Birmingham News Editorial Board Doesn't Get It
30/03/10 16:46
Today's editorial in the Birmingham News demonstrates just how out of touch the editors are with the people of Alabama. The citizens of Alabama are against the health care bill passed by Congress. That's not debatable or political--all 7 of our congressmen voted against it. Now citizens are united in call for the state to join 40 other states in considering legislation that will prohibit any person, employer or health care provider from being compelled to participate in any health insurance plan.
Senator Scott Beason dropped the Alabama Health Care Freedom Act at the beginning of the legislative session. On February 2, 2010, the bill passed out of committee. Up until now, Senator Lowell Barron has prevented the legislation from getting on the special order calendar for a floor vote.
The Birmingham News Claims this is just a ploy by Sen. Beason to score political points.
If this was a political ploy Sen. Beason wouldn't have been dropped the bill until after Obamacare passed. If this was a political ploy, Sen. Beason would have stopped after the initial vote to put SB 233 on the special order calender--a vote Democrats did not participate in. Instead, Sen. Beason gave the Democrats a chance to do what the people of Alabama wanted them to do.
Let me say again--40 other states have passed or are considering this legislation. We are beyond politics now. People have reached their limit where the federal government is concerned. Both Democrats and Republicans have signed on to Sen. Beason's legislation to stop enforcement of the health care bill. The Birmingham News' complete dismissal of the legislation as Republicans trying to score political points shows that they just don't get it.
Senator Scott Beason dropped the Alabama Health Care Freedom Act at the beginning of the legislative session. On February 2, 2010, the bill passed out of committee. Up until now, Senator Lowell Barron has prevented the legislation from getting on the special order calendar for a floor vote.
The Birmingham News Claims this is just a ploy by Sen. Beason to score political points.
Beason's bill and the others are nothing more than political grandstanding, with an eye toward the November election. Alabama can't pick and choose which federal laws it wants to follow. We saw how well that worked in the 1860s and the 1960s.But Alabama Republicans have made the political calculation that standing up to the federal government on health care is a winning issue. House Minority Leader Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, who is also chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, at least was honest about it in a Huntsville Times story. "It's a good issue for us, regardless of whether we pass anything or not," he said. "People are going to take it out on Democrats in Montgomery and Washington."
If this was a political ploy Sen. Beason wouldn't have been dropped the bill until after Obamacare passed. If this was a political ploy, Sen. Beason would have stopped after the initial vote to put SB 233 on the special order calender--a vote Democrats did not participate in. Instead, Sen. Beason gave the Democrats a chance to do what the people of Alabama wanted them to do.
Let me say again--40 other states have passed or are considering this legislation. We are beyond politics now. People have reached their limit where the federal government is concerned. Both Democrats and Republicans have signed on to Sen. Beason's legislation to stop enforcement of the health care bill. The Birmingham News' complete dismissal of the legislation as Republicans trying to score political points shows that they just don't get it.
0 Comments