The Bidding Is Still Open

In a Washington currently fixated on the trio of scandals involving Benghazi, the IRS and the DOJ's investigation of reporters, there is a new scandal making the rounds.  Indeed, this one seems likely to move up to the big leagues and join the other three already there.  The new scandal, of course, is about the Secretary of HHS, Kathleen Sibelius, shaking down large medical/insurance companies for "contributions" after Congress did not up the budget at HHS for the implementation of Obamacare.

Let's start with a little background.  When the Democrats pushed through Obamacare, they also included funding for the program for a decade.  They included billions of dollars for costs of implementing the program as well.  These Democrats knew that future Congresses could be less hospitable to Obamacare, so they took care to fund it generously in advance in order to prevent a future Congress from curtailing the program.  Of course, like all other spending estimates connected to Obamacare, the estimates made by the Democrats for the cost to implement the program were wrong.  Indeed, every estimate turned out to be too low.  These errors in the estimates were not small; the current projection of the cost to implement Obamacare is five times higher than the original one.  That means that the government is short billions of dollars that it "needs" to implement the program.

Not surprisingly, Congress has not passed any measure to add funds for the implementation of Obamacare.  And before you start ranting about those Republicans in the House who are blocking these funds, you should know that the Democrat controlled Senate has not appropriated any additional funds either.

In the face of this reality, the Obama administration did not change its plans so that the implementation of Obamacare was done with just the legally available funds.  This is where the scandal comes in.  What the administration acting through Secretary Sibelius did was this:  it went to big medical and insurance companies which are directly regulated by HHS and "suggested" to them that they should "contribute" funds to help with the implementation of Obamacare.  In short, Sibelius shook down the big corporations that she could directly threaten to cough up protection money.

If you think that I have overstated what the Obamacrats did, try this thought exercise.  Suppose that you had a business.  Then imagine that there was someone who had the power to greatly harm that business.  Next imagine that this person came to you and smiled and suggested that you would make him very happy if you would "donate" some money for him to use on a project he was working on.  This sure sounds like organized crime and a protection racket, doesn't it?

There are laws that protect people dealing with the government from just such conduct.  What if the IRS asked all those who were being audited to contribute to the employees pension programs?  What if OSHA asked each company during inspections to contribute to the annual picnic fund?  How about if INS asked people that they stopped to check on their immigration status to contribute to the household expenses of the agents doing making the stop?  These are all the same; they are all illegal.
What Secretary Sibelius did is no different.

Clearly, the government is out of control.  The Justice Department ignores its own guidelines regarding the press and then the Attorney General lies about it under oath.  The IRS intentionally violates the Constitutional rights of conservative groups and individuals and illegally gives out confidential information to help in political fights.  The State Department and the White House fail to protect American diplomats, leave them with no help when they are attacked and then actively lie to the American people to cover up their failures.  The Department of HHS shakes down big companies for "contributions" to push its agenda.  And through all this, the president does an impersonation of Sargeant Shultz from Hogan's Heroes -- he knows nothing, he sees nothing, and he is not even there.  Meanwhile the White House staff claims that it intentionally kept the president in the dark on all this stuff so as not to make it seem that Obama was interfering in these matters.

What is actually happening is that people who think that the government should do everything are trying to actually have that happen, no matter what the law says.  Does the law require all citizens to be treated equally?  It does not matter because the government should make the decision which groups should be tax exempt based on the politics of the groups.  Does the law provide for freedom of the press?  It does not matter because the government should be able to surpress news organizations like Fox News that it does not like.  Does the law require regulators to avoid shaking down those they regulate?  It does not matter if HHS wants more money for Obamacare.  The government can do not wrong in the eyes of these people.  Well, they are wrong.  In America, there are limits on what government can do.  There are limits on how much government can impose on the rights of the people.  These limits are important; they protect each and every one of us.  The progressive philosophy of the Obamacrats which wants all power to the government is a big step towards the road to dictatorship.  If the IRS has unlimited power, then no one is safe.  If the Justice Department can intentionally and secretly call one reporter a co-conspirator in espionage just so that it can go through his email and phone records, then no reporter is safe.  If the Attorney General, the Director of the IRS, the Ambassador to the UN, the Secretary of State and the White House can all lie to Congress or to the American people whenever they choose with no consequences, then there is no way for the American people to control their own destiny.  They will all just be "wards of the state".  That is not the American way.  That is not freedom.  That is not liberty.

It has to be stopped now!