Saturday, April 9, 2011

2012 Budget Fight – Democrats Can Thank Sarah Palin For Advantage


Big Business Wants The Precious

The United States government avoided a shutdown at the last minute, but a fight for the future of the United States looms as the 2012 budget battles takes shape. Democrats can thank Sarah Palin for giving them the upper hand in the Senate.

The next few months will determine if the United States emerges out of the dire financial situation it finds itself in as a nation that abandons long held principles of compassion for personal and political gain or as a country reclaiming the core of it greatness. The stage is set and in many ways the lines on the field of battle have been drawn.

The coming budget fight is a test of what this country will be for the next 50 years or more. You see the United States is viewed by many as something to be exploited for the gain of certain groups while others view it as a idea that represents a way of life, those two opposing points of view are at war.

Take the lines drawn in the near government shutdown that recently took place, all the way until the last hours the budget measure was held up by an added measure that would have defunded Planned Parenthood that had very little to do with actual budget numbers. In the end the Planned Parenthood defunding measure was removed from the final bill. In a separate measure Republican Congressman Paul Ryan authored a 2012 budget that basically ends Medicare as we know it an transitions to a voucher system that allows seniors to purchase health care from private insurance companies. Ryan’s plan may not become law, but it signals the difference between how the same issued is viewed, one view is from a need to provide guaranteed care to seniors and the other is to provide something for care to seniors, but there is no guarantee that it will be enough. An article titled “Paul Ryan Budget Proposal Approved By House Panel ” by Ricardo Alonzo-Zaldizar and Alan Fram April 6, 2011 and published in the Huffington Post goes into details of Ryan’s budget plan.

Ryan’s plan basically turns health care for seniors over to private insurers, with all of the issues that everyone has with private insurers of escalating cost etc. How long would it be before private insurers and medical providers increased the cost of care beyond what vouchers would cover? If vouchers could not cover the costs of the medical car required then suddenly seniors need to come out of pocket or be basically uninsured.  The attack on Planned Parenthood had a similar tone, but was approached from a cynical angle of not funding abortions. There is a law that prevents federal funds from being used to fund abortions.

So there you have it. Will the United States rewind the clock using the need to control our national debt to a time where seniors are left to fend for themselves on health issues? Will women continue to be under assault on their freedoms when it comes to reproductive health? The push to move more functions to private companies will be loud and intense. The Environmental Protection Agency will be under attack and branded as too restrictive as exemptions on what emissions it can regulate have already been surfaced.

Get ready as a push for profit over serving the public has begun. All is not lost as the Tea Party Republicans only control the House of Representatives. Of all people, Democrats may have to thank Sarah Palin backed candidates like Sharon Angle and Christine O’Donnell as the reason the Republicans don’t control the Senate. Sarah Palin helped provide a firewall against the Tea Party, you betcha.

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