Dear Editor,
On June 28th, the Supreme Court of The United States upheld the “Affordable Care Act” (also known as Obamacare).
In a bizarre ruling, Chief Justice Roberts allowed a great destruction of individual liberty and economic freedom. Here in Troup County, the negative effects of Obamacare have already begun to quietly decrease not only our quality of life, but also the basic protection of life.
Portions of the act have caused a significant increase in the healthcare costs that Troup County pays for county employees. This is a contributing factor to shortfalls in the current year and next year’s county budget. In response, the county commission enacted a hiring freeze. We certainly do need to shrink the size of government at all levels, but in doing so, elected officials should focus on providing the basic functions of government while cutting the unnecessary and the wasteful.
In the Obamacare budget crunch, the county commissioners have done the opposite. By someone very familiar with the Troup County Fire Department, I was told there are five firefighter positions presently going unfilled because of county budget actions. However, when the current county manager retires next month and begins to collect his county pension, he will be re-hired into a newly created county position where reportedly he will oversee the spending of SPLOST tax money.
Result: While the county fire department will have a reduced capability to protect your life and property, the county administration will be providing a double-dipping salary to someone to assist in spending SPLOST dollars on largely frivolous projects.
Obamacare is bad. Through its poor decisions, your local government has made its impacts even worse. On the broader issue, many citizens are not aware of the long-term negative impacts that Obamacare will have upon their life and liberty. From before the official introduction of the Affordable Care Act in the U.S. Congress in 2009, I have been researching its effects and I have been active in attempts to overturn it.
If not undone, Obamacare will eventually lead us to healthcare completely administered by the federal government. Imagine, you and your family will have your health “managed” by nameless bureaucrats in Washington D.C. This has already begun with the development of protocols that direct who will get treatment and who will not.
This sets our society on a course where your value as a human being will be measured based on your usefulness to the government and the politicians who run it. Already during the implementation of Obamacare, there are many examples of healthcare favoritism based on political affiliation. This brings with it very many grave implications to what we know as “Freedom.” Are you registered to vote? Are you an informed voter preparing to make good decisions at the polls at all levels of government? Are you paying attention to what government is doing to you? Elections matter. In many ways, local elections matter the most because that is where we begin to learn how to do self-government. Individual liberty and freedom begins or ends at your doorstep.
Mike Freeland,
Candidate for Troup County
Board of Commissioners, District 2
You cited that other cities have successfully incorporated volunteerism into their systems. Could you please name the examples that you mentioned? Also,who was excluded from public property? What you stated really causes alarm.
Suissie
In many communities across our nation, private institutions (such as service clubs) provide the leadership, raise the funds and coordinate genuine volunteerism for things like ball fields. This is a better model to strive for.
There are a lot of people in Troup County who struggle to make ends meet. It does not make moral sense to burden these people with higher taxes to pay for "world class" facilities that benefit only a very narrow and specialized segment of the citizenry. A volunteer approach allows for the innovation of people contributing in ways that best match their available resources (perhaps time and talent) instead of government taking from them their limited resource of money.
Reagan passed the Emergency Medical Treatment Act in 1986, and
Of course Clinton tried to further nationalize healthcare in the 90s.
it's an idea who's time has come. the us system is doing a poor job of delivering healthcare to our citizens, we are spending 16% of our GDP on healthcare, which is roughly double that of any other G-8 country. yet our health and life expectancy is not any better than anyone else's!
Also, improvement in the current health care situation by the repeal of the same act would include removing 20-somethings from their parents' insurance plans, re-establishing insurance restrictions for pre-existing conditions, and some 30 million US citizens not being able to get Medicaid. Wonderful improvements to be sure!
What about the issue of the sweetheart deal of re-hiring the retiring (with pension) county manager into a newly created position? This hiring has gone unquestioned while a “hiring freeze” is in place for other county positions. Is this an acceptable “way of life” for Troup County? Or is this issue perhaps in need of some greater scrutiny and public discourse?
As a candidate for public office, I am meeting dozens of county residents nearly every day, presenting them with facts about how the county is currently being run. I don’t ask them how they “feel,” I ask them what they think.
The vast majority of those I have spoken with are opposed to the current situation. Worse yet, many are afraid to speak out publicly because of perceived retribution threats to their jobs or businesses. Most recognize the advantage of a fresh, objective view not influenced by the long-entrenched local powers-that-be.
The incumbent has campaigned for and has voted for continuation of high tax rates and wasteful spending of public money while a large majority of his district constituents voted for lower taxation last November. He is obviously out of step with his constituents yet has been virtually unopposed in previous elections.
With these facts, it seems reasonable that the voters of District 2 deserve a new option for who might better represent them in county government. I have chosen to sacrifice a significant amount of my time and resources in order to offer a better choice.
Mike Freeland
In a round-about way, the Troup County Board of Commissioners has validated one of the significant fiscal arguments made by opponents to the healthcare law.
Mike Freeland
Are you familiar with the origins of "Obamacare"?
Did it start with Obama, or did some other bills come before it?