Republican Healthcare Reform Mailers are Being Censored

  In this new era of  “open” and “honest” government, in this new era of “transparent” government there seems to be something missing; namely openness, honesty, and transparency. Other than that slight issue this new age of government ushered in by the election of Barack Obama is to be hailed by all of those who voted for “hope” and “change.”

  The latest example of the government not quite adhering to not only Obama’s transparency pledge, but to the transparency pledge made by most Democrats, is the fact that Republicans are being censored in mailers that they are sending out to their constituents. This is happening to Republicans who are sending out mailers to constituents about the healthcare reform bill.

  In another example of bloated government all mass mailers must be approved by a government committee– the Franking Commission– before they can be mailed to constituents. In this case Republicans are being asked to change the term “government run” healthcare to “public option.”

  It would appear to me that the Franking Commission understands how untrusted the government is and how unpopular a “government run” healthcare plan would be so they are telling Republicans that the term cannot be used. Evidently they feel the term “public option” is much more soothing to the ears of Americans, or they just hope that many Americans won’t equate “public option” to “government run.” Either way it doesn’t matter. People do not trust the government to run anything, much less healthcare, one needs to look as far as Medicaid and Medicare to see how well the government has done with healthcare do far. 

  The Franking Commission is trying to distance Democrats from the idea of government controlled healthcare and changing the term will not change the ultimate outcome of the healthcare reform bill. It is time to call a spade a spade, (can I still use that phrase? For those of you who do not know a spade is a type of shovel.), and a “public option” is government run healthcare. Yet these people are so afraid to admit that they want to run healthcare and decide who gets what treatments that they are trying to smooth over the rough edges and hide behind politically correct jargon.

  But the censorship goes even further than to just denying the use of the term “government run,” the committee has told Republicans to use the term “majority party” instead of calling the Democrats Democrats.

  How stupid must they think a majority of Americans are that they don’t know which party is in the majority? How confident of the healthcare reform bill are they if they are not willing to put their party affiliation anywhere near the mailers that are being sent out to Americans? It would seem to me that if Democrats were truly proud, or at least confident in, the legislation that they are trying to hurry into law that they would at least want to be attached to the legislation. But they know that this legislation is unpopular and they are trying to pass it anyway, they just hope that Americans won’t realize who is responsible, or what the term “public option” actually means. 

  Democrats are trying to distance themselves from the healthcare reform bill even as they try to pass it. Democrats are trying to claim that they are not promoting a government run healthcare system even as they insure that the government will run healthcare. And while they are doing all of this they are trying to censor from the American people exactly what they are trying to do and who is trying to do it.

  And this is what is known as open, honest, and transparent government under Barack Obama?