Politicians stay in Washington too long. They represent their own self-interest and not that of their constituents. Without going into detail about the dismal approval rating for the US Congress (20%), or the personal wealth being amassed by many “public servants” that serve in Washington for decades (Nancy Pelosi personal wealth $135 million), we need to understand the real problem at hand.
Under the management of the Senators and Congressmen that have been there for decades, the government keeps getting larger and the rights of the individual keep getting smaller. And all the issues listed above are being ignored or getting worse. Our Founders would call this “taxation without representation.”
The solution is term limits which requires an amendment to the Constitution. But will Congress ever pass such an amendment? Not likely.
So, what can we do about it? Our state legislatures can propose this amendment.
Our founders expressly gave state legislators the power to propose amendments through Article V for the purpose of reining in an over-staying, over-spending, out-of-control federal government.
The movement to save America has already begun. Find out about it at www.conventionofstates.com.
Scott W. Bates
West Des Moines, Iowa
Physicians for COS
The diagnosis is clear.
We have a growing cancer today known as the Obamacare. As a result physicians are no longer free to practice medicine.No profession feels the full force of the federal government more than physicians. The medical profession is the most highly regulated profession in the United States. The practice of medicine is controlled, taxed, and regulated to the point of being destroyed by the heavy hand of the federal government.
Physicians are told how to bill, how much to charge, and how to treat patients. They are mandated to use expensive electronic medical records. The federally enacted HIPPA (Health Information Privacy and Portability Act) makes the communication between physicians and atients burdensome, inefficient,and expensive. Every physician is required by federal mandate to register with the government to obtain an NPI (national provider identifier.) We are required by federal law to obtain and pay for a license to prescribe medication through the DEA, which is separate from our state licensure.
This heavy hand of government not only oversees the largest federal health bureaucracy ever created, but by extension reaches into every state, every city, and every small town to regulate how every licensed physician practices the art of medicine and how citizens obtain care.
The treatment is also clear.
The prescription for a cure was written into our constitution by our founders. Article V of our constitution allows for the states to call for a convention of states to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government through the proposal of constitutional amendments. Physicians should be the strongest supporters of this brilliantly-crafted states’ rights tool placed into our constitution by our founders.
I urge my fellow American physicians to join with me in supporting an Article V Convention of States to take back control of the practice of medicine. It’s the only way that we can return the practice of medicine back to the intimate relationship between a doctor and patient without interference by the heavy hand of a distant, national government.
Jeffrey I. Barke, M.D. Family Physician Newport Beach, CA