"Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and corruption of manners make a people ripe for destruction. A good form of government may hold the rotten materials together for some time, but beyond a certain pitch, even the best constitution will be ineffectual, and slavery must ensue."

--John Witherspoon, The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men, 1776

Provided courtesy of SayNOtoSocialism.com

Coalition for Healthcare Redesign

Dave Racer

In a way I felt badly for my listeners. They had to confront some very hard facts about our great country that go far beyond, but include the provision of and payment for healthcare.

The United States is in trouble – deep and serious trouble. This is what I said to the professional health insurance agents in Peoria, Illinois on March 6. Then I laid out overwhelming statistics about state and federal spending, the increase in the national debt (in dollars and as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product), and most appallingly, the total unfunded debts and liabilities of American government. And I talked about cultural and moral decline.

Please, don’t stop reading. This is a vitally important message.

Dr. Larry Kotlikoff, a Boston University economics professor, totals the U.S. unfunded liabilities at $211 Trillion - $676,000 for every U.S. resident currently counted by the U.S. Census Bureau. These are funds that must be spent if we are to maintain the programs currently on the books. But that spending will never happen because it cannot happen. It cannot happen because we will be bankrupt before it can happen.

According to Peter Ferrara, in his must-read tome,America’s Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb, the U.S. public debt ratio to GPS will be 107 percent by the end of 2012. It will quickly climb thereafter to a level exceeding that which is destroying Greece today. If there is no sharp change in U.S. spending, it will lead to a world economic collapse.

I know, I know, these are harsh words and hard to read; not at all uplifting. Now, however, is time for sobriety and seriousness. Frankly, I wish I could give this same talk to all Americans. Maybe I could do it as a webinar. It is an urgent talk, a vital talk.

But there is more.

The U.S. at its root is not about money: it’s about ideas upon which we have built a great nation of free people, an exceptional nation in every way. One of our foundational ideas is moral integrity.

“We do not have money problems,” Alan Keyes often said during his 1996 presidential campaign. “We have moral problems.” The moral problems are directly related to how and why we spend money, as individuals, families, and governments. How we spend money on healthcare is directly related to our moral dilemma.

What I am about to write is likely to cost me some readers, because some people do not want to deal with these disturbing trends. Each of them, and far more, contributes to our cultural, moral, and financial decline.

Recently, a British bio-ethicist opined that a newborn baby should be treated the same as an unborn child – only he uses the “scientific” term, fetus. This “ethicist” believes that abortion law should apply to newborn babies – meaning parents should be free to kill the unwanted infant, just as they are able to do with babies still in the womb. Dr. Peter Singer, of Dartmouth, made the same observation years ago.

Dr. Zeke Emmanuel, former adviser to [Alleged] President Obama on healthcare reform and brother to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, believes we spend too much on healthcare for certain populations. In a 2010 Lancet article, Emmanuel and his co-authors suggested that we should reduce spending for children younger than about five, and adults older than about 62. He believes we should focus healthcare spending on others, healthier people with more life expectancy. Who should decide? Under ObamaCare, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, and others of the new federal MediCrats who know better than you, or me, or pastors, priests, rabbis, and Imams.

An 18-month old girl toddler declared one day, “I am a boy.” As a result, her parents are raising her as a boy, and intend to treat her with hormones to delay the onset of puberty. By age 17 or 18, the parents reason, the girl can choose to be a boy for life, and undergo transsexual surgery. The story is told in the context of an article about an emerging pediatric practice, whereby children are choosing to live as genders different from the one God created (oh, of course, they do not see that God has a role to play a role in these issues).

Parents of children with gender confusion hope that health insurance will pay for their children’s treatment as preventive care.

Lastly, is the latest report on children born out of wedlock – excuse the old-fashioned term. If you wish, I can just say “born to single mothers.” These statistics should set off alarms for the social cost awaiting our country, none of which figure into Dr. Kotlikoff’s calculations.

According to the National Institutes of Health, 29 percent of Caucasian babies are born to single moms. As bad as this sounds, 53 percent of Hispanic babies are born to single moms; the number for African-American babies soars to 73 percent. Even during slavery, as Alan Keyes points out in Masters of the Dream, only 15 percent of African-American babies were born into families without a father present.

We must integrate the underlying facts about our country’s financial and cultural demise with every decision we make about the future of U.S. healthcare. To pretend these are not relevant is to self-destruct.

The root cause and the real solution are the same: personal moral responsibility. A remnant still has it, but society in general seems to be tossing it aside.

We will keep fighting for healthcare consumerism, a reduction in wasteful healthcare spending, doctor-patient relationships, healthier bodies, and all such pursuits. But, the one pursuit that overrides all this is that of moral character, at a far higher level than is apparent today.

In 2012, we can get started on one aspect of saving America; elect people of moral integrity to office, and throw the others out the door.

American Minute with Bill Federer

George Washington was born FEBRUARY 22, 1732.

He was unanimously chosen as the Army's Commander-in-Chief, unanimously chosen as President of the Constitutional Convention, and unanimously chosen as the first U.S. President.

After having the Declaration of Independence read to his troops, General Washington ordered chaplains placed in each regiment, stating:

"The General hopes and trusts, that every officer and man, will endeavour so to live, and act, as becomes a Christian Soldier, defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his country."

General Washington stated at Valley Forge, May 2, 1778:

"To the distinguished character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to laud the more distinguished Character of Christian."

To the Delaware Indian Chiefs who brought three youths to be trained in American schools, General Washington stated, May 12, 1779:

"You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ."

As recorded in The Writings of George Washington (March 10, 1778, 11:83-84, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1934), record George Washington's order:

"At a General Court Marshall whereof Colo. Tupper was President...Lieutt. Enslin of Colo. Malcom's Regiment tried for attempting to commit sodomy, with John Monhort a soldier;

Secondly, For Perjury in swearing to false Accounts, found guilty of the charges exhibited against him, being breaches of 5th. Article 18th Section of the Articles of War and do sentence him to be dismiss'd the service with Infamy.

His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief approves the sentence and with Abhorrence and Detestation of such Infamous Crimes orders Liett. Enslin to be drummed out of Camp tomorrow morning by all the Drummers and Fifers in the Army never to return."

In his Farewell Address, 1796, Washington stated:

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports.

In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness."