have not called, emailed, or sent a postcard to your Senators and Representatives recently, please take the time to do so. There is still a chance that we can "kill the bill," but we must remain vigilant.

I am so grateful to you for your support, encouragement, and for your love of our country. Together, we will continue to have a positive impact.
Sincerely,

Glen Meakem
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