The entire sphere of political conversation continues to buzz concerning the audacity of the Democrat’s clandestine effort to create a government-centered health care solution. Working around their brazen disregard for transparency was the central topic of a lively conference call Thursday afternoon hosted by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL).

Like the farcical quadruply-dismembered Black Knight from Monty Python’s Holy Grail, the House version of health care legislation had its major pieces hacked away one by one through one of the most egregious and public displays of vote-wrangling in recent memory. That low-water mark held until the Senate (never want to be one-upped by the short-timers on the south side of the building) gave birth to its own bill only after Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) presented the country with the worst Christmas gift in history by converting a principled stand against abortion funding loopholes into sweetheart funding to Nebraska to offset the unfunded Medicaid mandates contained in the health care legislation. And yet, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) press on in seclusion to reattach its severed limbs to revive a monster that will have a drastic effect on millions of Americans.

In an attempt to circumvent the shady tactics the President, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Reid are utilizing to shut the door on the American public, Rep. Buchanan has introduced a new piece of legislation to drag the health care deliberation out of the Democrat’s bunkered caucus and into the light of public and media scrutiny, where it belongs.

The filing by Rep. Buchanan of a discharge petition to force a floor vote on his bipartisan piece of legislation – H.R. 847 or the “Sunshine Resolution” – could open the door on the proceedings. Because Democrat control of the national legislature ensures that H.R. 847 can be quietly held prisoner in committee, a discharge petition is the most probable method for getting a vote on the bill and subsequently getting public meetings on the health care process. For the petition to work it needs 218 votes which means that Blue Dog Democrats cowering beside Pelosi’s armchair will need to be motivated to bite the leash and sign, hopefully restoring some moral authority to the Congress.

[GOP House Whip Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) office has been hard at work identifying Democrats who carry their elections with conservative and moderate voters who have shown up strongly in polls as being in strong opposition to the kind of top-down massive takeover of health care as the Democrats are planning. For ease in reading, the list appears at the bottom of this post.]

The reason for radical procedural gamesmanship is clear. Even the intended consequences of the proposed health care “reform” would be a radical shift from traditional American values of individual choice and the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship. When the unintended consequences are considered, the scheme proposed by President Obama and the Congressional Democrats will set off a domino effect of cascading catastrophes in already weak state finances and instigate a landslide of tensions between employers and their employees.

But the more insidious effects are still not well understood by all but the most attentive pundits and politicos. Only the recent withdrawal of support by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for the plans under discussion has drawn attention to the silent killer in the health plan, the second-stage economic destroyer in the package, the unfunded mandate to the states for absorbing the Medicaid cuts that the Dems are using to make the health bill appear less costly. The disaster of those massive new cost burdens (in every state except Nebraska) Rep. Buchanan plainly says “could blow the country up.” He added that the recent sweetheart exemption made to the AFL-CIO from “Cadillac plan” surcharges the bill will end up loading its costs onto the backs of small businesses, further exacerbating the uphill climb the economy is currently presented with for emerging from this deep recession.

In Washington state, Gov. Christine Gregoire has been playing chicken with the state’s $2.6 billion deficit crisis, a predicament Rep. McMorris Rodgers says is the direct result of Gregoire’s grasshopper-like mentality during better times.

“Now Gregoire wants the federal government to pay for her spending spree,” Rep. McMorris-Rodgers said.

By staying quiet on the cost of Medicaid increases, Gregoire may be doing good work for the Obama administration and her party brothers and sisters in Congress, but she is doing a tremendous disservice to Washington state residents who will see those costs in additional tax increases beyond those already proposed.

Is it immoral to siphon energy and money from already cash-strapped states and businesses to repay the rumored $600 million given by unions to Democrats in recent years? Perhaps, and perhaps not. In a different era some might have called it graft – now the process has been euphemized as “special interest politics.” Regardless of whether the health care bill passes – be assured, it is not a fait accompli – voters will be the ultimate and irrefutable judges of the Democrat leadership’s stewardship of an American system that was designed to cage what political philosopher Thomas Hobbes called the Leviathan.

The Founders recognized the dangers in a society that was organized around a leviathan, an all-knowing ruler or central authority that informs its own decisions without requisite for public deliberation. The beauteous mélange of different point of view were balanced in the Constitution, a document that acknowledged unchecked power is a beast that stays locked in the same prison cell as civil unrest. When one is released, so is the other, and history bears this lesson to us as a warning. Pressing on your elected officials to support Rep. Buchanan’s petition is one way to remind them that certain elements of Congress are turning a key that should be remain unturned. If not, the actions of the Democrats may unleash serious questions about the legitimacy of a government that makes decisions without the people being represented in the deliberation.

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Note: The list of vulnerable House Democrats (as identified by members of the GOP) is:

John Adler (NJ)
Jason Altmire (PA)
Brian Baird (WA)
John Barrow (GA)
John Boccieri (OH)
Dan Boren (OK)
Rick Boucher (VA)
Allen Boyd (FL)
Bobby Bright (AL)
Ben Chandler (KT)
Travis Childers (MS)
Artur Davis (AL)
Lincoln Davis (TN)
Chet Edwards (TX)
Bart Gordon (TN)
Parker Griffith (AL)
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD)
Tim Holden (PA)
Larry Kissell (NC)
Suzanne Kosmas (FL)
Frank Kratovil (MD)
Dennis Kucinich (OH)
Jim Marshall (GA)
Betsy Markey (CO)
Eric Massa (NY)
Jim Matheson(UT)
Mike McIntyre (NC)
Michael McMahon (NY)
Charlie Melancon (LA)
Walt Minnick (ID)
Scott Murphy (NY)
Glenn Nye (VA)
Collin Peterson (MN)
Mike Ross (AR)
Heath Shuler (NC)
Ike Skelton (MO)
John Tanner (TN)
Gene Taylor (MS)
Harry Teague (NM)

The phone number for the Congressional switchboard is (202) 224-3121. You can also get more detailed information for your representatives direct office numbers, e-mail, etc., at OpenCongress.org.

You can also have an automated call made to your congressional representative by taking a few minutes to submit your information on the Free Our Health Care Now! website.

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