In a verbal spar on Sunday with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, President Obama said, “I absolutely rejected that notion,” when pressed by Stephanopoulos to admit that mandating health insurance for all citizens, and fining them if they fail to buy insurance, constitutes a tax increase. President Obama promised throughout his campaign, and since becoming president, that he would not raise taxes on any Americans making less than $250,000 per year. 

When asked to explain how the health insurance mandate and fining system did not create a new tax, Obama provided the American people with a “teachable moment.” 

After questioning Obama over and over again about the tax increase, Stephanopoulos finally pulls out the definition of “tax” from the dictionary: “A charge, usually of money, imposed by authority on persons or property for public purposes.” The President simply finds it laughable that Stephanopoulos has proven him wrong, and continues to say that there will be no tax increase. This teaches us that the President either fails to understand a simple definition, is too egomaniacal to admit when he is wrong, or has the power to change the meaning of words by decree, and expects us to accept his new meaning.

During the interview, Obama also equates the needed mandate for health insurance with the mandatory car insurance laws already in place, as he has in other speeches and interviews. This statement teaches us several more lessons about President Obama.

First, President Obama does not seem to understand the laws in the country he was elected to govern. Car insurance is not necessary, or mandatory, to drive a car everywhere in the United States. New Hampshire and Wisconsin are two states that have no laws mandating car insurance.

Second, in the places where car insurance is mandatory, only those people who choose to drive need to purchase insurance. And those persons who do not choose to drive do not pay fines for not purchasing insurance which they do not need.

And finally, President Obama shows that he misunderstands another important word: liberty. Obama begins an important thought by saying, “If…we’re giving tax credits, we’ve set up an exchange, you are now part of a big pool, we’ve driven down the cost, we’ve done everything we can, and you actually can afford health insurance, but you just decided, ‘You know what? I want to take my chances,’ and then you get hit by a bus…,” but Stephanopoulos cuts him off before he can finish. Obama says a few seconds later, “You’ve gotta take a responsibility to get health insurance.”

If the government has done everything possible to drive down the cost of health insurance to help me out so that I can afford it, and still choose not to buy, that is my choice! I thought the Democrats were the pro-choice party? I guess that’s only true when they want to choose murder for babies and old people.

The freedom to choose my own fate is the essence of liberty itself. To mandate that every citizen purchase health insurance in a health care system controlled by the government makes us servants of the government, not free and independent citizens. 

Maybe the government should choose to enforce the immigration laws so millions of illegals are not plugging up our emergency rooms, or choose to take on tort reform, or let people take their health insurance with them when they lose their jobs, or allow people to buy insurance across state lines. These choices would bring down the cost of insurance, and might entice me to choose to buy a policy, rather than threatening me with a fine. 

And Mr. President, imposing a fine on those of us who choose not to purchase insurance is definitely a tax. Maybe you should look up that word again.

 

The President’s address to school children planned for September eighth should raise some concerns for all parents, not just those who happen to disagree with Mr. Obama. In addition to the speech, the Obama administration will distribute work sheets to teachers across the nation to help students understand Obama’s message. But instead of asking questions about being a good American citizen, teachers raise questions on how the students can best listen to Obama, and help his radical agenda come to fruition.

Why is it important that we listen to the President and other elected officials, like the mayor, senators, members of congress, or the governor? Why is what they say important?

What new ideas and actions is the President challenging me to think about?

What do you think the President wants us to do?

Does the speech make you want to do anything?

Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us?

These are a few of the questions that teachers are to encourage their students to think about and answer. When I first read over the work sheets, I could hardly believe my eyes. The whole event seems like an innocent attempt to teach young kids some valuable lessons, but the lessons here are dangerous to a child’s understanding of how free citizens interact with the government.

The proper answer to the first question, which I am sure will not be explored in the classroom, is that elected officials work for the people, and are supposed to represent the interests of the people in accordance with the Constitution. And what they say is important because when they speak out against the Constitution and the principles that made America great, they need to be voted out of office. I fear that what will actually be discussed is that politicians are our leaders, and do things to help us, like providing cars, houses, heath care, etc.

This is the last question asked on the work sheet before the speech starts. The intent is obviously to set the tone that the kids should pay attention to what the President is about to say, and do what he says. And if that is not obvious enough, just look at the other questions.

The following questions somehow did not make it onto the work sheet, but are the questions young students should be thinking about:

Do the people control the President or does the President control the people?

Shouldn’t the President be doing what we want, and not have us following his orders?

Is the President’s vision of America in line with American founding principles?

Do the President’s policies follow the restrictions on the federal government established in the Constitution?

How much pressure are these teachers going to put on young students to follow the mandates of this administration? According to the work sheets, teachers should also encourage students to read books about Barack Obama. Which books has yet to be disclosed. I imagine the parts about using cocaine, being angry at white people, and joining Marxist and radical groups in college will be left out…maybe not. 

The whole event is pure propaganda intended to gain support for Obama. Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us? Just wait until your kids come home asking you this same question. What happens if you tell your children that you do not want to do what Obama is asking? “But teacher says we should listen to the President. Bad Mommy and Daddy!”

Parents have three options here. Option 1: Take your kids out of school that day and attempt to explain to them the situation in order to deal with their teacher and classmates when they return to school. Option 2: Let your kids watch the speech, but prepare a lesson for them when they return home to combat the Obama indoctrination. This will be hard if the teacher and other students are fully in support of the Obama cause, especially because kids are more likely to listen to their teachers than their parents.  Option 3: Just let the government controlled schools take hold of your kids now. With the way things are going, odds are the government will control every part of their lives by the time they are adults anyway right?

Personally, I would avoid Option 3 at all costs. 

Now is the time to be involved in government, which means being involved in public education. The frustration over government meddling seen by Americans at Tea Parties and town hall meetings cannot end there. As Joseph Stalin said, “Education is a weapon, whose effect depends on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed.”  Right now, the Obama administration holds the education of our nation’s youth in their hands. And it appears to be aimed against the freedom loving opponents of his agenda.