Time to inoculate ourselves from ObamaCare

Consequently, it is difficult to frame the vote to repeal as anything but a responsible action by Republican leadership, including Speaker Boehner.  He has listened to the citizens and is acting accordingly.  The vote will clearly draw the lines between Congressional members who are listening to the public and those who have open disdain for the clearly expressed will American people.  A tally will be kept and in 2012 voters will remember who voted for and against repeal.

Repeal appears ready to pass the House, but will the Senate take it up and allow its members to declare where they stand?  It isn’t clear. Harry Reid has never been a fan of democratic processes, so a fair and open vote in the Senate remains questionable.

As the vote approaches, members need to remember that public opposition to ObamaCare isn’t vague or symbolic.  From the beginning of this process polls have consistently shown more than 60 percent of the American people opposed to ObamaCare with large numbers of other Americans uncertain.  ObamaCare’s core of support is rarely larger than the hardcore Democratic base vote – which is soft in this case.

Democratic Congressional leaders assured everyone that the public would support the legislation once they learned what was in the bill. And, now that the public knows the legislation better, they voted against Democrats with historic results.  For Democrats, ObamaCare has become a deadly, constantly mutating virus. It destroyed record numbers of Democratic candidates in 2010, and a vaccination isn’t likely before 2012 when even larger numbers of Democrats are facing infection.

Some Democrats may be able to find salvation in voting for repeal, but the majority seem more likely to take a chance on infection.  In the Senate, a failure to take up the repeal will be widely seen by the American people as indicative of the continuing arrogance of the ruling elite.  Not letting Senators vote on the legislation will only add to the public’s contempt and mistrust of the Senate and ObamaCare – a contempt that is beginning to undermine the entire institution and every vote they take.

If the President and Democratic Congressional leaders are so certain that ObamaCare will lead us into the health care promised land, they should not fear a repeal vote.  They should encourage Senators to go on record and indicate where they stand, so that the voters will be clear in 2012.

There is little disagreement that some form of health care and health insurance reform is needed.  Americans need affordable access to health care.  However, the need for meaningful health care reform is NOT justification for violating the constitutional rights of Americans.

A government that can force its citizens to make purchases is a government without boundaries.  It is a government that has the power to control every aspect of a citizen’s life.  For this reason alone, ObamaCare represents a violation of the basic principles and values of American life and liberty – and the American people understand this.

There is nothing symbolic about America’s rejection of Obamacare.  And the only people that don’t get it are the Washington media, the bureaucrats and the Democrats that didn’t listen to the American people in the first place. The message from the last election is clear. ObamaCare is on its way out. The question is how many careers will it take with it.

Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin are co-founders of the Tea Party Patriots, a national grassroots organization with more than 3,000 voluntarily affiliated local groups around the country.