Senator Jim DeMint

Senator Jim DeMint And The Big Lie Technique: The “Individual Mandate”

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South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint has become a master of the Big Lie Technique, which was masterfully used by Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany!

Of course, the Big Lie Technique is that if you repeat and perpetuate a lie enough times, most people will believe it!

DeMint, infamous for saying his goal was to make the Health Care reform President Obama’s “Waterloo”, has stated that the “Individual Mandate”, which requires everyone to purchase health insurance by 2014, will require the Internal Revenue Service to hire 16,000 agents to hunt down and arrest citizens who refuse to buy health insurance, and also refuse to pay a fine.

If one actually looks at the wording of the Health Care reform legislation, one discovers that while it is expected that everyone purchase health insurance, and that there is a fine if one does not do so, there is no enforcement mechanism that actually will penalize anyone who does not do so!

And right now, there are about 16,000 IRS agents, and there is no plan to double the number of agents because of the so called “Individual Mandate”.

What it comes down to is that every citizen in this country has a responsibility to purchase health insurance, so as not to become a burden on the rest of us if he or she gets sick or is injured. Is it really too much to say that just as all of us are required to pay taxes, obey traffic laws, and in theory be available to serve on juries and to exercise our right to vote, as well as fill out census forms once in ten years, that we also have a basic responsibility to do what we can to protect our health, just as we are expected to insure our homes and automobiles against danger?

It is time for everyone to realize their basic responsibilities to their country, as John F. Kennedy enunciated in his Inaugural Address in 1961. It is time for us to realize that protecting our health, and caring about the health of our fellow citizens, is more important than having those extra drinks, tobacco, and illegal drugs that undermine our health and safety, and that a responsibility of adulthood is to insure our health, as much as we somehow find the ability to support our need for food, clothing and shelter.

It is also time for the GOP to stop spreading lies and propaganda about Health Care reform, and to accept the responsibility to stop dividing us and in the process of doing so, encouraging confrontation and lawlessness that could at anytime lead to bloodshed and violence!

Congressional Term Limits Amendment Arises Again: Terrible Idea!

Ronald 2 Comments

A group of conservative Republicans is reviving an idea that failed years ago: Congressional term limits. This is, of course, as likely to happen as men landing on Mars in the next decade! LOL There is no way that Congress will vote to limit its own terms!

This proposal by Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, arguably two of the worst members of the Senate in its history, makes sense if you look at the authors of the proposal, but is pure demagoguery for political purposes and would not be a good development were it to happen in reality!

Their idea is that Senate service should be twelve years or two terms, and House service should be just six years, or three two year terms.

The first question that arises is why the difference in term limits for the two houses, which automatically will make it dead upon arrival. What makes the Senate think it is more important, that therefore it should have twice as much time for service than the House?

Secondly, it fails to hold accountable the average American voter who needs to be held responsible for who is in office, by paying attention to the issues and the incumbents’s records while serving. If the people are informed and unhappy at the performance of their public officials, then they have the option every two years to throw out a Congressman, and every six years to dismiss a Senator to retirement.

Third, if we were to limit officeholders to such short terms of service, then it would mean experience and competence would be thrown out the window, and we would lose many competent, outstanding senators and representatives and have them replaced by political hacks who see the position of serving in Congress as a temporary honor with no commitment to doing good service, but rather favoring special interests to promote their own aggrandizement once they leave the brief public service. It would also give congressional staff members ultimate power because of experience having dealt with the issues of government longer than the actual congressional membership.

Public service should be seen as a commitment and welcome the best among us in society, not to banish them after a preset amount of time. Would we want anyone in any field of work who can contribute good service, such as doctors, lawyers, professors, journalists, engineers, etc, to be told they cannot make a career for which they have major ability to contribute, because of the narrow mindedness of some inferior legislators who do not see public service as a calling, but rather an opportunity to promote an ideological agenda?

Do we really want to lose future Henry Clays, Daniel Websters, Robert LaFollettes, Hubert Humphreys, Robert Tafts, Arthur Vandenbergs, Robert Doles, Ted Kennedys, Sam Rayburns, Thomas O’Neills, and many other distinguished public servants?

I say NO, that the answer is not term limits, but imposing real limits on fundraising by pressure groups on political campaigns, and the need to impose real ethics reforms so that Congress will truly represent the viewpoints of the American people, and not the corrupt intentions of corporate interests that make us mistrust our government leaders.

Executive term limits are one thing–on Presidents, governors and mayors–who individually have real ability to abuse power by unlimited terms. But legislators, not having the same individual power as executives, are best left to the term limits established by the American people at the election booths!

Another Embarrassment For South Carolina

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South Carolina has had two embarrassing incidents this year already, and now there is a third.

First, the saga of Governor Mark Sanford going off to Argentina to see his lover, his wife moving out of the executive mansion, his refusal to shut up about the affair, and the move now to try to impeach him, since he will not resign–all this does not help the image of the Palmetto state.

Then Congressman Joe Wilson shouting “You Lie” at President Barack Obama in a joint session of Congress adds to the bad image of his state. It certainly also hurt the image of the Republican party.

Now two GOP county chairmen decided to write an article comparing the “penny pinching” of Senator Jim DeMint to the anti Semitic view of wealthy Jews saving pennies. They later apologized, but the damage was done, nevertheless.

Needless to say, this is despicable, not only for the anti Semitic tone, but also because the record of Jews is to be major contributors to charities and to social causes. This is an old attack on Jews that has been around for many centuries, and is not appropriate to be uttered by any office holder or political spokesman in this country.

Fortunately, Senator DeMint denounced this anti Semitic article, but a lot more needs to be done to resuscitate the image of South Carolina!

Senator Jim DeMint And Health Care

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Republican Senator Jim DeMint, rapidly becoming regarded as the most right wing member of the Senate, has stated that health care is not a right that all Americans have, but rather a privilege.

This comes from a man who is pro life, but apparently believes it only goes as far as making sure every fetus is born, but leaving health care after it to chance, rather than an organized plan to help the millions of children and their parents who lack health care or have inadequate health care.

Senator DeMint is to be condemned for this heartless viewpoint about the right to health care, which is clearly a RIGHT, not a privilege!