THE CONSERVATIVE VIEW

BY RUSSELL TURNER

 

WE HAVE A PRESIDENT

 

Last night I watched President Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress. To say the least I was very impressed with the content of his speech and his outline of the problems facing our nation. For the better part of a decade we Americans have suffered through the socialist experimenting of our former president; the election of Donald Trump proved that the American people had a can full of that socialistic garbage. While there are some people that absolutely despise Trump, he has been faithful in implementing all of his campaign promises. We need to remind ourselves that he cannot do it all alone; he must have cooperation from Congress to further his agenda. Many of us voted for Trump but that is not enough, we also must make sure that our congressmen support our president and his agenda.

 

A few days ago I read an article where former speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, predicted that the chance of repeal of the ADA is minimal. He went on to say that "Republicans will never agree on health care," said Boehner, who also said that the idea of Obamcare's repeal is mere "happy talk." I am glad that Boehner is no longer in the House of Representatives; his statements cause me to believe that he and some of his buddies were just playing the American people. The American people are so sick of Obamacare that we gave the house to the GOP, then the Senate to the GOP and now the presidency. When Boehner had the power he could have used the power of the purse to cripple the ADA, but he caved and fully funded it. At the same time when election time came around many congressmen got on the stump and claimed that they voted to repeal the ADA thirty times; they did that knowing full well that it would be vetoed by president Obama. Now we have a president that will sign the bill, and now many of them are reluctant to do anything. 

When you look at the numbers the cost we Americans are paying for healthcare is staggering. Last year – and for the first time – spending on federal healthcare programs outpaced spending on Social Security. The government spent $936 billion on health programs, including Medicare, Medicaid and subsidies related to the Affordable Care Act; that’s a 13 percent jump from 2014, according to the Congressional Budget Office. During the same budget year the spending for Social Security was $882 billion. We Americans spend more on healthcare than any country on the planet. In fact, we spend twice as much per person on healthcare as other advanced countries.

By some estimates our total unfunded liabilities are nearing 200 trillion dollars. Even with all of this spending the U.S. healthcare system is one of the most inefficient in the world. It is clearly evident that we cannot continue to spend money we don’t have. At least now we have a president that understands the dilemma, does not sugar coat the issue, and has the backbone to offer solutions.  


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