OPINION:
The president’s appeal for Americans to have more trust in their government would provide endless fodder for parodies and late-night comedians if only Hollywood poked fun at President Obama the way it did his predecessors. Mr. Obama’s pitch for more trust comes as the seemingly benign and neutral agencies of the government have been found operating more like the tip of the spear employed against opponents of the president’s agenda.
One agency after another (most prominently, the Internal Revenue Service) have been used to intimidate and harass citizens exercising their constitutional rights. As a constitutional “scholar,” Mr. Obama should know that our Founders gave us a limited and divided government with its system of checks and balances because a healthy dose of distrust was necessary if liberty was to survive. One can only imagine what health care will look like when bureaucrats start making life-and-death decisions in a world of limited resources.
Since the IRS will be a key player under Obamacare, will political and charitable donations become part of the calculus for determining whether someone receives life-saving treatment? The irony is that, while Obamacare promises to level the health care playing field, what could result is a tiered system where life-saving treatments and procedures go only to those of a certain political identity. The prejudicial behavior of the IRS granting tax exemptions — not to mention the dissembling and the denial encountered by those seeking redress — should serve as a wake-up call about where health care is headed under the current administration.
THOMAS M. BEATTIE
Mt. Vernon, Va.
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