Hostile Takeover: Resisting Centralized Government's Stranglehold on America

by Matt Kibbe

  9. Nadeem Esmail, “The Private Cost of Public Queues,” Fraser Institute, Mar./Apr. 2011. Accessed Jan. 17, 2012. http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uploadedFiles/fraser-ca/Content/research-news/research/articles/private-cost-of-public-queues-march2011.pdf.

  10. Tanya Talaga, “Woman Dies In ER As AG Finds Little Movement,” thestar.com, Dec. 6, 2010. Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/902581—woman-dies-waiting-in-er-as-ag-finds-little-movement.

  11. “Palin Doubles Down On ‘Death Panels’,” Politico, Aug. 13, 2009, http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090813/pl_politico/26078.

  12. David Gratzer, “The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care,” City Journal, Summer 2007.

  13. §§ 6301 and 10602 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148, as amended by P.L. 111-152. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/399/ppaca-consolidated.pdf.

  14. §§ 3403 and 10320 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148, as amended by P.L. 111-152. http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/399/ppaca-consolidated.pdf.

  15. Joint Economic Committee, Republican staff, “Rationer-in-Chief: The ‘Berwick’ Confirmation Hearing That Wasn’t,” July 19, 2010. http://jec.senate.gov/republicans/public/index.cfm?p=CommitteeNews&ContentRecord_id=16af1da1-20c7-46ed-8282-edd399a03f92.

  16. “Rethinking Comparative Effectiveness Research,” interview with Dr. Donald Berwick, Biotechnology Health Care, June 2009. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2799075/pdf/bth06_2p035.pdf. This and many other, similar, quotations are among the reasons why even the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate refused to confirm Dr. Berwick as Medicare chief, allowing his recess appointment to expire at the end of 2011.

  17. National Health Expenditure data, 2009. Accessed Jan. 18, 2012. https://www.cms.gov/NationalHealthExpendData/downloads/tables.pdf.

  18. Nancy Pelosi, Mar. 10, 2009. Accessed Jan. 17, 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV-05TLiiLU.

  19. Senate Republican Policy Committee, “159 Ways the Senate Bill Is a Government Takeover of Health Care,” gop.gov, Feb. 25, 2010. Accessed Jan. 17, 2012. http://www.gop.gov/blog/10/02/25/159-ways-the-senate-bill.

  20. Ibid.

  21. Center for Health Transformation, Wall Chart: “1,968 New and Expanded Secretarial Powers Under the Health Reform Law.” Accessed Jan. 16, 2012. http://www.healthtransformation.net/galleries/wallcharts/HHS_V7%20(Final).pdf.

  22. House Ways & Means Committee Republicans, “The Wrong Prescription: Democrats’ Health Overhaul Dangerously Expands IRS Authority,” 2010-03-18. http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov/UploadedFiles/IRS_Power_Report.pdf.

  23. Senate Finance Committee Republican tabulation of Joint Committee on Taxation estimates.

  24. Curtis W. Copeland, “New Entities Created Pursuant to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” Congressional Research Service, July 8, 2010. http://www.aamc.org/reform/summary/crsentities.pdf.

  25. Estimate by Senate Budget Committee, Republican staff, 2010.

  26. U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, Republicans, press release, “Final List of Health Care Law Waivers Now Available; Obama Administration Shields 4 million Americans From Its Own Law,” Jan. 6, 2012. Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://energycommerce.house.gov/news/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=9186. (The waivers expire in 2014, when Obamacare takes effect.)

  27. Paul Connor, “Labor unions primary recipients of Obamacare waivers,” Jan. 6, 2012. Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/06/labor-unions-primary-recipients-of-obamacare-waivers/.

  28. Kaiser Family Foundation, Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, Mar. 2011. Accessed Mar. 7, 2012. http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/upload/8166-f.pdf. See also Gallup, “Americans Divided on Repeal of 2010 Health Care Law,” Feb. 27, 2012. Accessed Mar. 7, 2012. http://www.gallup.com/poll/152969/Americans-Divided-Repeal-2010-Healthcare-Law.aspx.

  29. The PJ Tatler, “Democrat Rep. Hochul: ‘We’re not looking to the Constitution’ on the HHS Mandate,” Feb. 27, 2012. http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/02/27/democrat-rep-hochul-were-not-looking-to-the-constitution-on-the-hhs-mandate/.

  30. Shareef Mahdavi, “How to Compete Without Cutting Price [of LASIK] Eye Surgery,” Mar. 2009. Accessed Mar. 7,2012. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sm2strategic.com%2Ffiles%2F2009%2520Mar%2520-%2520How%2520to%2520Compete%2520Without%2520Cutting%2520Price.RefractiveEyecare.pdf.

  31. “Cost of LASIK Eye Surgery,” LasikSecrets.com. Accessed Dec. 11, 2011. http://lasik-secrets.com/LASIK-cost.html (published Mar. 15, 2011).

  32. John Mackey, “The Whole Foods Alternative to Obamacare: Eight Things We Can Do to Improve Health Care Without Adding to the Deficit,” Wall Street Journal, Aug. 12, 2009.

  33. John Mackey, “Defending the Morality of Capitalism,” Whole Foods Market Blog, June 24, 2011. http://www2.wholefoodsmarket.com/blogs/jmackey/category/conscious-capitalism/.

  34. John Mackey, “To Increase Jobs, Increase Economic Freedom,” Wall Street Journal, Nov. 16, 2011. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204358004577032442153911170.html.

  35. Nick Paumgarten, “Food Fighter: Does Whole Foods CEO know what’s best for you?,” New Yorker, Jan. 4, 2010. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/01/04/100104fa_fact_paumgarten.

  36. John Mackey, “The Whole Foods Alternative to Obamacare,” op. cit.

  37. Ibid.

  38. CNN presidential debate, Sept. 12, 2011. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/12/tea-party-debate-health-care_n_959354.html.

  39. Dick Armey, The Freedom Revolution: The New Republican House Majority Leader Tells Why Big Government Failed, Why Freedom Works, and How We Will Rebuild America (Washington, DC: Regnery Press, 1994), p. 213.

  40. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. National Health Expenditure data, 2009. https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cms.gov%2FNationalHealthExpendData%2Fdownloads%2Fhighlights.pdf.

  41. Ibid.

  42. Health Care in the United States. Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States.

  43. David Gratzer, “The Ugly Truth About Canadian Health Care,” City Journal, Summer 2007. Accessed Jan. 19, 2012. http://www.city-journal.org/html/17_3_canadian_healthcare.html.

  44. Deroy Murdock, “28 States Suing Over Obamacare,” Newsmax, Feb. 18, 2011. http://www.newsmax.com/Murdock/healthcare-obamacare/2011/02/18/id/386576.

  Chapter 12: A Time for Choosing

  1. This summary reflects an analysis by the Republican staff of the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, based on figures from the Tax Foundation, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Census Bureau. Cited in Paul Ryan’s “Roadmap for America’s Future.” http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/

  2. A. Gary Shilling’s Insight newsletter, Sept. 2009. http://www.agaryshilling.com/index.html. Cited in Ryan’s “Roadmap for America’s Future.”

  3. Two other huge entitlements could be added to this list, to make it the “big five.” One is the federal tax code subsidy for employer-sponsored health benefits. The other is Obamacare, which, if not repealed, will come on line in 2014. Thus, all but one of the largest federal programs are health care entitlements.

  4. The total U.S. population in 2010 was 309 million, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, National Totals 2011; Table 1: Annual Estimates of the Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: Apr. 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011. Accessed Dec. 23, 2011. http://www.census.gov/popest/data/national/totals/2011/index.html. Total Social Security enrollment in 2010 was 54 million (or 17.5 percent of the population), according to the 2011 Social Security trustees report, p. 2. Accessed Dec. 23, 2011. http://www.ssa.gov/oact/tr/2011/tr2011.pdf. Total Medicare enrollment in 2010 was 47.5 million (or about 15.4 percent of the population), according to the 2011 Medicare trustees report, Table II.B.1: Medicare Data for Calendar Year 2010, p. 9. Accessed Dec. 23, 2011. http://www.cms.gov/ReportsTrustFunds/downloads/tr2011.pdf. Total Medicaid enrollment a
t the end of 2010 was 51.5 million (or 16.6 percent of the population), according to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, “Medicaid Enrollment: Dec. 2010 Data Snapshot,” Dec. 2011. Accessed Dec. 23, 2011. http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/8050-04.pdf (Note: There is significant enrollment overlap between these three programs; figures should not be added together.)

  5. Social Security Administration, Income of the Population 55 or Older, 2008, Table 2.A1. Cited in “Policy Basics: Top Ten Facts about Social Security on the Program’s 75th Anniversary,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Aug. 13, 2010. Accessed Dec. 24, 2011. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3261#_ftnref15.

  6. The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise (Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Resolution, House Committee on the Budget, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Chairman), p. 13. Accessed Dec. 23, 2011. http://budget.house.gov/UploadedFiles/PathToProsperityFY2012.pdf.

  7. White House Office of Management and Budget, President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2012, Historical Tables, Table 3.2: Outlays by Function and Subfunction, 1962–2016, and Table 8.5: Outlays for Mandatory and Related Programs, 1962–2016. Figure for functions 571 (Medicare) and 651 (Social Security) are from table 3.2; figures for Medicaid are from table 8.5. All figures are based on 2011 (estimated) outlays. Accessed Dec. 23, 2011). http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/Historicals.

  8. Author’s estimate, based on current program growth rates.

  9. The Path to Prosperity: Restoring America’s Promise, figure 3, p. 16.

  10. Merriam-Webster Online. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/entitlement (accessed Dec. 24, 2011). Emphasis added.

  11. See Helvering v. Davis (1937), Flemming v. Nestor (1960).

  12. U.S. Constitution, Amendment X.

  13. Ibid., Article I, section 8, clause 1.

  14. Ibid., Article I, section 8, clause 3.

  15. The most notable case being U.S. v. Butler (1936), then making its way through the courts. This case involved a federal tax on farmers established under the Agricultural Adjustment Act. Was the tax but a means to an unconstitutional end (regulating farm prices) that invaded the reserved powers of the states under the Tenth Amendment? And in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. U.S., 295 US 495 (1935), the Court would have to decide whether the crown jewel of the New Deal, the National Recovery Administration, with its intrusive industrial codes, exceeded Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce.

  16. US Congress, House Committee on Ways & Means, “Brief for Petitioners Helvering and Welch,” in Analysis of the Social Security System: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the House Committee on Ways and Means, 83rd Congress, 1st Session, 1953, Appendix II, Miscellaneous Documents, pp. 1427–1440.

  17. Helvering v. Davis (1937), 301 U.S. 619.

  18. Peter Suderman, “The Individual Mandate’s Tax Troubles,” Reason.com, June 30, 2011. http://reason.com/blog/2011/06/30/the-individual-mandates-tax-tr.

  19. Robert Pear, “Changing Stance, Administration Now Defends Insurance Mandate as a Tax,” New York Times, July 17, 2010.

  20. Dean Clancy, “Team Obama changes its story—again!—on whether health mandate is a tax,” FreedomWorks blog, Feb. 15, 2012. http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/dean-clancy/is-the-health-care-mandate-a-tax-or-not (accessed Mar. 7, 2012).

  21. Flemming v. Nestor (1960).

  22. “The 1936 Government Pamphlet on Social Security,” Social Security Administration. http://www.ssa.gov/history/ssn/ssb36.html (accessed Dec. 27, 2011).

  23. “Why Social Security?,” Social Security Administration, 1937. http://www.socialsecurity.gov/history/whybook.html (accessed Dec. 27, 2011).

  24. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., The Age of Roosevelt, Vol. 2, The Coming of the New Deal, 1933–1935; (1958), pp. 308–309. Quoted in: Congressional Budget Office, “Social Security: A Primer,” 14, n. 14 (Sept. 2001). Accessed Dec. 14, 2011. http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/32xx/doc3213/EntireReport.pdf.

  25. One politician who has touched them and lived is President Obama. In the name of “economic stimulus,” he pushed through a temporary, one-year, 30 percent reduction in the employee half of the payroll tax in 2011, and repeated the feat in 2012, without incurring any visible harm. No one suggested that Social Security benefits would be endangered in any way, or that he was trying to “scrap” FDR’s signature domestic achievement. It seems the tax really is “politics all the way through.”

  26. Paul Ryan, “Roadmap for America’s Future.” http://www.roadmap.republicans.budget.house.gov/.

  27. And since higher wages are a result of higher productivity, we literally cannot “grow” our way out of the Social Security problem.

  28. Michael Clingman, et al., “Internal Real Rates of Return Under the OASDI Program for Hypothetical Workers,” Social Security Administration, Actuarial Note Number 2009.5, July 2010. http://www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/ran5/index.html. See also Michael Clingman, et al., “Moneys Worth Ratios Under the OASDI Program for Hypothetical Workers,” Social Security Administration, Actuarial Note Number 2009.7, July 2010. http://www.ssa.gov/oact/NOTES/ran7/index.html.

  29. Merrill Matthews, “Perry is Right: There Is a Texas Model for Fixing Social Security: Public employees in three Texas counties have benefited from an ‘Alternate Plan’ for 30 years,” Wall Street Journal, Sept. 24, 2011, emphasis added.

  30. The Tea Party Budget, Nov. 17, 2011. http://www.freedomworks.org/the-tea-party-budget.

  31. “Speech by President Lyndon B. Johnson, July 30, 1965,” Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965. Volume II, entry 394, pp. 811–815. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1966.

  32. Social Security Act, Section 1801 [42 U.S.C. 1395].

  33. Ken Terry, “Medicaid Expansion May Fail Because of Doctors’ Refusal to See Patients,” CBS Money Watch, Nov. 29, 2009. Accessed Jan. 18, 2012. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505123_162-43840953/medicaid-expansion-may-fail-because-of-doctors-refusal-to-see-patients/.

  34. Avik S. A. Roy, “UVa Study: Surgical Patients Are 13% More Likely to Die Than Those Without Insurance,” July 17, 2010. Accessed Jan. 18, 2012. http://www.avikroy.org/2010/07/uva-study-surgical-patients-on-medicaid.html.

  35. Dean Clancy, “Rand Paul Unveils Bold, Simple Medicare Reform,” FreedomWorks blog, Mar. 15, 2012. http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/dean-clancy/rand-paul-introduces-medicare-reform.

  36. Rachel Slajda, “Obama Pokes fun at ‘Don’t Touch my Medicare People,’” Talking Points Memo, July 28, 2009. http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/obama-pokes-fun-at-dont-touch-my-medicare-people.php.

  37. Ronald Reagan, “A Time for Choosing,” Speech to the University of Texas, Oct. 27, 1964. http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/reference/timechoosing.html#_top.

  Chapter 13: Disintermediation Politics

  1. Chris Anderson, “The Long Tail in a Nutshell,” July 11, 2006. http://thelongtail.com/about.html.

  2. Michael Scherer, “Obama’s Health Czar: Behind the Scenes but Leading the Charge,” Time Politics, Mar. 3 2009. http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1882709,00.html#ixzz1isjNYT1U.

  3. Michelle Malkin, “Waivers for Favors: Big Labor’s Obamacare Escape Hatch,” Jan. 28, 2011. http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/28/waivers-for-favors-big-labors-obamacare-escape-hatch/.

  4. “Union Members Summary,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, Jan. 27, 2012. http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm.

  5. Tom Fitton, “Why Did Unionized Companies Get So Many Obamacare Waivers?” Big Government, Sep. 13, 2011. http://workplacechoice.org/2011/09/13/why-did-unionized-companies-get-so-many-obamacare-waivers/.

  6. Timeline Of A Right-Wing Media Smear: Hoffa’s Call To Vote Became “A Call For Violence,” MediaMatters, Sep. 6, 2011. http://mediamatters.org/print/research/201109060015.

  7. Socrata, “Waivers–final table,” OpenData. http://opendata.socrata.com/Government/waivers-final-table/x63r-3x8s.

  8. John Perry Barlow, “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspac
e,” Projects.eff.org, Feb. 6, 1996. https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html..

  9. Andy Greenberg, “As SOPA Looms, John Perry Barlow On ‘The Right To Know,’” Forbes, Dec. 16, 2011. http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2011/12/16/as-sopa-looms-john-perry-barlow-on-the-right-to-know/

  10. Thomas Jefferson, “Thomas Jefferson to Isaac McPherson,” Aug. 13, 1813. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_8_8s12.html.

  11. Julie Borowski, “SOPA and PIPA Would Destroy Internet Freedom,” FreedomWorks, Jan. 13, 2012. http://www.freedomworks.org/blog/jborowski/sopa-and-pipa-would-destroy-internet-freedom.

  12. Julian Sanchez, “SOPA: An Architecture for Censorship,” Cato Institute, Dec. 20, 2011. http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/sopa-an-architecture-for-censorship/.

  13. Micah Sifry, “PDM Editorial: Why We’re Against PIPA/SOPA And For the Internet,” TechPresident, Jan. 17, 2012. http://techpresident.com/news/21635/pdm-editorial-why-were-against-pipasopa-and-Internet

  14. Carl Franzen, “How The Web Killed SOPA and PIPA,” TPM, Jan. 20, 2012. http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/how-the-web-killed-sopa-and-pipa.php.

  15. Mike Lee, Twitter post, Twitter. https://twitter.com/#!/SenMikeLee.

  16. Ed Henry, “Chris Dodd warns of Hollywood backlash against Obama over anti-piracy bill,” Fox News, Jan. 19, 2012. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/19/exclusive-hollywood-lobbyist-threatens-to-cut-off-obama-2012-money-over-anti/.

  17. Lydia DePillis, “Disorganized: What happened to Obama’s massive network of grassroots activists?,” New Republic, Oct. 29, 2009. http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/disorganized?page=0,0.

  18. Micah Sifry, “The Obama Disconnect: What Happens When Myth Meets Reality,” TechPresident, Dec. 31, 2009. http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/the-obama-disconnect.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Kathleen Hall Jamieson, ed., “Electing the President 2008: The Insiders’ View,” quoted in Sifry, “The Obama Disconnect,” pp. 37–38.

  21. Michael O’Brien, “Dems say Tea Party rally shows dissipating opposition to health reform,” Hill, Mar. 16, 2010.