My letter to the President

By Steve Collier, Colorado Springs

This entire health care reform debate boils my blood, several times over. I am for reform, don't get me wrong, but not Obamacare and it's societal changes from free-market principles to socialistic overtures. If we want British/Canadian style health care in America, then perhaps we should deport those interested in it to those nations.

So, I was so furious that I went to Whitehouse.gov and let the President have a few choice words. I signed up for the president's e-mail blasts, which are intended to "pump up" his base when they need to inject some additional adrenaline into the public discourse. This particular letter came from David Axelrod, the president's political advisor. Here is the letter below:

Mr. President, I recently received David Axelrod's e-mail blast entitled "This is not a game." The American people agree with that, but it seems you and your allies in the Senate are turning this into a political stunt. And based upon Senator Reid and Rep. Pelosi's statements of pushing a vote on health care reform until the August recess, you are losing your grip on a hot-button issue you have expended much political capital in getting past. In the e-mail blast, Mr. Axelrod says the following: "The President made crystal clear what's at stake in this debate." Sir, I watched your speech. You were anything BUT crystal clear. Earlier in your presidency, you said Americans will need to make sacrifices so we can all achieve success and get our nation turned around. If that is true, why did you not mention once what sacrifices will be needed out of the American people? Are you that confident that if you mention what cuts will be made; what sacrifices will be insisted upon that a majority of Americans will turn on your legislation? If this is correct, why don't we go back to the health care drawing board? Why don't we look at other means to fix our stressed health care system? These include creating a new way to regulate the health care industry, versus "competing with it" with a public option. If you want to keep health insurance companies "honest and competitive," why not regulate the industry, ensuring they are honest and work within a competitive setting. Why have the GOVERNMENT responsible for executing a health care "corporation." This is not government's role... and for a Harvard-educated man, you know this. So why do you insist upon it? Why change the way our government addresses thing... why not encourage the free-market economy to tackle this issue, but within the confines of a regulatory process. Teddy Roosevelt would give you two thumbs-up for such an endeavor. Please abandon your quasi-socialist take on reforming AMERICAS health care. You can not guarantee the "cost savings" you and your health care team have identified will, indeed, be cost savings. Because you can not project 10 years down the road what our nation will face. So why write legislation that addresses such a timeframe? The American people are fed up... they are fed up with our current healthcare dibacle. But they are even MORE fed up with the government running their lives... and healthcare, ran by the government, will intrude more than the Founding Fathers EVER envisioned. King George would be proud to see it... thus, the reason The British Crown DOESNT control our destiny.