Without a doubt, the federal government is spending our country into financial calamity. But is there something our state legislators can do to stop this?
Do our Iowa state legislators have a Constitutional duty and responsibility to take action to impose fiscal restraints on the federal government? Do they have a responsibility to the people of Iowa? And if so, should they take action?
The answer is yes.
I would argue that is their primary responsibility. First, taking steps to require fiscal responsibility and requiring that a budget be submitted and approved every year, and if no budget is submitted and approved, mandatory spending cuts across the board. And not just a budget, a balanced budget.
Then a reasonable flat tax, say 15%, with no backdoor taxes, no national sales tax, no wealth tax, no death tax, no value added tax. History has shown lower taxes result in greater tax revenues, not to mention a better standard of living for citizens. Calvin Coolidge did it, Jack Kennedy did it, Ronald Reagan did it, Donald Trump did it, lowered taxes, and increased tax revenues. Shouldn’t that be something our elected officials irrespective of party support?
So, what can we do? We can urge our state legislators to support using Article V of the Constitution to call a convention to propose amendments.
Our founders expressly gave state legislators the power to propose amendments through Article V for the purpose of reining in an 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