It may not be realized by much of our citizenry, but America profoundly changed this week when President Obama signed the so-called health care bill into law.
The changes to America’s health care system – the envy of the world and one that satisfies 85 percent of Americans – are profound. A new layer of expensive government bureaucracy will be created. It will feature 15,000 yet-to-be-hired Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents to administrate and enforce the trillion-dollar monstrosity.
We are losing our freedom – in this case our freedom to make our own health care decisions. If you are a small business and do not provide health care, IRS agents will be visiting and you will provide it – even if it means going out of business. How does that create jobs? But it does not stop there. IRS agents will be checking every American to make sure you have health insurance – purchased by insurance companies that are de facto government utilities and agents of the federal government. If you do not have insurance when they check, you will be fined $300. The fines will increase every time they catch you – and make no mistake, Big Brother will be watching you. The government will now determine whether your insurance is acceptable, not to you, but to the government. The camel’s nose is now in the tent. Government is growing beyond the consent of the governed.
Meanwhile, Medicare, a program so mismanaged by the federal government that it is on the verge of insolvency, will have 15 million more people added to its rolls. Medicaid, administered by the states, will also see its rolls swell. Missouri cannot pay its bills now. Do senior citizens on Medicare really believe they will get the health care they have been receiving with the additional strain that will be put on an entitlement already at the breaking point?
Our nation is moving toward European socialism with yet another government entitlement program that is as financially irresponsible as it is intrusive to our personal freedom. Of course it will all be paid by new, oppressive taxes, specifically on investment earnings and perhaps a national sales tax. Once again, the government’s despotic nature discourages personal responsibility all the while making us more dependent upon “the Nanny state.”
Then there is the issue of taxpayer funded abortion. When Roe v. Wade passed, it ensured that abortion would be protected under any government program. The executive order President Obama says he will issue to keep taxpayer money from funding abortions under the new health care bill is not worth the paper it is written on. Roe v. Wade trumps any executive order.
We are losing our freedom. Freedom rings loudly in Scripture – particularly in the Old Testament’s account of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt. God built freedom into the very fabric of creation. Even the unborn baby struggles for freedom. People have given their lives for freedom. Unless it is checked, government – too often run by the pagan – will rob us of our freedom. I acknowledge, we must render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, but under no circumstances will I ever render unto Caesar what is God’s. And while government tyranny may rob me of my personal freedom, it can never take away the eternal spiritual freedom I enjoy through my Savior – King Jesus.