After the French and Indian Wars, the British government imposed a number of taxes and restrictions on the residents of their American colonies. These were not well received by the colonists; largely because they were imposed without any representation in Parliament. This was a clear violation of English constitutional law and led to widespread protests and civil disobedience. In response, the crown passed a number of measures that came to known as the Intolerable Acts which propelled the colonists into open insurrection. Now, after more than 200 years of independence, those in Washington charged with protecting individual liberties as is their charge in the Constitution, seem more inclined to attack the very liberties which they are sworn to protect. Clearly, this means that millions are not being represented in Congress. And many of the laws that they are currently considering serve no purpose other than social engineering and wealth redistribution, and they are no more tolerable than the Intolerable acts were in their day.
The new intolerable acts include healthcare reform (which includes a proposed tax on sugar that I will from here on out refer to as the Sugar Act), cap and trade and numerous bailout bills, to name a few. These are all bills that are packed full of politically correct social engineering and taxes, all in the name of nanny government, and which do not represent the wishes of the majority of Americans.
More than 70% of all Americans are currently happy with their health insurance. Congress and the White House know this, and the number has been confirmed through numerous polls. Yet both Congress and the President appear determined to change the way health insurance is distributed. While some of these proposals are good – things like eliminating “pre-existing conditions” as a reason for being uninsurable – the vast majority of them are not.
The bill that is being considered in the House of Representatives will actually make it illegal for insurance companies to sell new, private, individual insurance policies after the bill is passed (if you don’t believe me, read page 16 of the bill). Those with existing policies will be able to keep them, but they will never be able to change their carrier and may be limited in the changes they can make to their coverage with their existing carrier.
The bill will also tax health insurance policies that are employer provided. Supposedly, this tax will be used to provide health insurance benefits to the millions of people in this country without insurance. While that may sound like a “politically correct” solution to the problem, it is hardly a palatable solution to the majority who are satisfied with their existing coverage.
What nobody seems to want to talk about is the fact that the Obama administration and Congress are specifically refusing to place any language in the bill that would bar millions of illegal aliens from receiving insurance under the bill. So as the average American’s costs are likely to rise under the Obama health reform bill, we can all rest easier at night knowing that anyone who sneaks under the border fence will have the ability to receive top notch medical care even though they are not paying income tax. This is clearly a redistribution of wealth and an exercise in social engineering.
The bill also contains the Sugar Act – a tax on sugar - in the name of fighting obesity. But what about those of us who are not obese and who enjoy sweets? Why should we be asked to pay for someone else’s lack of self control? Frankly, if people want to eat themselves to death that is really their own business. If the government wants to reduce the number of people who are obese, making physical education mandatory for all grades in school (which should be addressed at the state level) and allowing individuals to write off their gym memberships on their taxes would likely be far more effective than taxing everyone. Keep in mind that the geniuses writing this legislation are the same people who brought you the 1.6 gallon flush toilet – yes, that is congressionally mandated.
Cap and trade is another of the new Intolerable Acts. It is a tax on… well… everything. A social engineering program to force Americans to go “green”. But for what purpose? Environmentalists want you to believe that we can save the world from global warming. But the according to recent data from the EPA and NASA, the globe is actually cooling. Of course that is not the politically correct thing to say, so let’s take a look at the argument and who is making it.
Global warming is an idea that started in the scientific community but which rapidly gained the favor of both Hollywood and governments around the world. Hollywood liked it because it gave many on the fringe left a social cause. Government’s liked it because it was an excuse to tax and regulate. And many governments came together to agree to standards for greenhouse gas emissions. They did this in a treaty that has become known and the Kyoto Accord.
Unfortunately, the Kyoto treaty did very little to control emissions. It did however increase unemployment numbers in the countries that agreed to abide by it. It also stifled economic expansion in those countries. In Spain, for every job created by their “save the world, tree hugger” policies, 2.2 jobs were lost and unemployment soared to more than 17%.
The grim truth is that global warming provides governments with new sources of tax revenue in the name of “the greater good”. While governments may benefit, individuals lose on a number of fronts. The cost of goods and services will rise, for absolutely no reason. Governments can regulate products out of existence, along with the jobs of those who manufactured those products, simply because they claim that they contribute to global warming.
Cap and trade – if it ever becomes law – will impose hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes on Americans all in the name of saving the world. But how many people would really want to save the world if they knew it would mean $8 per gallon gasoline, skyrocketing electricity rates or that they wouldn’t be able to afford heating oil next winter? The government and the mainstream media aren’t talking about this. Fortunately, Barack Obama has talked about it himself.
Then of course there are the bailout bills. These bills were passed to “stimulate the economy” and create jobs. There is little evidence that they have done either.
Originally, the bills were promoted as job creators. Then the talk about them was modified to be about “saving or creating jobs”. Now, nobody is saying much of anything about how they are impacting jobs. That is largely because there is virtually no good news to report. There is also almost no hard economic data to show that any jobs have been created.
Between the first and second stimulus bills, public opinion polls shifted. That shift has continued and a majority of people are now worried about massive government spending. But that has not stopped Congress or the White House from attempting to spend even more money. Trillions of dollars more.
By now you may be thinking that yes, all of these bills are bad but what does any of this have to do with the Intolerable Acts? After all, the people who are voting for these bills were elected. But when bill after bill is passed even though a majority of citizens don’t support those bills, then you can make the argument that the Congress and the White House no longer provide any legitimate representation to the citizens that they govern. And if you think about that long and hard, it is not big leap to see how we may have come full circle as a country; throwing off the shackles of one non-representative government only to have it replaced two centuries later with another.
One can easily apply the words of the Declaration of Independence by saying that the American people have petitioned congress and the White House for redress in the most humble terms. These repeated petitions have and continue to be answered only by repeated injury. A governing body whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Whether or not Cap and Trade or Healthcare Reform pass has little to do with the enormous amount of pressure that the White House is applying to make them law. This is happening even in the face of significant data that shows these bills do not have the support of the American People. And of course, the bailout bills have already become legislative facts of life. If the other two bills pass in the face of public opposition, then it can safely be said that the government in Washington has assumed the position of tyrant and Americans will have their new Intolerable Acts.
by Jim Malmberg
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