Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, June 24, 2017

B3

OPINION: LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

 Mountain Views News Saturday, June 24, 2017 


Mountain Views

News

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Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

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Joan Schmidt

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CONTRIBUTORS

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Katie Hopkins

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Renee Quenell

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

GOP IN A BIND OVER GOVERNMENT 
ROLE IN HEALTH CARE

From Politics Today

 
There’s considerable irony in the sudden and desperate quest of 
Republicans in Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare, in light of the 
party’s longstanding dread and disdain of government involvement in 
any sort of national health care. 

For decades, the GOP war cry of “socialized medicine” was a unifying 
theme and the backbone of conservative resistance to all aspects of 
Democratic liberalism. Republicans conjured all sorts of bugaboos, such 
as hostile Washington bureaucrats making medical decisions that should 
be left to doctors, to sway opinion against it. 

The notion reigned among Republicans that a person’s health care was a 
private concern between an individual and his or her personal physician, 
with Uncle Sam staying out of the way, whether in terms of treatment or 
manner of payment for it. 

From the earliest days of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal concept of 
public responsibility for the general welfare of all Americans regardless 
of income and social status, the Republican Party pushed back hard, 
preaching individual responsibility and, in its harshest terms, every man 
for himself. 

The Great Depression had ushered in a public imperative for community 
responses to unemployment, poverty and associated social ills. 
Government cures such as welfare relief and social security benefits for 
the elderly gained broad acceptance in liberal thought and policy. But 
many conservatives dominating the Republican Party clung to their 
opposition to what they saw as unnecessary and excessive government 
intrusion into the lives of Americans. 

“Socialized medicine” endured through the 1930s and beyond as a prime 
GOP banner in the political and philosophical wars between the two 
major parties. Succeeding Democratic administrations fought a long, 
uphill struggle in the field of national health care. They most notably 
failed during the Bill Clinton administration when the president turned 
the challenge over to his wife, Hillary, who wasn’t able to produce a bill 
that could be enacted. 

Throughout this time, the private health insurance industry, solidly 
supported in the Republican Party, fiercely and effectively defended its 
role in providing coverage against liberal efforts to enlarge government’s 
role in facilitating and financing broader public health coverage. Not until 
2010 did Democratic President Barack Obama finally win congressional 
approval of an historic Affordable Care Act, soon contemptuously 
dubbed Obamacare by its partisan critics. 

The Republican Party quickly set its sights on eradicating it. Although the 
Democratic plan ran into heavy trouble during implementation stage, 
millions of Americans did sign up. But major growing pains in the plan, 
and rapidly rising costs to enrollees, soon spurred fueled a GOP crusade 
to “repeal Obamacare.” 

But many of the millions of enrollees eventually began to have second 
thoughts about losing their new health care, as problem-laden as it was. 
As a result, the Republican war cry was broadened to “repeal and replace 
Obamacare.” Soon it became clear that many GOP enrollees didn’t want 
the baby thrown out with the bath water. 

Donald Trump made repealing Obamacare a prime campaign promise. 
After he took office, House Republicans in two tries slapped together 
a bill, and the Senate Republicans have now vowed to pass their own 
version. Yet Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell finds himself hard-
pressed to find enough Republicans to pass it, as protesting recipients of 
Obamacare packed the hall outside his office Thursday and were hauled 
or wheeled away by U.S. Capitol police. 

In a bizarre turnaround, the party historically against “socialized 
medicine” is struggling to enact a version of it, fearful of losing the 
support of millions of covered enrollees who desperately want some 
manner of government-run and government-financed health care. An 
earlier Congressional Budget Office estimate said 24 million would lose 
their coverage if the House bill passed, and the CBO assessment of the 
Senate version is nervously awaited. 

Accordingly, GOP control of the Senate and even of the House in the 
2018 congressional election could be at stake if the party fails on its 
pledge to scuttle Obamacare, with speculation growing that Trump’s hold 
on the Oval Office itself could be in peril from disappointed supporters 
and other voters who already have had enough of what the last election 
has wrought. 
(The Author, Jules Witcover’s latest book is “The American Vice Presidency: From 
Irrelevance to Power,” published by Smithsonian Books. You can respond to this 
column at juleswitcover@comcast.net.)


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OPEN LETTER TO REPUBLICANS AND ROGER STONE

Californians have had enough! Because our government has gone 
rogue and become the largest cartel in existence, supplying 60 to 
70% of the entire US market with marijuana, we have had an influx 
of druggies from all over the world. Now, Washington D.C. lobbyist 
Roger Stone plans to create his own pot farm called “Tricky Dick,” 
and lobby congress to make it legal. He is just one more drug dealer 
seeking fortunes on the backs of our youth. Since even conspiring 
to violate federal CSA laws in a crime, perhaps Stone should be 
fitted for an orange jump suit, along with a few others. 

 If you don’t understand the problem, you can’t fix it. So, let’s talk 
candidly about the problem. 

 The march to legalize this dangerous drug really got underway during the Clinton years. The 
plan was orchestrated in 1996 and subsequently funded for 20 years by America’s Drug Lord, 
George Soros. Working, in his words, as a team with Bill and Hillary, he crafted and helped 
fund the propaganda campaign that duped California voters into passing Prop 215, “The 
Compassionate Use Act.” In reality, it had nothing to do with compassion. President Clinton 
could have, and should have, stopped its implementation. But then, Clintons were part of the 
“team”. 

 Working together, Soros, Hillary and Harold Eckes, formed the Shadow Party. By using the 
IRS 527 loophole, they found a way to invest significant funds into organizations that backed 
their political purposes, without directly financing politicians. According to The Shadow Party 
written by David Horowitz and Richard Poe, in 2003 Eli Pariser, Executive Director of Soros’ 
MOVEON.ORG, proclaimed… “We bought the Democratic Party. We own it.” And so it 
seems. To the detriment of citizens of both parties, the Democratic party has made legalization 
of marijuana a party plank. Except for a few Republicans defectors like Rorhabacher and 
McClintock, the Democratic Party owns the drug problem. The question is…where are the 
Republicans? 

 One third of American families (85 million people) are directly impacted by a family member 
who has a mental illness or is addicted. Gang members outpace law enforcement two to one. 
America is last (24th) among industrialized nations academically, with a one-third dropout 
rate. According to UC Santa Barbara research, the life time cost of one high school dropout is 
$392,000. Multiply that by 1.3 million drop outs, and the annual cost is about $500 billion. Add 
public sector costs for physical and mental health care, the justice system, traffic deaths at $1.4 
million each, homelessness, incarceration et al, and the economic cost is well over $1 trillion 
a year … for a preventable disease. Nothing in modern history compares in terms of death, 
destruction, pain, suffering and economic cost; and nothing offers a greater opportunity to save 
lives and tax dollars. Yet, it isn’t even on the Republican radar. Why not? 

 Marijuana causes physical changes in the developing brain for anyone under 25. It causes 
psychotic breaks leading to horrific crimes and suicide, mental illness, addiction, suicide, birth 
defects, cancer, and traffic deaths. Over 50% of arrestees test positive for pot. It is a gateway to 
crime, homelessness, academic failure, lost productivity and other drugs. It is tied directly to the 
pandemic of 144 overdose deaths every day from heroin and opioids. But overdose isn’t the only 
cause of death, nor the only adverse outcome. Today’s nuclear powered pot is very dangerous 
and can be lethal. 

 As to the State’s rights for “medical marijuana,” I challenge anyone, including the President, 
to define what is meant by the term. Marijuana is a fat-soluble complex drug with somewhere 
between 500 and 750 chemicals and cannabinoids. The potency (i.e. THC content) today ranges 
from 25% (+/-) in smoked form, 50 to 80% in edibles and almost 100% in oils and waxes used 
for dabbing and vaping. 

 CBD (cannabidiol), often called “medical marijuana,” is a non-psychoactive component 
that has medical benefits for some, but not all. Calling CBD “medical marijuana” is analogous 
to calling penicillin “medical moss.” To allow states to call pot “medicine” and consumers 
“patients” so the federal government won’t enforce the law is an outrage. 

 California doesn’t want or need any more out-of-state drug dealers. What we do need is for 
the Republican Party to step up and support AG Sessions and enforce the law. If neither party is 
going to protect the people, it begs the question…why do we need government at all? 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR …. 

 ROGER MORGAN Chairman/Founder, Take Back America Campaign, 20 year anti-
drug activist dealing with drug prevention at the local, state and national level. (www.tbac.us). 
Formerly Chairman and Executive Director of the Coalition for A Drug-Free California. Owner/
CEO of Steelheart International LLC, engaged in international business development and an 
entrepreneur and businessman in California for 37 years. He was Founding Chairman of the 
Coronado SAFE Foundation in 1997, a non-profit dealing with drug prevention; prior Board 
Member of the San Diego Prevention Coalition; member of the National Coalition for Student 
Drug Testing; and Special Advisor to the Golden Rule Society in Coronado


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Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com